Kinsta is a managed WordPress hosting provider running on Google Cloud Platform. All plans include transactional email via MailChannels, an outbound relay that handles wp_mail output without requiring an SMTP plugin or third-party service. Daily sending limits range from 150 emails on entry-level plans to 3,000 on Agency and Enterprise tiers. SMTP ports (25, 465, 587) are blocked; outbound email routes exclusively through Kinsta’s MailChannels integration.
Plans start at $35/month (Single 20GB). Kinsta is positioned at the premium end of managed WordPress hosting.
Email on Kinsta
What works out of the box
WordPress core’s wp_mail() function sends through Kinsta’s MailChannels relay by default. No SMTP plugin is required for basic transactional email (password resets, registration notifications, WooCommerce order confirmations, comment moderation alerts). MailChannels signs outbound mail with DKIM. The "envelope from" address is @mywebsite.kinstamailservice.com; the "header from" comes from WordPress admin settings (Settings > General > Administrator Email Address). Recipients may see both addresses, displayed as "[email protected] via mywebsite.kinstamailservice.com."
Daily sending limits
| Plan tier | Daily limit |
|---|---|
| Single 20GB, Single 35k, WP 2 | 150 |
| Single 65k through Single 750k, WP 5/10/20/40 | 1,000 |
| Agency 20/40/60, WP 60/80/120/150 | 3,000 |
| Enterprise | Custom |
Limits apply per plan across all sites collectively, not per site. A WP 5 plan with five sites shares a single 1,000/day pool.
150 emails per day on the entry-level plan is adequate for a low-traffic site (a handful of WooCommerce orders and user registrations). It is not adequate for a site generating significant form submissions, membership registrations, or notification-heavy plugin output. Sites approaching the limit should use a dedicated sending service.
DNS requirements
Custom domain email requires SPF and DMARC records to prevent spoofing. Kinsta’s documentation specifies adding an SPF include for MailChannels. Without these records, email from a custom domain may fail DMARC alignment checks at the receiving end.
What Kinsta does not provide
SMTP port access. Ports 25, 465, and 587 are blocked. Direct SMTP connections to third-party relays (e.g. configuring smtp.postmarkapp.com in a mail client or script) do not work. Third-party relay integration must go through an SMTP plugin that uses the provider’s API (HTTP-based) rather than SMTP. Most WordPress SMTP plugins (WP Mail SMTP, FluentSMTP) support API-based sending for major providers.
Email hosting (mailboxes). Kinsta does not provide email accounts, IMAP/POP3, or forwarding. Domain email (receiving and sending from [email protected]) requires a separate email provider: Google Workspace ($7/month per user), Fastmail (from €5/month), or a forwarding service (ImprovMX, Forward Email).
Marketing/bulk email. Newsletters, promotional campaigns, and any non-transactional bulk sending are prohibited. Use a dedicated email marketing platform (Mailchimp, ConvertKit, etc.).
When to add a third-party relay
The built-in MailChannels relay is sufficient for most WordPress sites with low to moderate transactional email volume. Add a dedicated sending service (Postmark, SMTP2GO, Mailgun) when:
- Daily volume approaches or exceeds the plan’s limit.
- Deliverability matters enough to warrant dedicated IP reputation, bounce webhooks, and suppression list management.
- The "via kinstamailservice.com" display in recipient inboxes is unacceptable for the brand.
- The site needs delivery event tracking (opens, clicks, bounces) that MailChannels does not provide.
Integration requires an SMTP plugin configured to use the provider’s HTTP API, since SMTP ports are blocked.