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The WordPress Email Authority

SendPulse SMTP Plugin for WordPress

Last reviewed/updated:

SendPulse does not publish an SMTP-only WordPress plugin. Its listed WordPress plugins cover the marketing side – a newsletter subscription form, a popup builder, web push notifications, a WooCommerce sync, a chatbot embed – none of which routes wp_mail(). To send transactional email through SendPulse from WordPress, install WP Mail SMTP or FluentSMTP in Other SMTP mode and point it at smtp-pulse.com:587 with the credentials from the SendPulse dashboard, or use the native SendPulse mailer in Post SMTP or YaySMTP.

For the case for or against SendPulse as the sending service (the 12,000-a-month free tier, the $7.85 paid entry point, the profile moderation some accounts go through, the EU-hosted sending, the steep price step at 100K/month), start at the SendPulse review. This page is the setup walk-through. It assumes the decision to use SendPulse has already been made.

Which plugin to install

Four plugins reach SendPulse. WP Mail SMTP and FluentSMTP use Other SMTP mode with the same host, ports, and credentials. Post SMTP and YaySMTP ship native mailers that use SendPulse’s API with a Client ID and Client Secret. The choice comes down to what the plugin does around the send, and whether the host blocks outbound SMTP.

WP Mail SMTP does not ship a dedicated SendPulse mailer in its picker, but its Other SMTP option reaches smtp-pulse.com:587 with the SMTP credentials copied from the SendPulse dashboard. Pick it when the site benefits from WP Mail SMTP’s setup wizard and, on the Pro tier, email logging, backup connections, and smart routing. This is the default recommendation for most WordPress operators.

FluentSMTP reaches SendPulse in generic-SMTP mode on the same host, port, and credentials. FluentSMTP is free and open-source with no upsell path, and its per-address routing rules are cleaner than WP Mail SMTP’s free tier. Pick it when the site runs multiple senders and needs per-address routing without paying for WP Mail SMTP Pro.

Post SMTP ships a native SendPulse mailer in the free plugin. It takes the Client ID and Client Secret from SendPulse’s Settings > API > Client credentials screen rather than the SMTP credentials, and sends over HTTPS to api.sendpulse.com. The reason to pick it is real-time failure notifications (the mobile app, Chrome extension, and Slack in the free version; Teams and SMS on the paid tier); if a failed order confirmation needs to page an operator within minutes, Post SMTP is the plugin.

YaySMTP ships the same kind of native mailer in its free version, with the same Client ID and Client Secret. It also includes open tracking and delivery reports. Pick it when the host blocks outbound SMTP and the site wants those reports in wp-admin.

For the plugin-by-plugin comparison in the general case (not SendPulse-specific), see best WordPress SMTP plugins.

Before touching WordPress

What SendPulse asks for before WordPress can send depends on which setup the account gets. SendPulse’s setup doc describes two and does not say which accounts see which. The SMTP Test path starts with a demo plan and then moves to free after domain authentication and adding a sender address; SendPulse’s guide does not say whether moderation applies on this path. The previous setup uses a profile form followed by moderation.

Check which setup the account has

Sign up at sendpulse.com and open the SMTP section.

If SMTP > Dashboard opens on the SMTP Test plan, the account is in demo mode. It can send 50 emails in total, 10 an hour, without a verified sender. Every message goes out from [email protected] with For development purposes only added to the subject line, and recipients see both. That is enough to confirm the plugin connects, but not to send a site’s real mail. Authenticating a domain and adding a sender address on it moves the account to the free plan automatically. The setup guide does not say whether moderation applies on this path.

If a welcome page with a Get started button opens, the account uses the previous setup. The User profile form asks for a primary email address, how SMTP will be used, how the addresses were collected, and whether the emails contain an unsubscribe link. After the confirmation email, “our moderators will then review your profile. This usually takes up to 24 hours.” Sending starts once the profile is approved.

A project that needs transactional email working on a set date should open the account first and commit to the date second.

If the plugin looks correctly configured but test sends fail, check the SMTP section before working through the plugin. SendPulse’s error list says the page should not show a warning that the profile is under moderation or that an action is required.

Verify the sending domain and publish DKIM and SPF

In the SendPulse dashboard, navigate to SMTP > Settings > Domain settings and add the domain the WordPress site sends From:, meaning example.com, not mail.example.com. SendPulse returns two records to publish: a TXT record at sign._domainkey.<your-domain> containing the DKIM public key, and an SPF include to add at the domain apex.

The DKIM record is a TXT entry, not a CNAME – SendPulse hosts the key value directly rather than delegating to a rotation endpoint the way MailerSend or SES do. The selector name is fixed at sign, which is unusual (most providers use k1, s1, or their own selector prefixes). If the domain already has a TXT record at sign._domainkey from a previous provider, publishing SendPulse’s record on top of it breaks the earlier signature; retire the previous provider’s DKIM before publishing SendPulse’s, or delete the old TXT record. The full DKIM setup steps are documented at sendpulse.com/knowledge-base/smtp/how-can-you-configure-dkim-sendpulse-smtp.

The SPF include adds include:mxsspf.sendpulse.com to the domain’s existing SPF record at the apex. If the domain already has an SPF record covering Google Workspace or another sender, edit it to add the include; do not create a second SPF record at the apex, because a domain with two SPF records at the same name is a permanent SPF error under RFC 7208 regardless of what the records say. If the domain has no SPF record, publish v=spf1 include:mxsspf.sendpulse.com +a +mx ~all, which is the exact string SendPulse recommends. The SPF merger folds the SendPulse include into an existing string and counts the DNS lookups against RFC 7208’s ten-lookup ceiling before you publish.

Return to the SendPulse dashboard and confirm both records verify. Propagation is typically minutes when DNS is fast and up to several hours on slow nameservers. SendPulse’s documentation warns that DKIM and SPF verification can take up to several hours after DNS publish; the dashboard reports each record’s status separately.

DMARC is not SendPulse-specific but is required for domains sending more than 5,000 messages a day to Gmail or Yahoo under their 2024 bulk-sender rules. Publish _dmarc.example.com as TXT v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:[email protected] as a safe starting point; tighten to p=quarantine or p=reject once reports show no legitimate mail failing alignment. The bulk sender authentication checklist has the full order of operations.

Once DKIM and SPF verify in the SendPulse dashboard, the DNS auth checker reads how the DKIM TXT at sign._domainkey and the apex SPF resolve from a receiver’s perspective, which catches nameserver caches and mistyped selectors before real traffic does.

Retrieve SMTP credentials

Where the credentials live depends on the setup. On the new setup, SendPulse lists the SMTP server, port, login, and password under SMTP > Dashboard > Connection using server settings. On the previous setup they sit under SMTP > Settings > General, and SendPulse’s WordPress plugin doc says those settings open after the profile is activated, when the “Your profile is being moderated” message disappears. SendPulse’s SMTP credentials are per-account, not per-domain – the same login and password authenticate for any sender address on any of the domains the account has verified, up to the plan’s sender-address and domain caps (three addresses and two domains on Free, five domains on the SMTP 25K and 50K paid tiers, unlimited from 100K up).

For the API path (a custom integration hitting https://api.sendpulse.com/smtp/emails), the credential depends on the integration: SendPulse’s current setup guide has you create an API key under Account Settings > API, while Post SMTP and YaySMTP use the Client ID and Client Secret from Settings > API > Client credentials. WP Mail SMTP and FluentSMTP use the SMTP login and password.

Configuring the mailer plugin

WP Mail SMTP install is standard: Plugins > Add New > search WP Mail SMTP > Install > Activate. Deactivate any other mailer plugin still active on the site before enabling WP Mail SMTP – two mailer plugins overriding wp_mail() at once is the most common cause of an install appearing to do nothing.

Under WP Mail SMTP > Settings > Mailer, pick Other SMTP. Set SMTP Host to smtp-pulse.com, Encryption to TLS, SMTP Port to 587. Enable Authentication and paste the SMTP login from the SendPulse dashboard as SMTP Username; paste the SMTP password as SMTP Password. Set From Email to a verified sender address at a domain SendPulse has cleared, and From Name to the site or brand name. SendPulse’s WordPress setup doc says the From Email address must be confirmed in the SendPulse SMTP account.

If the WordPress host blocks outbound port 587, SendPulse also listens on 465 with implicit SSL and on 2525 as a plain fallback. Change the port and the encryption setting together: 465 pairs with SSL, 587 with TLS/STARTTLS, 2525 with None for the encryption dropdown. The swaks SMTP test guide has the outbound-port test if none of the three ports connect.

Save. WP Mail SMTP does not run a validate-connection check on save; the Email Test tab is the confirmation. Send a test message to an address you can read. WP Mail SMTP round-trips the send through SendPulse’s SMTP server and reports success or the SMTP error in the admin. A success reply confirms the credentials, sender identity, and outbound port are wired up correctly; verify the message actually arrived at the destination before treating the setup as done, and open the message headers to confirm Authentication-Results shows dkim=pass for sign._domainkey.<your-domain> and spf=pass for the sending IP. If either fails, the DNS records did not propagate or were entered incorrectly at the DNS host; return to SMTP > Settings > Domain settings in the SendPulse dashboard and re-check.

For FluentSMTP, the equivalent configuration lives under FluentSMTP > Connections > Add Another Connection > Other SMTP with the same host, port, encryption, and credentials. In Post SMTP or YaySMTP, choose the SendPulse mailer and enter the Client ID and Client Secret from Settings > API > Client credentials instead. SendPulse’s SMTP Service API documentation says its SMTP account must be activated before the api.sendpulse.com/smtp/emails endpoint can be used; that page directs users to an application form.

Sending the first test and reading the failure

Four error patterns worth naming.

535 5.7.9 authentication errors. SendPulse’s error list gives two. For 535 5.7.9 Your profile not confirmed, SendPulse lists an authentication error such as an incorrectly entered login or password; copy both again from the credentials screen and check for a leading space. The error list does not identify this response as a moderation hold. 535 5.7.9 You need to confirm your email address means the sender address is not verified: add the address from the plugin’s From Email field under SMTP > Settings > Sender emails, or use one already on that list.

554 5.9.2 Sender domain is not valid. SendPulse lists two causes: an unconfirmed sender domain or an unmoderated SMTP profile. Its setup doc adds a third: the account has left the SMTP Test plan, but the site is still sending from [email protected]. Replace that address in the plugin with a sender on the authenticated domain.

550 5.7.1 sender-domain failures. SendPulse’s error list gives 550 5.7.1 Sender domain does not match confirmed domains for a MAIL FROM domain that differs from the domain in the From: header. Check that SMTP > Settings > Domain settings shows the domain as authenticated and that SMTP > Settings > Sender emails lists the plugin’s From Email address. Verify the domain the site actually sends from, not the domain the site is hosted at.

Connection timeouts or SMTP connect errors. The WordPress host blocks outbound SMTP entirely. Some shared hosts block outbound 25, 465, and 587 by default and require a support ticket to open them; SendPulse’s third port at 2525 works around some (but not all) of these blocks. If none of the three ports connect and the host will not open outbound SMTP, the practical option is a mailer that uses HTTPS instead of SMTP: the native SendPulse mailers in Post SMTP and YaySMTP send to SendPulse’s API, so the port block does not reach them.

SendPulse’s SMTP > Sending history lists each sent email with its subject, size, and delivery status, and SMTP > Delivery errors lists the addresses where delivery failed. The test sends appear in Sending history; a message marked delivered there that has not arrived at the destination points to a receiver-side delivery decision, not a SendPulse problem.

SendPulse-specific things to know

Profile moderation is the biggest operational quirk for accounts that get it. For the previous setup, SendPulse says profile moderation usually takes up to 24 hours. It gives no criteria for how quickly an individual profile clears. The SMTP Test plan’s 50 emails do not reset each month, and a send past them fails with 554 5.9.3 Sending quota exceeded.

The free tier’s real limits are hourly and daily, not monthly. Twelve thousand messages a month sounds generous, but the 50-per-hour and 400-per-day sub-caps are the ones a busy WooCommerce store will bump into first. A store processing more than roughly 15 orders an hour during a sale can rate-limit itself against the 50-per-hour cap when order-confirmation, shipping-notification, and password-reset emails all fire off inside the same window.

SendPulse keeps the history of emails sent over SMTP for the last year. Its limits page names no plan for that, so the free tier appears to get the same history as the paid plans. MailerSend and Postmark tie log retention to the plan. For a site that needs long log retention as a compliance requirement rather than a debugging convenience, SendPulse is unusually generous.

The EU-hosted sending infrastructure is worth calling out for sites with an EU data-residency requirement (some public-sector sites, some GDPR-focused nonprofits, some sites operating under national data-protection guidance). SendPulse’s SMTP relay resolves into AWS’s Frankfurt region and the platform documents its transactional infrastructure as EU-based. Its DPA also lists Google LLC (US) as a sub-processor for data storage and analytics, so a strict EU-only policy should read that list first. A domain with a US-only data policy should look elsewhere.

The dedicated IP tier starts at 100,000 messages per month. Below that, sends share the platform’s outbound pool with other SendPulse customers. As with any provider, a dedicated IP is worth the money only when the monthly volume clears the roughly 50,000-message threshold below which the IP has too little traffic to build its own reputation – which means the SendPulse plan where a dedicated IP actually earns its keep is 100K or above by both the pricing tier and the deliverability math.

Webhooks are supported for delivered, opened, clicked, bounced (hard and soft), spam-marked, unsubscribed, and resubscribed events. SendPulse batches webhook deliveries every thirty seconds or after five hundred events, whichever comes first, which is coarser than Postmark’s or MailerSend’s near-real-time firing; sites that need immediate feedback on a bounce should either poll the API or accept the batching delay.

When another provider fits better

If the priority is transactional email working the same day the account is created, SendPulse is a risk: its previous setup uses an application form followed by moderation, usually up to 24 hours, and SendPulse does not say which accounts get that setup. Its SMTP Test guide does not say whether moderation applies on that path. SMTP2GO lets new accounts send within an initial quota of 1,000 emails per day. Once the quota is reached, SMTP2GO assesses the account and queues messages over the limit until the review ends. MailerSend reaches real recipients on its 14-day Professional trial, which needs a payment method; without one, Sandbox mode sends to two recipients until the account is approved, which can take up to 48 hours. If the site is on the AWS side of the fence and cost per message dominates the decision, Amazon SES at $0.10 per 1,000 messages on opt-in à la carte pricing is cheaper than SendPulse at every paid tier. If deliverability at high volume is the priority and the budget supports the price step, Postmark is purpose-built for that. The SMTP cost calculator runs the crossover math against a site’s actual monthly send volume.

When you are ready to go further:

Corrections
  • 2026-11-05: an earlier version said no mailer plugin uses SendPulse’s API, gave 550 or 553 as sender-verification failures, and said SMTP2GO and MailerSend activate SMTP immediately once the domain verifies. Post SMTP and YaySMTP send through the API, SendPulse’s error list gives 550 5.7.1 for a sender-domain mismatch and has no 553, SMTP2GO starts new accounts on a daily quota, and MailerSend’s Sandbox mode sends to two recipients until the account is approved; the Professional trial, which requires payment-method verification, gives full access to send to real recipients.
  • 2026-11-05: an earlier version called 24 hours a published SLA, gave 535 5.7.8 as SendPulse’s error, said SMTP credentials are visible before moderation clears, and said a business email address shortens the review. SendPulse says moderation usually takes up to 24 hours, its error list gives 535 5.7.9, its docs say the SMTP settings open after activation, and it publishes no such guidance on review speed.
  • 2026-11-05: an earlier version said Post SMTP reaches SendPulse in generic-SMTP mode and that WP Mail SMTP’s email logging is free. Post SMTP 4.0.2 ships a native SendPulse API mailer, as does YaySMTP 2.7.9, and WP Mail SMTP keeps email logging in Pro.
  • 2026-11-05: an earlier version said the WP mail config generator returned the SMTP block for the plugin fields. The generator does not cover SendPulse.