Elastic Email offers both marketing campaigns and transactional relay on a single account. For WordPress sites, the relevant product is the Email API: SMTP relay and HTTP API for A transactional email is the automated message a WordPress site sends in response to a single user action – a password reset, an order confirmation, a form receipt – addressed to the user who triggered it. Read full reference →. The marketing product (campaign builder, automation, landing pages) exists but is separate from the relay functionality.
The paid entry point for transactional SMTP is $19/month for 50,000 emails. The Free plan includes SMTP relay and Email API access with a documented cap: 3,000 emails per month, 100 emails per day. That sits between SMTP2GO‘s 1,000/month and Brevo‘s 300/day, which makes it fine for a staging site or kicking the tyres, but the daily cap turns it into a trial tier for anything with real traffic. Above the free plan, Elastic Email becomes competitive at higher volumes: $29/month for 100,000 emails undercuts most competitors at that tier.
SMTP settings
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Host | smtp.elasticemail.com |
| Port | 2525 (recommended), 587, or 465 |
| Encryption | TLS required |
| Authentication | SMTP credentials (API key as password) |
| Username | Account email address |
| Password | SMTP API key (generated in Settings > Manage API Keys) |
Elastic Email uses the account email as the SMTP username and a dedicated API key (not the account password) for authentication. Generate the SMTP credential in the dashboard under Settings > Manage API Keys, selecting the SMTP type.
Pricing
Elastic Email splits its products into Email Marketing and Email API. For WordPress transactional email, the Email API pricing applies:
Email API (transactional/SMTP relay)
| Plan | Base price | Volume included | Key additions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $19/mo | 50,000 emails | SMTP relay, API, email designer, tracking, suppressions |
| Pro | $49/mo | 50,000 emails | Webhooks, inbound routing, sub-accounts, custom rDNS |
Volume tiers scale up:
| Volume | Starter | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| 50,000 | $19 | $49 |
| 100,000 | $29 | $59 |
| 150,000 | $59 | $99 |
| 250,000 | $99 | $159 |
| 500,000 | $169 | $199 |
| 1,000,000 | $269 | $349 |
Comparison at typical WordPress volumes (June 2026)
| Service | 10,000 emails/mo | 50,000 emails/mo | 100,000 emails/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elastic Email (Starter) | $19 (50K included) | $19 | $29 |
| SMTP2GO | $10 | $25 | $75 |
| Brevo | $9 (Starter) | $39 (Business) | $69 (Business) |
| Postmark | $15 | $50 | $85 |
Elastic Email’s $19 entry covers 50,000 emails, making it expensive for low-volume sites (paying $19 to send 500 emails) but competitive above 30,000/month where the per-email cost falls below $0.001.
Add-ons
- Dedicated IP: $40-50/month depending on plan.
- Dedicated support: from $100/month.
- Email verification: included in all plans (batch cleaning).
Free tier
The free plan is permanent. 3,000 emails/month with a 100/day cap, plus 1,000 marketing contacts on the campaign side. SMTP relay and the Email API are both exposed at this tier, so the integration path scales to Starter without a reconfiguration.
Exclusions to note. Webhooks and inbound routing are Pro-tier features and do not appear on Free. Sub-accounts, custom rDNS, and dedicated support are also gated to Pro. Free-tier sending sits on Elastic Email’s shared IP pool; a dedicated IP is a $40-50/month add-on regardless of plan. Elastic Email does not stamp visible branding onto free-tier messages the way Mailjet does; the constraint here is the cap, not the sender identity.
The 100/day ceiling is the operational catch. Elastic Email’s Free plan is generous enough to smell like a production tier until a busy day hits the daily wall – any WooCommerce site running order confirmations, autoresponders, and password resets at real volume will start dropping mail once the day’s 100 is spent. The tier fits a staging site, a low-traffic contact form, or a two-week evaluation to prove the SMTP integration works before moving to the $19/50K Starter. It does not fit a live WordPress site with any transactional rhythm; Elastic Email’s Free is the cleanest “trial that says permanent” in this comparison.
WordPress integration
Elastic Email maintains an official WordPress plugin (
Elastic Email Sender, v1.2.22, last updated December 2025, tested up to WP 6.9.4, 10,000+ active installs). The plugin connects via HTTP API rather than SMTP, which avoids port-blocking issues on shared hosting.
For SMTP-based integration, any mailer plugin works:
| Plugin | Notes |
|---|---|
| WP Mail SMTP | Use “Other SMTP” with Elastic Email credentials |
| FluentSMTP | Has an Elastic Email integration (API-based) |
| Post SMTP | SMTP credentials or API |
DNS setup
Domain verification requires three DNS records:
- SPF: TXT record at
@containinginclude:_spf.elasticemail.com. - DKIM: TXT record at
api._domainkeywith the RSA public key provided in the dashboard. - Tracking CNAME (optional): CNAME
trackingpointing toapi.elasticemail.comfor branded click tracking links.
DMARC policy is recommended but not enforced by Elastic Email’s verification. Minimum recommended: v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:[email protected] at _dmarc.yourdomain.com.
Capabilities
| Feature | Starter | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| SMTP relay | Yes | Yes |
| HTTP API | Yes | Yes |
| Delivery tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Suppressions/bounces | Yes | Yes |
| Email verification | Yes | Yes |
| Template engine | Yes | Yes |
| Webhooks | No | Yes |
| Inbound routing | No | Yes |
| Sub-accounts | No | Yes |
| Custom rDNS | No | Yes |
| Dedicated IP | Add-on ($40/mo) | Add-on ($50/mo) |
The Starter plan lacks webhooks, which means WordPress cannot receive real-time bounce/delivery notifications without polling the API. For most WordPress sites this is acceptable (delivery data is visible in the Elastic Email dashboard), but sites that need automated bounce handling in WordPress should choose the Pro plan or a service that includes webhooks at the base tier (Postmark, Mailgun).
Limitations
- Free plan hits a daily wall: the Free plan includes SMTP relay and API access but caps at 100 emails per day (3,000 per month). Any WordPress site running WooCommerce receipts, form autoresponders, or password resets at real volume will hit the daily cap and start dropping mail. It works for a staging site or a low-traffic contact form; the paid $19 Starter is the real entry point.
- Webhooks gated to Pro: real-time delivery notifications cost $49/month minimum. SMTP2GO and Postmark include them on lower tiers.
- Shared IP by default: deliverability depends on the shared pool reputation unless paying $40-50/month for a dedicated IP.
- Support tiers: standard support is included; dedicated support is a $100/month add-on.
Verdict
Elastic Email is best positioned for WordPress sites sending 50,000+ transactional emails per month that want both marketing and transactional capability on one platform. At that volume, $19/month for 50K emails is competitive pricing. Below 10,000 emails/month, the $19 minimum is overpriced relative to SMTP2GO ($10 for 10K) or Brevo’s free tier.
The strength is price-at-volume and the single-platform value of combining marketing campaigns with transactional relay. The weakness for WordPress specifically: webhooks require the Pro tier, the official plugin is API-only (not SMTP), and the Free plan’s 100-a-day cap turns it into a trial tier that works for testing the SMTP integration but not for running a live site with any real transactional traffic. For a WordPress site that simply needs transactional email to work at low-to-medium volume, SMTP2GO is simpler. Elastic Email earns its spot when volume grows past 30,000 emails/month and the site also needs marketing email without adding a second platform.
For the broader setup that places Elastic Email inside the WordPress email stack, see the WordPress email setup guide.