SendLayer is a transactional email relay built for WordPress sites that want a guided setup path from within their mailer plugin rather than a full sending platform to learn. WP Mail SMTP and 
Easy WP SMTP both list SendLayer as a native mailer; Easy WP SMTP’s Quick Connect option reaches a working relay from an API key in a couple of clicks. Annual-only pricing starts at $5/month for 1,000 emails, which puts SendLayer at the low end of paid transactional pricing. The service launched in 2022 from Awesome Motive (the WPBeginner / WP Mail SMTP / Easy WP SMTP group), which explains the tight plugin integration and the frequent placement in WPBeginner tutorials.
SMTP settings
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Host | smtp.sendlayer.net |
| Port | 587 |
| Encryption | TLS |
| Username | (not required for API mode) |
| Password | API key (from SendLayer dashboard) |
Confirm current SMTP values in your SendLayer dashboard. The API path via Easy WP SMTP or WP Mail SMTP does not require manual SMTP configuration.
SendLayer supports both SMTP and API submission. The API path is the primary integration method through Easy WP SMTP and WP Mail SMTP, which both include native SendLayer mailer options. For generic SMTP connections via other plugins, use the host and API key above.
SendLayer does not publish details about its sending infrastructure (shared vs dedicated IPs, hosting provider, geographic distribution). This is unusual; Postmark and SMTP2GO are transparent about their infrastructure. The opacity is not inherently a problem, but makes independent deliverability assessment difficult.
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Volume | Domains | Log retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trial | Free | 200 emails (one-time) | 1 | – |
| Starter | $5/mo (annual) | 1,000/mo | 1 | 3 days |
| Business | $15/mo (annual) | 5,000/mo | 3 | 15 days |
| Growth | $25/mo (annual) | 10,000/mo | 5 | 30 days |
| Scale | Custom | 20,000+/mo | 20 | 30 days |
Annual billing only; no monthly option. 14-day money-back guarantee.
Where SendLayer sits relative to the broader transactional category at each tier:
- 1,000 emails/month: SMTP2GO offers this free with no expiry and no credit card. SendLayer charges $5/month ($60/year).
- 5,000 emails/month: Brevo offers 9,000/month free with a 300/day cap. SendLayer charges $15/month.
- 10,000 emails/month: SMTP2GO Starter covers this for $10/month with 30-day logs. SendLayer Growth is $25/month for the same volume and retention.
- At scale: Postmark provides 10,000 emails for $15/month with 45-day log retention on the entry tier and no domain limits. Mailgun starts at $15/month for 10,000 with dedicated IP eligibility.
Evaluation is a one-time 200-email trial rather than an ongoing free tier; competitors with ongoing free tiers include SMTP2GO, Brevo, and Resend (3,000/month), and longer trial windows exist at Mailgun (100/day for 30 days) and Amazon SES (3,000/month trial).
Log retention scales with tier: 3 days on Starter, 15 days on Business, 30 days on Growth. For comparison, SMTP2GO’s permanent free tier includes 5-day retention, and Postmark Basic starts at 45 days.
DNS authentication
SendLayer requires domain authorisation before sending. The process adds SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records to your domain’s DNS. SendLayer’s documentation provides the specific record values after you add a domain to your account.
Note: some hosting providers automatically append your domain to the hostname field when adding DNS records. If the provided record already includes your domain, remove the domain portion before adding it; otherwise you get a doubled domain (e.g., sendlayer._domainkey.example.com.example.com).
After DNS setup, test with swaks that messages pass SPF and DKIM alignment. For general DNS setup help, see our WordPress email DNS guide.
WordPress integration
Easy WP SMTP – SendLayer is listed as the “recommended” mailer in Easy WP SMTP (500,000+ active installs, also Awesome Motive). The plugin offers a “Quick Connect” option that configures SendLayer with an API key in two clicks. This is the path most users encounter, since Easy WP SMTP’s setup wizard steers toward SendLayer by default.
WP Mail SMTP – WP Mail SMTP (the market-leading mailer plugin, also Awesome Motive) includes SendLayer as a native mailer option alongside 13 other supported providers.
Generic SMTP – Any mailer plugin (FluentSMTP, Post SMTP) can connect via the SMTP settings above. This is the path for users who prefer a plugin without commercial ties to SendLayer’s parent company.
The Awesome Motive ecosystem
SendLayer, WP Mail SMTP, Easy WP SMTP, and WPBeginner all sit under Syed Balkhi’s Awesome Motive. The two plugins (4.5M+ combined active installs) list SendLayer as a native mailer, and WPBeginner tutorials commonly point at the same stack. The tight plugin integration is a genuine convenience for a reader arriving through that path. The corporate relationship matters here because a SendLayer recommendation encountered inside Easy WP SMTP or on WPBeginner is an ecosystem recommendation, not an independent editorial one – the price and feature comparison above lands differently once that context is on the table. The parallel elsewhere in WordPress is unremarkable (Jetpack points at WordPress.com, Yoast at Semrush).
nanoPost has no commercial relationship with any provider reviewed on this site.
Verdict
SendLayer fits sites already standardised on the Awesome Motive stack (WP Mail SMTP or Easy WP SMTP) that want the shortest route from plugin install to a working relay and are comfortable with annual-only billing. Easy WP SMTP’s Quick Connect flow is the fastest configuration path in the category, and the entry tier at $5/month sits at the low end of paid transactional pricing. For that reader, SendLayer is a reasonable default and does not require thinking about the sending platform once it is set up.
Sites choosing purely on cost will find alternatives cheaper: SMTP2GO is free at 1,000/month and $10/month at 10,000; Postmark is $15/month for 10,000 with 45-day log retention on the entry tier; Resend is free at 3,000/month. Sites that want longer log retention on the entry tier, published infrastructure detail (shared vs dedicated IPs, geographic distribution), or a mailer that is not commercially tied to the relay will find those elsewhere in the category.
For the broader setup that places SendLayer inside the WordPress email stack, see the WordPress email setup guide.
Pricing and tier structure verified August 2026 against sendlayer.com/pricing. Corporate relationship confirmed via wordpress.org contributor profiles and Easy WP SMTP plugin listing. SMTP hostname from SendLayer documentation (confirm current values in your dashboard).