What sort of advantages or disadvantages can you see from setting up and running your own SMTP server?
- Pro: No sending volume limits. Many email service providers and internet service providers (ISPs) limit your daily emails, as do some web hosts. When you have your own dedicated SMTP, you can send as many emails as you need on an hourly or daily basis.
- Pro: Fully monitor email delivery. No matter what happens to your email after you hit send, you will receive helpful delivery information. You can see if your messages were sent to the recipient and examine any error codes.
- Pro: Your email list is private. Another advantage of running your own SMTP is that you don't have to share email list information with anyone, maintaining your company's and your customer's data privacy.
- Con: Can take more time, money, and effort. Running an SMTP server requires a lot of resources: you'll constantly need to monitor that everything is up and running, and may even need to hire a dedicated specialist or team and that's after you set up the server itself, which is a whole other story. For many businesses, this is simply too costly.
- Con: It's local. Another disadvantage to running your own SMTP server is that it's local, so it will be vulnerable to power outages or internet connectivity issues in your area. You can set up backup servers and failsafe protections, but again, this requires technical know-how.
- Con: You might experience deliverability and security issues. Unless sending to specific/limited receivers, it will take time to get the deliverability just right, especially when your email volume changes. Plus, you'll have to protect your email server from unauthorized access and spam¡Xand that can be a real challenge. That's the big advantage of using a third-party service: they already have all of that stuff figured out, and have specific processes for detecting when adjustments are needed.
Speaking of which...
Recommended way of using SMTP for sending outgoing mails from your website
SMTP Mailer is the easiest SMTP plugin for WordPress. It allows you to configure an SMTP server to send email from your website. SMTP Mailer enhances the default WordPress mail ("wp_mail") function by letting you connect to a remote SMPT server to send an email instead of doing it from your web server. This reduces heavy load from your server and increases email deliverability.
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