Best/Easiest SMTP to setup?

[Okenyon]

Hey guys, since switching our hosting to Digital Ocean I can't seem to get email to send or work.

So i'll grab a SMTP service.

It's been a while, I used to use Pepipost and SES.

Which is the best and easiest to setup these days?

If you say one kindly post a link to setup guide if you have one, not the most technical.

I always remember SES being tricky to setup.

Thanks.

 

[m1ne]

Postmarkapp.

 

[ichpen]

sendgrid, ses still cheapest I think and very solid

 

[JOGARA]

I try not to support Amazon but SES is a really good service.
Yes there are a few steps but you can literally get it working within 10 mins.

Like why pay for other services £5-10 a month when free tier gives you 50-60k a month for free.
We spend £1-2 a month on email and are sending out quite a few.

 

[Okenyon]

I try not to support Amazon but SES is a really good service.
Yes there are a few steps but you can literally get it working within 10 mins.

Like why pay for other services £5-10 a month when free tier gives you 50-60k a month for free.
We spend £1-2 a month on email and are sending out quite a few.

Thank you, have you seen any decent guides to setting SES up with XF?

 

[dknife]

sendgrid, ses still cheapest I think and very solid

Sendgrid makes little sense from a cost perspective compared to SES, at least from just sending emails. Unless you're sending <100 emails/day, it's $15 minimum a month. I pay <$1/month for all registration and notification emails on SES.

 

[dknife]

Thank you, have you seen any decent guides to setting SES up with XF?

It's just an SMTP configuration, nothing special is required.

 

[ichpen]

Sendgrid makes little sense from a cost perspective compared to SES, at least from just sending emails. Unless you're sending <100 emails/day, it's $15 minimum a month. I pay <$1/month for all registration and notification emails on SES.

I didn't say sendgrid was price competitive, it still offers a totally free tier if you're into saving pennies vs SES. SES still cheapest volume wise. I've had zero issues with SES and reliability is high so definitely gets my reco.

 

[Mouth]

Which is the best and easiest to setup these days?

Best and easiest, but also cheapest? Configure XF to use Gmail, eg. https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-google-s-smtp-server Do take note of the sending limits at the bottom of the page (100 per day). If you're going to be sending more than that, then external services as others have recommended.

 

[motowebmaster]

I was using SES until recently, which was very inexpensive but had some problems and went to Postmark. It is more money, but life has been simpler.

 

[Rdimaggio]

sendgrid, ses still cheapest I think and very solid

do they allow you to have more than one domain set-up in a single account?

 

[NickH]

I tried to use SES but they said they couldn't approve my account just for forum emails

 

[TPerry]

I tried to use SES but they said they couldn't approve my account just for forum emails

Did you refer to them as transactional emails, or actually said "forum emails"? Sometimes it simply takes playing the word games to get approved.
I had no issue getting approved for my transactional emails (in reality, forum related).

 

[ecsuser]

Yeah, I was denied also. Do not check transactional or mention anything about forum notifications. Honestly, why provide a commercial or paid-for service if you aren't going to allow commercial enterprises to take part? I know - their sandbox, their rules.

 

[TPerry]

Apparently they've gotten stricter... I had no issues getting signed up and out of the sandbox when I did it about a year ago. Wonder if it's because of more abuse... I know their "regular" SES IP has been on a few spam lists (nothing major though).

 

[ecsuser]

@Tracy Perry

Interestingly, while in the SES sandbox - although I could test an outbound email (tools -> test outbound email) and it was successful / received. no other notifications would flow.

Switching back to my original SMTP provider (no-ip.com), eventually delivered those missing notifications. Albeit hours later. So there is some queuing going on within Xenforo.

This testing was done within the last week.

 

[TPerry]

Interestingly, while in the SES sandbox - although I could test an outbound email (tools -> test outbound email) and it was successful / received. no other notifications would flow.

That's not that unusual in the Sandbox.. they really restrict it.
I know I've seen where several have been having issues getting approved.... I guess I got in at a good time.

 

[Jja]

Got approved and moved out from ses sandbox right after my first mail for approval, it was month ago.
So it looks like your approval was "wrong".

 

[ecsuser]

Got approved and moved out from ses sandbox right after my first mail for approval, it was month ago.
So it looks like your approval was "wrong".

Not sure what you mean by 'wrong' - here is their denial email dated 8-26-2023

Hello,

Thank you for submitting your request to increase your sending limits. We are unable to grant your request at this time.

We reviewed your request and determined that your use of Amazon SES could have a negative impact on our service. We are denying this request to prevent other Amazon SES customers from experiencing interruptions in service.

For security purposes, we are unable to provide specific details.

If you can provide additional information about how you plan to use Amazon SES, we might be able to grant your request. You can provide this information by replying to this message. In your response, include as much detail as you can about your email-sending processes and procedures.

For example, tell us how often you send email, how you maintain your recipient lists, and how you manage bounces, complaints, and unsubscribe requests. It is also helpful to provide examples of the email you plan to send so we can ensure that you are sending high-quality content.

For more information about our policies, please review the AWS Acceptable Use Policy ( http://aws.amazon.com/aup/ ) and AWS Service Terms ( http://aws.amazon.com/serviceterms/ ).

Thank you for contacting Amazon Web Services.

We value your feedback. Please share your experience by rating this and other correspondences in the AWS Support Center. You can rate a correspondence by selecting the stars in the top right corner of the correspondence.

Best regards,
Trust and Safety

 

[ecsuser]

Not sure what you mean by 'wrong' - here is their denial email dated 8-26-2023

Hello,

Thank you for submitting your request to increase your sending limits. We are unable to grant your request at this time.

We reviewed your request and determined that your use of Amazon SES could have a negative impact on our service. We are denying this request to prevent other Amazon SES customers from experiencing interruptions in service.

For security purposes, we are unable to provide specific details.

If you can provide additional information about how you plan to use Amazon SES, we might be able to grant your request. You can provide this information by replying to this message. In your response, include as much detail as you can about your email-sending processes and procedures.

For example, tell us how often you send email, how you maintain your recipient lists, and how you manage bounces, complaints, and unsubscribe requests. It is also helpful to provide examples of the email you plan to send so we can ensure that you are sending high-quality content.

For more information about our policies, please review the AWS Acceptable Use Policy ( http://aws.amazon.com/aup/ ) and AWS Service Terms ( http://aws.amazon.com/serviceterms/ ).

Thank you for contacting Amazon Web Services.

We value your feedback. Please share your experience by rating this and other correspondences in the AWS Support Center. You can rate a correspondence by selecting the stars in the top right corner of the correspondence.

Best regards,
Trust and Safety

Could be an anti-gun play on their part too I suppose (https://hkproshop.com)

Anybody ever have luck appealing their decision?