Connect your own SMTP or sending service
On an Own SMTP plan, send through your own SMTP, Gmail or Workspace, Amazon SES, Elastic Email, SendGrid, Mailgun or SparkPost.
On an Own SMTP plan, your campaigns go out through an email service you already use, and that service delivers them. You can connect up to 5 sending servers.
Before you start
- You need an Own SMTP plan. On other plans SendCoop sends for you and the Sending servers page isn’t shown.
- Have your provider’s connection details ready: either the SMTP host, port, username and password, or an API key.
- Authenticate your sending domain at your provider (SPF and DKIM), and add a DMARC record.
Add a sending server
- Go to Settings → Deliverability → Sending servers.
- Click Add server and pick your provider.
- Enter a Server name you’ll recognise, then the connection details (see the table below).
- Click Test connection. If it fails, check the host, port, encryption and password.
- Click Send test email and send one to yourself.
- Set the Sending limit a little below what your provider allows, then save.
Your campaigns and automations now send through this server. With more than one active server, SendCoop spreads the sending across them.
Settings for common providers
| Provider | Type in SendCoop | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Namecheap Private Email | SMTP | Host mail.privateemail.com, port 465 with SSL (or 587 with TLS), your full mailbox address and its password |
| Gmail or Google Workspace | SMTP | Host smtp.gmail.com, port 587 with TLS, your Google address and an app password (turn on 2-Step Verification first) |
| Amazon SES | Amazon SES (API) | AWS access key ID, secret access key and region. Your SES account needs production access |
| Elastic Email | Elastic Email (API) | Your Elastic Email API key |
| SendGrid | SendGrid (API) | Your SendGrid API key |
| Mailgun | Mailgun (API) | API key, sending domain and region (US or EU) |
| SparkPost | SparkPost (API) | API key and endpoint |
| Any other SMTP server | SMTP | SMTP host, port, encryption, username and password from your host or mail server |
Sending limits to respect
Your provider decides how much you can send. Set each server’s Sending limit just under it so campaigns are paced instead of rejected.
| Provider | Typical limit | Suggested sending limit |
|---|---|---|
| Namecheap Private Email | 500 an hour per mailbox | 450 an hour |
| Gmail | About 500 a day | 450 a day |
| Google Workspace | About 2,000 a day per user | 1,800 a day |
| Amazon SES and other API services | Your account’s quota | Your quota |
Mailbox services such as Private Email, Gmail and Workspace are meant for small opt-in newsletters, not bulk sending. For larger lists, use a sending service like Amazon SES.
Bounces and complaints
- API services (Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, SparkPost, Elastic Email) report bounces and complaints back automatically.
- Plain SMTP can’t report bounces. Open the server, set up a Bounce handler mailbox, and SendCoop removes bounced addresses from your lists.
Troubleshooting
- Test connection fails: check the port and encryption pair (465 with SSL, 587 with TLS), then the username and password. For Gmail, use an app password, not your normal password.
- Emails land in spam: make sure your domain’s SPF and DKIM records come from the provider you connected, and add DMARC.
- Sending stops partway: you’ve probably hit your provider’s limit. Lower the server’s Sending limit and send again later.
Related
Still need help? Email hello@sendcoop.com and we usually reply within one business day.