Reasonably priced SMTP provider for hobby project?
Can anyone recommend some providers that you've checked personally?
I want to use it only to send email confirmation, password reset etc.
26 Replies
what's your techstack?
React with TS and Django REST Framework
You can send your smtp requests from anywhere. If you need something simple and cheap you could just send them from the same server that your website is hosted on. Will just have to do all the spoof protection stuff in your domain records
Outgoing mail is pretty simple. Incoming is where boys turn into men (or give up like me because my isp just blocks those ports)
all isps block those ports
they block it to reduce the risk of people using an home network to just spam
besides, don't all residential isps get blacklisted?
I was able to send outgoing mail just fine
but was it received?
Yup
im surprised
but yeah, the server where this is hosted is the best place to send the emails from
assuming you can do it
you would have to check the conditions of your host
hmm, so what is the point of custom SMTPs then?
If I have a domain at Cloudflare I can just configure it in Django to use it as a host?
we can't answer that
but the idea of using other smtps is for their reputation or because of what i said before
so if I only plan to send verification emails for example and not just spam promotion emails,
or any messages of that kind I should be good without custom SMTP?
we can't answer that
again, read what your hosting provides you
how come? Is the question too stupid too broad or what?
we don't have enough knowledge on what you're paying for
will start searching there, thanks for the help 🙂
if your host provider has smtp, read about the limits
some have limits so small that are basically useless
some don't even give you an smtp
If "hobby project" means this is a self hosted site for yourself and a few friends, it's not a huge deal if your emails might land in spam. Besides reputation though, bandwidth can also be a thing. If you send out tons of emails on the scale of a large web app with millions of users, yeah you'll want a dedicated server just for emails. But as always, keep it stupid simple. Just send locally first, if it becomes an issue, add complexity later
the thing is: do we know if the host even lets you send emails?
No but my point is just to try that first before adding complexity. If it doesnt work then look for alternatives
and that was my suggestion, but he needs to find out if he has smtp access first
it should be in the agreement that was "signed"
I checked it as you suggested. And my host doesn't provide this option. I have it on Render. Or rather I will have it because at the moment my one free tier slot is occupied by other project that I am planning to shut down.
More or less. Like I said in previous comment it's on Render, but it's going to be for friends and family first. The emails so far will be send only to confirm email provided in the registration form, so yes I can just directly ask them to check their spam folder.
you can check mailchimp, which i think that lets you use smtp - and it gas a free tier
just google "mailchimp smtp" and read the documentation
thanks, that free tier looks very promising and at first glance it's exactly what I was looking for.
Have you tried their service yourself? How's reliability?
it is reliable enough, since their services are used by a crapton of people - more than you imagine
my work insurance company uses it for their automated emails
try resend.com
amazon also has an smtp service