Twelve options on one screen is eleven too many when you just want to send. Here is the short version.
Pick by situation:
- Testing the plugin today: WordPress wp_mail. No setup. Change it before you mail anyone real.
- A list in the thousands or tens of thousands, and cost matters: Amazon SES. Cheapest by far at around ten cents per thousand, and the most work to set up.
- You want it working in ten minutes: SMTP2GO or Resend.
- Arriving in the inbox matters more than the bill: Postmark.
- You already pay for a mail service: use the custom SMTP option and keep what you have.
- Your data must stay in the EU: Mailgun EU, SparkPost EU, Mailjet or Brevo.
Three rules that matter more than the logo:
- Authenticate your domain. SPF, DKIM and DMARC decide whether you reach the inbox far more than the service you pay. The Deliverability screen in this plugin checks yours and tells you what is missing.
- Start slow on a new account. Every provider treats a brand new sender with suspicion. Warmup on a connection starts small and climbs daily, which is exactly what they want to see.
- Mail people who asked for it. The fastest way to lose any sending account is a bought or long dormant list. Clean old lists with Verify Leads first.
You are not locked in:
Connections are just saved settings. Add a second one whenever you like, and the Sending screen can rotate sends between them, evenly or weighted, with each one warming up at its own pace and holding its own daily limit. Many people start on an easy provider and add Amazon SES later once volume makes the saving worth the setup.