When WordPress mail starts landing in spam, most people install an SMTP plugin. The best known are WP Mail SMTP, on more than four million sites, and FluentSMTP, which is completely free. Both do the delivery job well. Flux Mail goes a step further: the look of every e-mail, an inbox, and WhatsApp and SMS in the same place. This post compares the three.
The short answer
- WP Mail SMTP offers 18 mailers in the free version. Email logs, a backup connection and alerts are in Pro.
- FluentSMTP is entirely free, including email logs, multiple connections and a fallback connection.
- Flux Mail handles sending and puts every e-mail of the site into one branded template, with subject, heading, text and button editable per e-mail. The info@ inbox comes into the admin, and WhatsApp and SMS are sent from the same place.
- Choose a competitor if delivery is your only problem, or you need a provider API such as SendGrid, Mailgun or Amazon SES.
Comparison table
| WP Mail SMTP / FluentSMTP | Flux Mail | |
|---|---|---|
| Sending | SMTP and many provider APIs in both. | SMTP; a button that fills in Hostinger settings; a separate no-reply@ account that falls back to info@. |
| Email log | Pro in WP Mail SMTP. Free in FluentSMTP. | Free. E-mail, WhatsApp and SMS logged with content, status and error. |
| Backup connection | Pro in WP Mail SMTP. Free in FluentSMTP. | Yes: info@ if no-reply@ fails. |
| E-mail template | Neither. | One branded, mobile-friendly template for WordPress, WooCommerce and FluxWP e-mails, with desktop, phone and dark-mode previews. |
| Turn individual e-mails on or off | In WP Mail SMTP Pro. | Yes; subject, heading, text and button editable per e-mail. |
| Inbox | None; they only send. | info@ over IMAP in the admin: read, reply, forward, drafts, AI-written reply drafts. |
| WhatsApp and SMS | None. | WhatsApp via Evolution API, Flux WPAPI or Cloud API; SMS via Netgsm. |
| DNS check | Domain check in WP Mail SMTP. | SPF, DKIM and DMARC check. |
More than delivery: the e-mail itself
Out of the box WordPress sends plain text from wordpress@, and every plugin’s e-mail looks different. SMTP plugins make sure the mail arrives but do not touch how it looks. Flux Mail lists every e-mail in one place: WordPress’, WooCommerce’s and those of the FluxWP plugins. Turn each on or off, change its text, preview it on desktop, phone and dark mode and send yourself a test. Logo, colours and footer are set once, and images are embedded so every mail program shows them.
Replies need somewhere to go
When a donor replies to their certificate e-mail, someone has to see it. Flux Mail brings info@ into the admin over IMAP, with unread and system-mail filters, stars, attachments, reply, forward and drafts. Replies written with AI wait for approval before they go out.
Shared hosting limits
Shared hosts such as Hostinger cap daily sends and recipients per message. Flux Mail sends bulk mail through a background queue that respects those limits, so one announcement does not block the rest of the site’s e-mail.
When a competitor is the better choice
- You need a provider API. SendGrid, Mailgun, Amazon SES, Brevo and others are ready in WP Mail SMTP and FluentSMTP. Flux Mail works over SMTP.
- Delivery is your only problem. FluentSMTP is free and solves it completely, with logs and a fallback connection.
- You repeat the same setup across many sites. WP Mail SMTP’s setup wizard and documentation are extensive.
Frequently asked questions
Can I run Flux Mail next to an SMTP plugin?
It is cleaner when one plugin does the sending. If you do not use Flux Mail’s SMTP settings, you can still install it for templates and logs.
Why do e-mails end up in spam?
Usually because an SPF, DKIM or DMARC record is missing. Flux Mail’s DNS check looks at all three.
Bottom line
WP Mail SMTP and FluentSMTP are good tools for getting mail delivered. If you want e-mails that look like your site, replies that land in the admin and WhatsApp and SMS managed from the same place, Flux Mail covers the whole path in one plugin.
Sources
- WP Mail SMTP on wordpress.org (free and Pro features)
