Gravity Forms SMTP 2.1.6 – for WordPress

I’ve tested Gravity Forms SMTP on three production sites, and it solves one specific problem: WordPress’s built-in wp_mail() function is unreliable. Emails get lost in spam folders or never arrive at all because shared hosting often blocks outbound mail or lacks proper authentication (SPF/DKIM).

Gravity SMTP intercepts every email leaving your site—form notifications, password resets, user registrations, plugin notifications—and routes it through a dedicated SMTP provider instead. You pick SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Gmail, Brevo, or any service with SMTP credentials. The plugin handles authentication, logging, and delivery tracking.

The catch: you need an active Gravity Forms Elite license to download and use it. It’s not free, and it’s tied to the Gravity ecosystem even though you don’t technically need Gravity Forms installed on the site.

How It Hooks Into WordPress

Gravity Forms SMTP works by filtering the wp_mail() function at the WordPress core level. When any plugin or theme calls wp_mail(), the plugin intercepts that call before PHP’s default mail handler touches it. The actual SMTP credentials and provider settings live in the WordPress options table (wp_options), encrypted with WordPress salts.

The settings page sits in WordPress Admin → Gravity SMTP (or within your Gravity Forms account if you’re using the bundled version). You input:

• SMTP host, port, authentication type
• Username and password (stored encrypted)
• Return address and display name

The plugin maintains a local log in the database. I’ve found this useful for debugging—you can see which emails failed, why, and when. The log doesn’t clutter your filesystem; it’s all DB-backed, which means it respects WordPress backups automatically.

One thing I noticed: if you change WordPress security salts (which you shouldn’t do lightly), stored SMTP passwords become unreadable. You’ll need to re-enter credentials. This is by design—it’s actually safer than storing plaintext passwords, but it’s a gotcha if you’re migrating sites or rotating salts.

Real Conflicts & Fixes

Conflict 1: Other SMTP plugins fighting for control

If you have WP Mail SMTP or similar plugins active, both will try to filter wp_mail(). Gravity SMTP doesn’t always win that battle depending on plugin load order.

Fix: Deactivate competing SMTP plugins entirely. Gravity Forms SMTP is a complete replacement. Check Plugins → Installed Plugins and remove WP Mail SMTP, Easy WP SMTP, or similar. If you’re testing both, disable all but one.

Conflict 2: Custom wp_mail() calls with malformed arguments

Some older plugins or custom code pass arguments to wp_mail() that don’t match WordPress standards. Gravity SMTP’s parser chokes on these edge cases.

Fix: Check your site logs (/wp-content/debug.log if WP_DEBUG is enabled). Look for warnings about malformed email arguments. Usually it’s a plugin passing headers as a string instead of an array. Contact that plugin’s support or update it.

Conflict 3: Shared hosting with firewall rules blocking outbound SMTP

Even with Gravity SMTP configured, emails fail silently if your host blocks port 587 or 465 outbound.

Fix: Test connectivity before configuring the plugin. SSH into your server and run:

telnet your-smtp-host.com 587

If it hangs or times out, contact your host. Most reputable hosts (Kinsta, WP Engine, Bluehost) allow SMTP outbound by default. If blocked, ask them to whitelist your provider’s IP range.

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Activation & License Behavior

Gravity Forms SMTP requires an active Gravity Forms Elite license. Without it, the plugin won’t appear in your WordPress admin at all.

• Auto-updates: Included with Elite. Updates pull from Gravity’s servers automatically.
• Manual updates: If you ever need to update offline, download the .zip