We strongly recommend using a dedicated email service. Email server setup and maintenance is very difficult even for experienced system administrators, and getting any part of the complex required email setup wrong means your email won't be delivered, or worse, delivered erratically.
The following are template configurations for email service providers known to work with Discourse.
The pricing information is included as a courtesy, and may be out of date. Discourse does not control the pricing for external services, be sure to check with the email provider for up to date pricing information.
Please note that in any email provider, you must verify and use the subdomain, e.g. discourse.example.com. If you verify the domain only, e.g. example.com, mail will not be configured correctly.
Enter these values when prompted by ./discourse-setup per the install guide. To change the current email service, run ./discourse-setup as well (this will bring the forum offline for a few minutes while it gets rebuilt).
Brevo, previously SendInBlue, GDPR — 9,000 email per month free
SMTP server address? smtp-relay.brevo.com
SMTP user name? [SMTP credentials for your domain under [SMTP-Key tab](https://app.brevo.com/settings/keys/smtp)]
SMTP password? [SMTP credentials for your domain under [SMTP-Key tab](https://app.brevo.com/settings/keys/smtp)]
Port: 587
Mailgun — 5k emails/month on a 3 month trial
SMTP server address? smtp.mailgun.org
SMTP user name? [SMTP credentials for your domain under domains tab]
SMTP password? [SMTP credentials for your domain under domains tab]
SendGrid — 40k emails on a 30 day trial
SMTP server address? smtp.sendgrid.net
SMTP user name? apikey
SMTP password? [SendGrid API Key]
We recommend creating an API Key instead of using your SendGrid username and password.
Mailjet — 6k emails/month (200 max/day)
Go to My Account page and click on the "SMTP and SEND API Settings" link to generate a secret key and get the SMTP server address.
SMTP server address? [Mailjet SMTP server address]
SMTP username? [Mailjet API key]
SMTP password? [Mailjet secret key]
SMTP server address? smtp.elasticemail.com
SMTP user name? [Your registered email address]
SMTP password? [Elastic Email API Key]
SMTP port? 2525
NOTE: By default, Elastic Email will add an additional UNSUBSCRIBE link at the bottom of each sent email. You need to work with them to disable that link, so that Discourse users can manage their subscription through Discourse.
When using a third party email service, you will need to enable VERP, or activate their webhooks in order to handle bouncing emails. Full details here.