Email Delivery (SMTP)

Why this exists

By default, WordPress sends email through the server's own mail() function, which a lot of hosts either block outright or deliver inconsistently — notification emails silently landing in spam, or never arriving at all, is one of the most common (and hardest to notice) failure modes for any WordPress form plugin. ChargeForms → Global Settings → Email Delivery connects a real SMTP provider so every notification, confirmation, and double opt-in email actually goes out through infrastructure built for deliverability instead of your host's default mail setup.

Connecting a provider

Supported out of the box: Gmail, Microsoft 365, Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Brevo, Postmark, Zoho, or any custom SMTP server. Add your provider's credentials, then send a real test email from the same screen before relying on it — confirming delivery actually works is the whole point, not just that the settings saved without an error.

Credentials are stored encrypted, not in plain text alongside the rest of a form's settings.

Delivery logging

Every send attempt is logged — not just "sent," but the actual delivery outcome, so a bounced or rejected email is something you can see and act on rather than a submission that silently never reached anyone. A failed delivery is retried automatically rather than treated as a one-shot attempt that either works or is lost.

Free vs. paid

One SMTP connection is included on the free plan — enough for most single-site setups. Paid plans support multiple SMTP connections, useful if different forms need to send through different providers or sender identities (a support form sending through one address, a sales form through another).

Where this fits with notifications

Email Delivery is the transport layer — it doesn't change what gets sent, only how reliably it's delivered. See Payments and the webhooks documentation for what triggers a notification in the first place; this page is specifically about making sure it arrives.