Comparison
VuloMail vs FluentSMTP.
FluentSMTP is VuloMail’s closest match and a genuinely strong plugin: completely free, with a log, a fallback connection, failure alerts, Google and Microsoft sign-in and WP-CLI. If you only need email, it does more than VuloMail does today. VuloMail’s difference is SMS: store and customer texts for WooCommerce, alongside a wider list of email services and privacy-first defaults.
At a glance
The numbers, side by side.
From the WordPress.org plugin directory on 13 October 2026. VuloMail is new: it was listed on 12 Oct 2026, so it has no install base or reviews yet. Weigh that against the feature list below.
Active installs
Under 10 (new)
700K+
Rating
No reviews yet
4.8/ 5 · 407 reviews
Current version
1.0.0
2.4.1
Last updated
12 Oct 2026
27 Sep 2026
On WordPress.org since
12 Oct 2026
18 Jan 2021
Requires
WordPress 6.4+ · PHP 7.4+
WordPress 6.5+ · PHP 7.4+
Tested up to
WordPress 7.1.3
WordPress 7.1.3
Features
What’s free, and what isn’t.
Each row says whether FluentSMTP includes a feature in its free plugin, keeps it for a paid plan, or doesn’t offer it. VuloMail has no paid plan, so everything it does is included.
Sending
Email services built in
VuloMail
22 email APIs, plus 18 one-click SMTP presets
FluentSMTP
14 API connections, including Cloudflare and toSend
Any SMTP server
VuloMail
FluentSMTP
Gmail / Google Workspace
VuloMail
SMTP preset with an app password; no Google sign-in
FluentSMTP
Google sign-in (OAuth), no password stored
Microsoft 365 / Outlook
VuloMail
SMTP preset with an app password; no Microsoft sign-in
FluentSMTP
Microsoft Graph with OAuth
Amazon SES
VuloMail
SMTP preset
FluentSMTP
All SES regions
Sends through your own provider account
VuloMail
FluentSMTP
Rules that route emails to different providers
VuloMail
One primary and one backup for all email
FluentSMTP
By From address
Reliability & visibility
Backup connection when the primary fails
VuloMail
Plus WordPress's own mailer as a last resort
FluentSMTP
Log of every email sent
VuloMail
Email and SMS in one log
FluentSMTP
Full headers, body and server response
Resend from the log
VuloMail
When message-content storage is switched on
FluentSMTP
To any recipient
Alert when an email fails
VuloMail
By SMS, at most one text every 15 minutes
FluentSMTP
Telegram, Slack, Discord, Pushover
Sender-domain DNS check (SPF/DMARC)
VuloMail
Checked from your own server
FluentSMTP
Open / click tracking
VuloMail
FluentSMTP
SMS
Text-message (SMS) alerts
VuloMail
Twilio, Vonage, Plivo or Clickatell
FluentSMTP
WooCommerce order & stock texts to you
VuloMail
Orders, failed payments, refunds, stock, reviews
FluentSMTP
Order-update texts to customers
VuloMail
Processing, completed, refunded, cancelled, notes
FluentSMTP
Admin
WP-CLI commands
VuloMail
FluentSMTP
Test, health, stats, prune logs
Multisite network settings
VuloMail
Not documented
FluentSMTP
Pricing
What it costs.
Plugin prices only. Your email or SMS provider bills you separately with either plugin, except where noted.
VuloMail
$0
No paid plan, no account, no limits set by VuloMail. Every feature on this page is in the free plugin.
FluentSMTP
Free version: Everything. FluentSMTP has no paid version and says it never will.
No paid plans. WPManageNinja has pledged FluentSMTP as part of its Five for the Future contribution.
Strengths
Where each one wins.
We list theirs first. If one of these matters most to you, it should decide it.
- Sign in with Google and Microsoft (OAuth), so no mailbox password is stored. VuloMail's Gmail and Microsoft presets use app passwords.
- Failure alerts to Telegram, Slack, Discord and Pushover, plus a daily health check of every connection.
- Route different From addresses to different providers, and manage it all from WP-CLI.
- Option to keep credentials in wp-config.php instead of the database.
- A five-year track record: 700,000 active installs and 407 reviews averaging 4.8 out of 5.
- SMS is built in: 18 alerts for your site and WooCommerce store, including order updates texted to customers. FluentSMTP has no SMS at all.
- More email services: 22 email APIs and 18 SMTP presets, including Mailjet, MailerSend, Mailtrap, Mandrill, Resend, SendLayer, ZeptoMail, SocketLabs and SendPulse, which FluentSMTP doesn't list.
- Privacy defaults: message bodies aren't stored unless you opt in, recipients can be masked, and old entries prune themselves after 30 days.
- If both connections fail, WordPress's own mailer can still try as a last resort, and every attempt appears on a single log row.
- A sender-domain check for SPF and DMARC records in Diagnostics.
Verdict
Which one should you pick?
Choose FluentSMTP if
- You only need email, and want Google or Microsoft sign-in, WP-CLI or Slack and Telegram alerts.
- You want to route different senders to different providers.
Choose VuloMail if
- You also want SMS alerts, or texts to WooCommerce customers, without adding a second plugin.
- Your provider is one FluentSMTP doesn't support natively, such as Mailjet, Resend or ZeptoMail.
- You'd rather not store email bodies, which can contain password-reset links, by default.
Switching
Moving from FluentSMTP.
Add the same account
Add the provider you use in FluentSMTP as a VuloMail connection. Nothing changes until you set it as primary.
Set it as primary
Optionally add a backup connection, so a second provider takes over if the first fails.
Send a test
Tools → Send a test email goes through live routing. Diagnostics confirms your SPF and DMARC records.
Deactivate FluentSMTP
Two plugins handling the same email compete for it. VuloMail's Diagnostics flags any it recognises.
Sources & method
Checked on 13 October 2026. Plugin numbers come from the WordPress.org plugin directory; features and prices come from each vendor's own listing and pricing pages. Products change, so check the vendor's current page before you decide.
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