We Used Mailtrap for SMTP Mailboxes: Here's Our Review (2026)
When I needed SMTP mailboxes for sending emails, I didn’t want a long setup or unclear limits.
That’s why I decided to use Mailtrap.
Do you want to know how Mailtrap actually works for SMTP mailboxes in day-to-day use?
In this Mailtrap review, I share my experience using Mailtrap for SMTP mailboxes.
I focus on setup, SMTP sending, email limits, logs, and how the overall experience looks in 2026.
Read this full review to understand whether Mailtrap fits your SMTP needs.
Key Takeaways
- Mailtrap is an email testing and sending tool that lets you send emails through SMTP or Email API and monitor how they behave.
- It works well when you are managing a small number of domains and inboxes.
- Email Sandbox is useful for testing emails before they go live.
- Sending limits, domains, and features depend on the selected plan.
- Mailtrap is not designed for large-scale mailbox or domain management.
- As email usage grows, the main challenge often shifts from sending to infrastructure setup.
- Infraforge is the best option when the need is to set up and manage domains and inboxes at scale, rather than just send emails.
Get Infraforge! Create and manage domains and inboxes at scale from just $3 to $4 per mailbox.
What Is Mailtrap and What It Offers
Mailtrap is a modern email delivery platform built for developer and product teams that need both email testing and email sending in one place.
Mailtrap offers two core products.
The Email Sandbox is used to test emails safely in development and staging environments without sending them to real inboxes.
The Email API and SMTP service is used to send transactional and promotional emails through SMTP or API.
For SMTP mailboxes, Mailtrap gives you SMTP access, domain-based sending, plan-based email limits, and dashboards to see what happens after emails are sent.
You can check email logs, track opens and clicks, and look at deliverability-related data.
SMTP Mailbox Setup: How It Works
Here’s how to set up SMTP mailboxes in Mailtrap, step by step.
Step 1: Choose Email API/SMTP
You start by selecting the Email API/SMTP product.
This is used for sending real emails.
Step 2: Get SMTP credentials
Mailtrap provides SMTP credentials that you can copy and use in your app or email service to connect to the SMTP relay.
Step 3: Add your sending domain
Add your domain for sending emails.
The number of domains you can add depends on the plan you are on.
Step 4: Choose how you send emails
You can send emails using a standard SMTP connection or use the Email API.
Step 5: Start sending and monitor activity
Once emails start sending, you can view email logs, limits, and tracking details in the dashboard based on your plan.
Testing emails stay inside the Email Sandbox, while real emails are sent through SMTP.
Both are managed from the same platform.
For me, the setup felt clear and easy to follow, with everything needed available in one place.
How Sending Works in Mailtrap
Once SMTP is active, every email sent through Mailtrap follows a fixed and controlled flow.
- Your own system, such as a web app, backend service, or product server, creates an email when an action happens, like a signup or notification
- That email is sent from your system to Mailtrap using SMTP or the Email API.
- Mailtrap receives the email and applies the sending rules of your selected plan.
- Email throttling controls how quickly the email is sent.
- The email is delivered within the daily and monthly sending limits of your plan.
- The sent email is recorded in the dashboard with email logs and available tracking data.
I liked how clearly everything moved from our app to the dashboard; nothing felt confusing while sending.
But when I tested higher volumes, I hit the plan limits quickly and had to upgrade, which pushed me to add extra cost beyond my budget.
Mailtrap Integrations: What Tools and Automations Are Supported
Mailtrap supports a wide range of integrations so teams can connect email sending and testing with the tools they already use.
Developer and framework tools
Mailtrap integrates with many programming languages and frameworks, including Node.js, Python, PHP, Java, Ruby, .NET, C#, Laravel, Symfony, Ruby on Rails, Elixir, and Nodemailer.
These integrations allow developers to send emails from their applications using Mailtrap’s SMTP or API.
Platforms and deployment tools
Mailtrap works with platforms such as Vercel, Heroku, Supabase, and Retool.
This helps teams send and test emails directly from their deployed apps and backend systems.
Automation and no-code tools
Mailtrap supports automation tools like Zapier, Make, and n8n.
These tools are used to build automated workflows around email sending without writing code.
Email design and creation tools
Mailtrap integrates with tools like Stripo, Tabular, and EmailElement.
These are used to design emails and then send them through Mailtrap’s email infrastructure.
AI tools and development environments
Mailtrap also supports tools such as VS Code, Cursor, Claude.io, Bolt AI, Lovable, V0, and Windsurf.
The Mailtrap MCP Server is used to capture and stream emails from different environments into Mailtrap.
Connecting Mailtrap to my tools was easy, and the API was simple to use.
But things like how long logs are stored and some advanced features still depend on the selected plan, which limits long-term flexibility.
Mailtrap SMTP Pricing Explained
Mailtrap pricing mainly changes how many emails you can send, how many domains you can add, and how long logs are kept.
Free plan
You can send up to 4,000 emails per month, with a 150 emails/day limit.
It includes 1 domain, 1 user, and 3 days of email logs.
Basic plan ($15/month)
This plan allows 10,000 emails per month, up to 5 domains, and 3 users. Email logs are stored for 5 days.
Business plan ($85/month)
You can send up to 100,000 emails per month, add 3,000 domains, and have 1,000 users.
It includes a dedicated IP and 15 days of logs.
Enterprise plan ($750/month)
This plan supports up to 1,500,000 emails per month, with 30 days of email logs, priority support, and a free migration month.
Custom plan (Big senders)
For higher volumes, Mailtrap offers custom pricing.
This includes onboarding assistance, a deliverability manager, and unlimited user seats.
Pros of Mailtrap
Based on my experience using Mailtrap for SMTP mailboxes, these are the main advantages I noticed.
- You can test emails and send real emails from the same platform, using Email Sandbox for testing and SMTP or Email API when you move to live sending.
- You can choose between SMTP and Email API for sending emails, depending on how your product or backend system is built. On reddit we find users experience good results with this.
- Email logs and analytics are built in, allowing you to view sent emails, track opens, and review deliverability-related data based on your plan.
- Mailtrap integrates with many development frameworks, platforms, automation tools, and AI environments, making it easier to fit into existing workflows.
- Mailtrap offers multiple pricing plans, including free, paid, enterprise, and custom options, based on sending volume and team size.
Cons of Mailtrap
While using Mailtrap, these are the areas that felt restrictive or less flexible.
- Mailtrap is more focused on email testing and controlled sending, not on managing email infrastructure at scale.
- It does not help with setting up or managing many mailboxes. There is no workflow for bulk domain or mailbox creation, which makes large setups harder to manage.
- It does not offer infrastructure-level controls like mailbox rotation or multi-IP management.
- Dedicated IPs are not included by default. You only get them on higher plans, which increases cost as you scale.
- Sending volume is fixed by daily and monthly limits. When you hit those limits, emails stop sending unless you upgrade or buy more volume.
- Email history is short-lived. On lower plans, logs are available only for a few days, which limits long-term analysis. We saw the same feedback on G2 also.
- Engagement tracking is limited on lower plans. Click tracking is not available everywhere, so visibility is reduced.
- Mailtrap works well for testing and controlled SMTP sending, but it is not built to manage large-scale email infrastructure.
When You Need More Than SMTP Sending
Mailtrap works well for testing emails and sending them through SMTP. But in some setups, SMTP sending is only one part of the problem.
As usage grows, teams often need to manage multiple domains, many mailboxes, IPs, and the underlying email setup itself.
At that stage, the focus shifts from how emails are sent to how the email infrastructure is built and maintained.
That’s where an infrastructure-focused tool like Infraforge helps.
Infraforge: A Mailtrap Alternative for Email Infrastructure at Scale
Infraforge is an email infrastructure platform designed to help teams set up and manage domains, mailboxes, and IPs when email infrastructure becomes the main requirement.
With Infraforge, you set up domains, mailboxes, and IPs in bulk.
It automatically handles the technical parts like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
It also supports pre-warmed domains and mailboxes and uses dedicated IPs.
All of this is managed from a single dashboard.
Infraforge does not send emails. You connect the infrastructure it creates to a sending tool (such as Salesforge or other outreach tools) and send emails from there.
So, Infraforge is an alternative to Mailtrap only when your need shifts from email testing and SMTP sending to building and scaling email infrastructure.
Why Teams Choose Infraforge Over Mailtrap
Conclusion
At the end of the day, the choice depends on how email fits into your work.
If email is something you just need to test, send, and keep under control, Mailtrap does that job well and keeps things simple.
But if email becomes something you actively work on every day, managing inboxes, domains, and outreach, then the focus shifts.
At that point, having a tool that helps with the setup behind the scenes starts to matter more.
That’s why teams often start with Mailtrap and later move toward an infrastructure-focused setup like Infraforge.
Not as a replacement for Mailtrap, but as a better match when the work around email starts to grow.
Use Infraforge. Build an email setup that scales with unlimited domains and inboxes.