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I looking for an SMTP relay to use for some software we run in house. Right now we send them through a GoDaddy relay, but we are very limited on the number we can send. I've found a few solutions that would work, but I was curious if anyone has experience with them. We won't be sending more than 20k emails a month for now. They are transactional emails, not bulk marketing stuff. I'm not into the email game much, so any help would be appreciated. We use google apps for email now, but it won't work with our internal software for whatever reason. I don't really want to run a mail server locally and I am fine with paying a couple bucks a month to make sure this gets done right. Thanks. Possible Solutions: 1. Sendgrid - seem to be one of the biggest players. 2. Mandrill - from the mailchimp guys. A bit less expensive than sendgrid. 3. Mailgun - from the rackspace team.
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# ? May 29, 2014 15:01 |
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# ? Apr 27, 2024 00:17 |
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Mandrill kicks rear end. Also heard good things about Sendgrid. I remember at an agency I worked at they were sending 100% of their customer website email through the free Mandrill account. Somehow never had any issues.
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# ? May 29, 2014 15:22 |
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Cool, that's good to hear. Most of the time we would be under the 12k mark, so the price could be just right most of the time. I know once we have the ability to send more emails, people will want to get more (Who wants to get MORE email? What is wrong with these people?!)
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# ? May 29, 2014 15:49 |
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I use Mandrill and it is awesome. I also use Amazon SES for some smaller stuff and it is very easy to use and setup (though this is using all AWS stuff). I'd only recommend that over Mandrill if you already were in the AWS ecosystem.
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# ? May 29, 2014 16:14 |
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Un-l337-Pork posted:I use Mandrill and it is awesome. I also use Amazon SES for some smaller stuff and it is very easy to use and setup (though this is using all AWS stuff). I'd only recommend that over Mandrill if you already were in the AWS ecosystem. Just switched to mandrill and its very good, the SPF and dkim setup process is very well done.
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# ? May 30, 2014 18:43 |
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Although it isn't suited to the volume of mail you are wanting to send, I've never had an issue with relaying through a Google Apps account for things like MFDs, backup alerts etc. You have whitelisted the sending IPs in the control panel etc?
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# ? Jun 1, 2014 14:16 |
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A bit late on this reply. Although we have been told for 2 years that their system won't work with Google Apps, a bit of trial and error got the SMTP relay working with a new Google account I set up. I don't know what these people are smoking. If we have any problems with volume or delivery, we'll probably go Mandrill. Thanks for the suggestions.
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# ? Jun 3, 2014 19:35 |
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I'm just really surprised by this thread in general. It takes like maybe a day of reading and understanding to set up a postfix server that won't act as a spam relay, and it's pretty much set it and forget it being pretty mature software. I am surprised that cloud mail services are a thing just for this.
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# ? Jun 4, 2014 14:08 |
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SSH IT ZOMBIE posted:I'm just really surprised by this thread in general. It takes like maybe a day of reading and understanding to set up a postfix server that won't act as a spam relay, and it's pretty much set it and forget it being pretty mature software. I am surprised that cloud mail services are a thing just for this. Setting up the server is the easy bit. Getting the rest of the internet to actually accept mail from your server is the hard part.
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# ? Jun 4, 2014 14:15 |
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jre posted:Setting up the server is the easy bit. Getting the rest of the internet to actually accept mail from your server is the hard part. Yup. Email is one of those things that you should outsource 100% unless you're actually an ISP or email provider.
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# ? Jun 4, 2014 16:23 |
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revmoo posted:Yup. Email is one of those things that you should outsource 100% unless you're actually an ISP or email provider. Like, I could understand if you are supporting actual user access, serious thought being required. For application integration, what do you need besides a securely set up postfix server, SPF records, and proper mail headers to ensure mail is accepted by remote parties, and occasionally checking mail blacklists and bounce backs? Or is that maintenance alone worth the cost of paying for third party mail service? If you aren't dealing with end users, it doesn't sound like a maintenance nightmare. Edit: I work in corporate IT. I don't do a ton with exchange, but have worked a fair amount with Surfcontrol as that was our outbound mail relay for years and years. I've integrated several dozen apps with it, and rarely have issues with mail being rejected...granted the engineer who initially set up SurfControl was very strict with what kind of mail is accepted. The volume out of those integrations is < a few thousand a month, however. I can't see why it wouldn't scale, though, or why the mail would be rejected if more was sent out. Edit 2: Nevermind, I guess these services are so cheap if your time is worth anything and you don't need a mail server for any other reason...it makes sense. SSH IT ZOMBIE fucked around with this message at 05:40 on Jun 5, 2014 |
# ? Jun 5, 2014 03:23 |
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SSH IT ZOMBIE posted:Like, I could understand if you are supporting actual user access, serious thought being required. You also need an ip address which isn't marked as being in a residential isp block, and correctly setup RDNS on that ip. These two can be a pain in the arse to get if you have small offices using "Business" broadband connections. Edit: I don't fully agree with you should outsource email sending 100% of the time, we run our own mail servers for our online platform, but for small setups the hassle of dealing with black lists costs more than these services. jre fucked around with this message at 10:33 on Jun 5, 2014 |
# ? Jun 5, 2014 10:27 |
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Yeah and in the instance of Mandrill if you're just setting up application alerts then the free plan is more than good enough. Also another point I wanted to mention is that outsourced mail providers have things like 24/7 staff and a NOC which you're not likely to have lying around.
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# ? Jun 5, 2014 14:03 |
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It's because you can pretty much have a year of SMTP relay service for the cost of a few hours of loving around with a VM. And it's got all the advantages that come with not having to manage another system.
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 01:50 |
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# ? Apr 27, 2024 00:17 |
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Caged posted:It's because you can pretty much have a year of SMTP relay service for the cost of a few hours of loving around with a VM. And it's got all the advantages that come with not having to manage another system. This is pretty much the situation I'm in. I don't know much about email, and for a few bucks a month (or free), I can copy/paste some stuff and not worry about it.
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# ? Jun 6, 2014 17:43 |