Smtp.dev review (2026): is the free plan enough?
Email testing sandbox with SMTP, IMAP and a REST API
Black Friday: is there a Smtp.dev sale?
Smtp.dev report card
Good · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 13, 2026
Best for testing app email without sending to real inboxes
Smtp.dev is a sandbox where your app sends mail over SMTP and you read it back through IMAP, POP3 or an API. Nothing reaches a real inbox on any plan, and the free Lite plan keeps messages for only 7 days.
Who Smtp.dev is for
- Fits if you test an app or test suite that sends email and want to read it back
- Works for CI pipelines that need a real inbox to check, with no real mail leaving
Who Smtp.dev is not for
- Skip it if you want to deliver real email: outbound only reaches accounts inside the sandbox
- Tight if you stay on Lite: 1 domain, 50 accounts and messages deleted after 7 days
- Tight if you need catch-all addresses, which start on Pro
- Watch out: messages are deleted at the end of the 7, 30 or 90 day window
- Watch out: the pricing page shows monthly prices only
Why Smtp.dev gets a 2.6
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- BValue for moneyPro is $7 a month, inside the cheapest quarter of email sending tools, which start at $9. Max is $20.
- BFree plan and trialLite is free: 1 domain, 50 accounts and 7 days of messages, with SMTP, IMAP, POP3, API and email audit. One project could live on that.
- CFeaturesSMTP, IMAP, POP3 and REST API access, message inspection, own-domain receiving and a deliverability audit. It does the testing job fully, but it never sends real email.
- CEase of useNo store rating on record. You point your app or test suite at it and set DNS records for your own domain.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb with an API, plus CI use with GitHub Actions, Jenkins, GitLab CI, Playwright, Cypress and Nodemailer.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Smtp.dev's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
Make Smtp.dev? Put this grade on your site
Paste this where you want the badge. It links here and follows the grade if it changes. About badges
<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/smtpdev#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/smtpdev.svg" alt="Smtp.dev: 2.6 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Smtp.dev stands among email sending services
Smtp.dev's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 34 of the 50 other email sending services we grade, and level with 11.
It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 35 of 50) and worst on features (C, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $7 a month, against a middle price of $15 for the category: 6 of the 41 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 3 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 51 email sending services we grade, cut by the letter each got. Smtp.dev’s own letter is outlined.
- BValue for moneyAbove 25 of 50, level with 18
- BFree plan and trialAbove 35 of 50, level with 13
- CFeaturesAbove 0 of 50, level with 29
- CEase of useAbove 7 of 50, level with 43
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 17 of 50, level with 32
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 44 email sending services. Further left costs less, and higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Point at a dot to see which tool it is.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Keep Smtp.dev, or make your own?
Keep it
Nothing Smtp.dev does is plain enough to make in a weekend. The 2 things listed below take a company.
It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 2.6 is higher than 34 of the 50 other email sending services we grade. It costs $84 a year.
What you could not
- Reading the reports inbox providers send about your domain.
- It plugs into other products, GitHub Actions, Jenkins and GitLab CI among them, and has an API.
What this rests on. Smtp.dev’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Smtp.dev?
Smtp.dev is an email testing service for developers. An app or test suite sends mail over SMTP to a sandbox address, and the message can be read back through IMAP, POP3 or the REST API, with headers, MIME structure and raw source. Mail only goes to accounts inside the sandbox, never to real inboxes.
Worth knowing
- It is a testing sandbox: on every plan, outbound mail is delivered only to accounts inside the sandbox, not to real inboxes.
- Lite keeps messages for 7 days and allows 1 domain and 50 accounts; catch-all accounts need Pro or Max.
- Messages are deleted automatically at the end of the plan's retention window of 7, 30 or 90 days.
- The pricing page shows monthly prices only and does not mention annual billing.
Key features
- SMTP, IMAP and POP3 access
- Standard mail clients and libraries connect with ordinary settings, with no SDK to install.
- REST API
- Accounts, messages, domains and tokens can be managed over the API, which is limited to 4096 requests a minute per user.
- Message inspection
- Shows headers, the MIME tree and the raw RFC 5322 source of each message, plus an HTML preview.
- Own-domain receiving
- Pointing a domain's or subdomain's MX record at the sandbox lets it receive mail from any service.
- Deliverability audit
- Checks sender configuration, HTML structure, links and content patterns that spam filters flag, grouped by severity.
- CI use
- Works with any CI system that can send over SMTP, with guides for GitHub Actions, Jenkins and GitLab CI.
Smtp.dev pricing
As of Nov 13, 2026, Smtp.dev has a free plan, and paid plans start at $7 per month for Pro.
- Starts at
- $7 per month for Pro
- Free plan
- Lite plan: 1 domain, 50 accounts, messages kept 7 days, with SMTP, IMAP, POP3, API and email audit.
- Free trial
- None listed
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Lite | $0 | 1 domain, 50 accounts and 7 days of message retention; plus-sign aliasing but no catch-all. |
| Pro | $7per month | 5 domains, 25,000 accounts, 30 days of retention, and catch-all and aliasing. |
| Max | $20per month | Unlimited domains and accounts, 90 days of retention, and catch-all and aliasing. |
Read from smtp.dev on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Smtp.dev before you buy.
Works with
- GitHub Actions
- Jenkins
- GitLab CI
- Playwright
- Cypress
- Nodemailer
Smtp.dev alternatives
- Smtp.dev vs Mailtrap
Free plan · from $15/mo
- Smtp.dev vs MailPace
Free trial · from $10/mo
- Smtp.dev vs EmailEngine
Free trial · from $199/mo
Common questions
Does Smtp.dev have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Smtp.dev is listed for Web.
Does Smtp.dev have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Smtp.dev is listed for Web.
Is Smtp.dev open source?
Smtp.dev is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Nov 13, 2026.
Does Smtp.dev have an API?
Yes. Smtp.dev offers a public API, according to its own site.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026.