Send email through local SMTP vs google app engine

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My web site is supposed to send email to customers and its hosted on a VPS. Should I use local SMTP or is it better to use a third party SMTP provider like Google App Engine?

What are the disadvantages and advantages for each method (Spam, reliability and so on…)

Best Answer

Unless the IP your VPS is sitting on has been blacklisted from a previous user, or your ISP is just plain evil, you should be fine sending out emails from a local SMTP server.

For maximum deliverability you will want to look at:

  • Ensuring you have setup your SMTP server NOT to rely mail, and is safely behind a firewall. (this is a surefire way to get blacklisted within days)
  • Ensure you have reverse-DNS setup for your VPS and that the host name your SMTP server is using matches your domain
  • Adding SPF records for your domain.
  • Checkout DKIM if possible.

Your AppEngine approach seems convoluted, if you wanted to use a third party system something like SendGrid would be a better fit.

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