Multiple transactional email providers with auto-switch between them

Feature
1

Mandrill gives 12k free emails per month.
Sendgrid gives another 12k free emails per month.
… and there are more of such providers.

It would be cool to sign up with a few and enter the corresponding SMTP authorization details of all of them in a config file and set a quota, i.e:

  • Mandrill: username, password, 11900 (first 11900 emails)
  • Sendgrid: username, password, 11900 (next 11900 emails)
  • ProviderX: username, password (all the other emails)

For a growing community, would save at least $10/mo * 12mo = $120/year. The figure is especially sensitive in developing countries like Ukraine, and especially for non-profit communities.

2

I get the problem and desire to keep costs down but this kind of feature can not be in core, it sends a weird message to the mail providers, it would have to be a plugin

2 Likes
3

Sam, may you please explain what you mean here.

4

The reason mail providers start charging after N emails is cause they want you to pay

5

Mandrill has no free tier any more so this topic is not even correct.

6

This would create a really inconsistent UX too, mandrill integrates with the content itself, allowing users to unsubscribe and even blacklist a sender.

If a Discourse instance sent mail via multiple providers none of these things would work.

3 Likes
7

Going point. Didn’t think about it.

Oh, so I’m the lucky one using an old account with free 12k emails per month :slight_smile:

1 Like
8

I run out of 100k emails with a free SparkPost account, and had to manually switch settings to SendGrid for a few days, then switch it back again - each time rebuilding.

Such a plugin would still be very helpful, especially taking into account the new “bouncing email webhooks” feature, which would make switching more smooth in terms of maintaining low bouncing rates.

1 Like
9

Reinforcing what @sam said, this is as an unethical exploit of free tiers. Can’t be supported in core.

7 Likes