Using Google Mail as an SMTP service

[CorruptBlu (aakhilv)]

I am currently using Google’s SMTP service for my Discourse instance via this guide. Are there any downsides to using it?

[itsbhanusharma (Bhanu Sharma)]

If this is a Gmail account (as opposed to G-suite) there are sending limits that you should be aware of. As your community grows, so does the volume of emails being sent. Hitting the limit repetitively can lead to the suspension of your gmail account.

[neounix (Dark Matter)]

@CorruptBlu

I am currently using Google’s SMTP service for my Discourse instance via this guide . Are there any downsides to using it?

Hi @CorruptBlu

We use our Google GSuite (what ever it is called these days) without any problem since March (except initially before we turned off digests) because we turn OFF all digests.

So, to answer you question, one downside of this service is that they have set usage limits and if you system overloads their system limits, they will block you (temporarily in the beginning).

My advice, for what little it is worth, is that if you are going to use Google for SMTP mail, you disable digests, or restrict digests to a vary narrow scope and range.

Hope this helps.

[itsbhanusharma (Bhanu Sharma)]

Or maybe just use something like SES or Mailgun which offers a much better value?

[riking (Kane York)]

Yes, big problem

Bulk and transactional mail is against both the Gmail and G Suite terms of service. Do not use it as your primary email sender for Discourse.

Note that it will soon be okay to use Gmail as a subordinate / secondary email sender:

IMAP support for group inboxes

We are happy to introduce an alpha version of IMAP support for group inboxes. This feature adds the ability to enter IMAP credentials and settings on a per-group basis to sync group inboxes with an email inbox. This is an alpha-stage feature, and as such it is not 100% complete and polished. It is very likely to be broken, we are not currently maintaining it or using it in production. Use at your own risk! Benefits Your gro…

[CorruptBlu (aakhilv)]

@neounix

My advice, for what little it is worth, is that if you are going to use Google for SMTP mail, you disable digests, or restrict digests to a vary narrow scope and range.

How would I do that?

[CorruptBlu (aakhilv)]

I read that G-Mail allows up to 500 emails per day, as opposed to free plans for mailjet, sendgrid, etc which only offer around 200-300 emails per day.

[Hector (Héctor Fernández)]

It has been mentioned many times in this forums that using Gmail/Gsuite would be against the TOS. But I can’t find any links to the TOS. Can someone post the TOS or an excerpt where this is mentioned?

[neounix (Dark Matter)]

@CorruptBlu

How would I do that?

Dear @CorruptBlu

Here ya go. Settings:

Hope this helps.

[Stephen]

@Hector

It has been mentioned many times in this forums that using Gmail/Gsuite would be against the TOS. But I can’t find any links to the TOS.

Not sure if the topics are still around, but we’ve had sites find their gsuite accounts were throttled or even terminated before now.

https://support.google.com/a/answer/166852?hl=en

That one applies to paid gsuite, old Google apps accounts have more limits, free Gmail accounts are incredibly restrictive.