{"id":339064,"date":"2026-08-21T11:25:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T11:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/bento-mail\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T08:11:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T08:11:05","slug":"bentostudio-mail","status":"publish","type":"plugin","link":"https:\/\/xho.wordpress.org\/plugins\/bentostudio-mail\/","author":23209704,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"version":"2.0.5","stable_tag":"2.0.5","tested":"7.1.1","requires":"6.2","requires_php":"8.0","requires_plugins":null,"header_name":"Bentostudio Mail","header_author":"Bentostudio","header_description":"A modular WordPress mail management plugin with SMTP diagnostics, mail logging, and statistics.","assets_banners_color":"b6cbe3","last_updated":"2026-09-18 08:11:05","external_support_url":"","external_repository_url":"","donate_link":"","header_plugin_uri":"https:\/\/www.bentostudio.de\/plugins\/bentostudio-mail\/","header_author_uri":"https:\/\/www.bentostudio.de\/","rating":0,"author_block_rating":0,"active_installs":30,"downloads":401,"num_ratings":0,"support_threads":0,"support_threads_resolved":0,"author_block_count":0,"sections":["description","installation","faq","changelog"],"tags":{"2.0.1":{"tag":"2.0.1","author":"gunther9966","date":"2026-08-21 11:25:33","revision":3658870},"2.0.2":{"tag":"2.0.2","author":"gunther9966","date":"2026-08-23 10:30:57","revision":3661660},"2.0.3":{"tag":"2.0.3","author":"gunther9966","date":"2026-08-27 21:22:35","revision":3669531},"2.0.4":{"tag":"2.0.4","author":"gunther9966","date":"2026-08-28 13:05:03","revision":3670393},"2.0.5":{"tag":"2.0.5","author":"gunther9966","date":"2026-09-18 08:11:05","revision":3701567}},"upgrade_notice":{"2.0.5":"<p>New features: Privacy Mode, statistics filter, and single-message deletion. Update recommended.<\/p>","2.0.4":"<p>Performance and Multisite improvements: log retention is now efficiently processed via WP-Cron.<\/p>","2.0.3":"<p>Bug fix: age-based log retention now works correctly. Upgrade recommended if you use the &quot;Max. storage duration&quot; setting.<\/p>","2.0.2":"<p>Minor improvement: refined formatting in the mail preview.<\/p>","2.0.1":"<p>Consolidated update \u2014 no known breaking changes.<\/p>"},"ratings":[],"assets_icons":{"icon-128x128.png":{"filename":"icon-128x128.png","revision":3659655,"resolution":"128x128","location":"assets","locale":"","width":128,"height":128},"icon-256x256.png":{"filename":"icon-256x256.png","revision":3659655,"resolution":"256x256","location":"assets","locale":"","width":256,"height":256}},"assets_banners":{"banner-1544x500.png":{"filename":"banner-1544x500.png","revision":3659655,"resolution":"1544x500","location":"assets","locale":"","width":1544,"height":500},"banner-772x250.png":{"filename":"banner-772x250.png","revision":3659655,"resolution":"772x250","location":"assets","locale":"","width":772,"height":250}},"assets_blueprints":{},"all_blocks":[],"tagged_versions":["2.0.1","2.0.2","2.0.3","2.0.4","2.0.5"],"block_files":[],"assets_screenshots":{"screenshot-1.png":{"filename":"screenshot-1.png","revision":3701580,"resolution":"1","location":"assets","locale":"","width":2967,"height":1741},"screenshot-2.png":{"filename":"screenshot-2.png","revision":3701580,"resolution":"2","location":"assets","locale":"","width":2799,"height":1527},"screenshot-3.png":{"filename":"screenshot-3.png","revision":3701584,"resolution":"3","location":"assets","locale":"","width":2853,"height":1728},"screenshot-4.png":{"filename":"screenshot-4.png","revision":3701580,"resolution":"4","location":"assets","locale":"","width":2954,"height":1622},"screenshot-5.png":{"filename":"screenshot-5.png","revision":3701580,"resolution":"5","location":"assets","locale":"","width":2551,"height":1548},"screenshot-6.png":{"filename":"screenshot-6.png","revision":3701580,"resolution":"6","location":"assets","locale":"","width":2277,"height":1373}},"screenshots":{"1":"Overview dashboard with live SMTP status, delivery statistics, and a recent mails table.","2":"Statistics page showing sent mails, success rate, and errors, plus the full mail log view.","3":"Detail view of an individual message.","4":"SMTP settings page with connection test and debug view.","5":"Plugin setup \u2014 statistics settings (enable\/disable, delete logs, retention count and period, Privacy Mode).","6":"Plugin setup \u2014 role assignment for statistics and SMTP access."}},"plugin_section":[],"plugin_tags":[267,26736,131785,212757,6696],"plugin_category":[36,41],"plugin_contributors":[276811],"plugin_business_model":[],"class_list":["post-339064","plugin","type-plugin","status-publish","hentry","plugin_tags-email","plugin_tags-email-log","plugin_tags-gdpr","plugin_tags-mail-log","plugin_tags-smtp","plugin_category-analytics","plugin_category-communication","plugin_contributors-gunther9966","plugin_committers-gunther9966"],"banners":{"banner":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/bentostudio-mail\/assets\/banner-772x250.png?rev=3659655","banner_2x":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/bentostudio-mail\/assets\/banner-1544x500.png?rev=3659655","banner_rtl":false,"banner_2x_rtl":false},"icons":{"svg":false,"icon":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/bentostudio-mail\/assets\/icon-128x128.png?rev=3659655","icon_2x":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/bentostudio-mail\/assets\/icon-256x256.png?rev=3659655","generated":false},"screenshots":[{"src":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/bentostudio-mail\/assets\/screenshot-1.png?rev=3701580","caption":"Overview dashboard with live SMTP status, delivery statistics, and a recent mails table."},{"src":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/bentostudio-mail\/assets\/screenshot-2.png?rev=3701580","caption":"Statistics page showing sent mails, success rate, and errors, plus the full mail log view."},{"src":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/bentostudio-mail\/assets\/screenshot-3.png?rev=3701584","caption":"Detail view of an individual message."},{"src":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/bentostudio-mail\/assets\/screenshot-4.png?rev=3701580","caption":"SMTP settings page with connection test and debug view."},{"src":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/bentostudio-mail\/assets\/screenshot-5.png?rev=3701580","caption":"Plugin setup \u2014 statistics settings (enable\/disable, delete logs, retention count and period, Privacy Mode)."},{"src":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/bentostudio-mail\/assets\/screenshot-6.png?rev=3701580","caption":"Plugin setup \u2014 role assignment for statistics and SMTP access."}],"raw_content":"<!--section=description-->\n<p><strong>Secure Mail Delivery via SMTP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Sending mails via SMTP fixes the deliverability issues affecting all mails from WordPress. Large email providers such as Google, Office 365, or Yahoo frequently block mails sent directly from web servers \u2014 those messages either end up in the spam folder or never arrive at all.<\/p>\n\n<p>With SMTP, all mails from WordPress are sent securely and reach the recipient reliably.<\/p>\n\n<p>Should issues still occur, the integrated mail log lets you inspect every message after the fact, in a privacy-friendly and GDPR-compliant way.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>What is SMTP and how do I use it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>SMTP is the standard protocol for reliably sending messages on the web. You simply use your own email address \u2014 for example, the one you already have with your hosting or email provider \u2014 as the sender address for all emails from WordPress. The actual sending runs through your provider's mailbox; the plugin handles the configuration inside WordPress and verifies the connection.<\/p>\n\n<p>The advantage: you are not dependent on paid third-party sending services and retain full control over your data, since it is exchanged exclusively between your WordPress site and your own provider.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Never Lose a Message<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>The additional \"Statistics\" module allows you to easily keep track of all messages sent through WordPress. Even if a delivery fails, no messages will be lost.<\/p>\n\n<p>The log can be fully configured to meet your country-specific legal requirements (such as the GDPR). You can individually define the retention period and the maximum number of logged emails. An additional Privacy Mode allows you to prevent the actual content of the messages from being saved.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Log and Delivery Used Independently<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>The plugin deliberately focuses on the core functions of SMTP sending and mail logging \u2014 without external services or cloud connections. Both areas can also be used independently of each other: configure SMTP sending without logging any mails, or use the mail log without changing anything about the delivery route.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>No Hidden Costs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>No Pro version, no subscription. All features are freely available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mail Delivery<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Simple configuration of the SMTP sending method directly in the WordPress backend.<\/li>\n<li>Monitoring of the current settings and testing tools.<\/li>\n<li>Technically thorough two-step connection diagnostics: a raw socket probe (<code>fsockopen()<\/code>) followed by a full PHPMailer handshake with a captured debug transcript.<\/li>\n<li>Send a live test email to confirm end-to-end delivery.<\/li>\n<li>Detects other active third-party SMTP plugins automatically.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>Mail Log &amp; Statistics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Stores sent emails (similar in principle to Flamingo).<\/li>\n<li>Logs failed delivery attempts.<\/li>\n<li>Captures all messages from WordPress including every installed plugin (WooCommerce, Contact Form 7, system notifications, etc.).<\/li>\n<li>Identifies the sending source in the statistics (e.g. Contact Form 7, WordPress system notifications).<\/li>\n<li>New: Filter log entries by subject, status, recipient, sender, and source label.<\/li>\n<li>New: Delete individual messages from the log.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>Privacy First<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Privacy-friendly by design: all data is stored exclusively in your own server's local database \u2014 no external services, no cloud connections.<\/li>\n<li>Freely configurable retention by entry count and\/or age supports the data minimisation \/ storage limitation principle required by data protection laws such as GDPR (EU\/UK), CCPA\/CPRA (California), LGPD (Brazil), PIPA (South Korea), PDPA (Singapore), and DPDPA (India).<\/li>\n<li>Automatic deletion of older entries (Data Retention Policy).<\/li>\n<li>New: Privacy Mode \u2014 storing message body content can be disabled optionally.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>Easy Access Control<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Assign access to all views with a single click via drag and drop.<\/li>\n<li>Uses WordPress's existing user roles (Editor, Shop Manager, etc.) \u2014 no separate permission system required.<\/li>\n<li>Four granular capabilities, one per module page.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>Multisite Compatible<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Settings can be configured individually per single site.<\/li>\n<li>Shared log table prevents creating countless individual tables and reduces database queries.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>Other Technical Features<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Clean uninstall: removes the database table and every <code>wp_options<\/code> entry the plugin ever wrote.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>Support the Development<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Bentostudio Mail is 100% free, without any hidden costs or Pro versions. If you enjoy using it, there are a few ways you can support the ongoing development:<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Rate the plugin:<\/strong> Please leave a \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605 review on WordPress.org.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Share your ideas:<\/strong> Have suggestions for new features? Let us know in the support forum.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<!--section=installation-->\n<ol>\n<li>Upload the <code>bentostudio-mail<\/code> folder to <code>\/wp-content\/plugins\/<\/code>.<\/li>\n<li>Activate the plugin through <strong>Plugins &gt; Installed Plugins<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Navigate to <strong>Bentostudio Mail &gt; SMTP Settings<\/strong> and enter your SMTP credentials.<\/li>\n<li>Click <strong>Test Connection<\/strong> to verify server reachability via a socket probe and PHPMailer handshake.<\/li>\n<li>Click <strong>Send Test Email<\/strong> to confirm end-to-end delivery.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<!--section=faq-->\n<dl>\n<dt id=\"is%20sending%20via%20smtp%20secure%20and%20reliable%3F\"><h3>Is sending via SMTP secure and reliable?<\/h3><\/dt>\n<dd><p>Yes. Compared to the default <code>PHP mail()<\/code> function used by many WordPress installations without further configuration, sending via SMTP is generally significantly more reliable.<\/p><\/dd>\n<dt id=\"what%20do%20i%20need%20for%20smtp%20sending%3F\"><h3>What do I need for SMTP sending?<\/h3><\/dt>\n<dd><p>You need an existing email mailbox with your provider or hosting company, plus its SMTP credentials (host, port, username, password).<\/p><\/dd>\n<dt id=\"does%20this%20plugin%20store%20smtp%20passwords%20securely%3F\"><h3>Does this plugin store SMTP passwords securely?<\/h3><\/dt>\n<dd><p>SMTP credentials are stored in <code>wp_options<\/code> in plain text \u2014 the same way all core WordPress options are stored. Restrict database access and use application-specific passwords where your provider supports them.<\/p><\/dd>\n<dt id=\"does%20the%20plugin%20detect%20other%20active%20smtp%20plugins%3F\"><h3>Does the plugin detect other active SMTP plugins?<\/h3><\/dt>\n<dd><p>Yes. Bentostudio Mail detects when other SMTP plugins are active and flags this to the user. It does not automatically disable or modify those plugins' settings \u2014 however, due to hook load order, its own <code>phpmailer_init<\/code> configuration controls actual mail delivery.<\/p><\/dd>\n<dt id=\"does%20this%20plugin%20support%20compliance%20with%20data%20protection%20laws%20like%20gdpr%20or%20ccpa%3F\"><h3>Does this plugin support compliance with data protection laws like GDPR or CCPA?<\/h3><\/dt>\n<dd><p>All mail logs are stored exclusively in your own server's local database \u2014 no data is transmitted to external services. The freely configurable retention period and entry limit support the data minimisation principle. The optional Privacy Mode prevents storing message body content. Ensuring your privacy policy and its legal basis are compliant remains your responsibility.<\/p><\/dd>\n<dt id=\"can%20i%20grant%20editors%20or%20shop%20managers%20access%20to%20smtp%20or%20statistics%3F\"><h3>Can I grant editors or shop managers access to SMTP or statistics?<\/h3><\/dt>\n<dd><p>Yes. In <strong>Plugin Setup &gt; Role Assignment<\/strong> you can assign any registered WordPress role to each of the four access capabilities independently.<\/p><\/dd>\n<dt id=\"what%20happens%20to%20my%20data%20when%20i%20uninstall%20the%20plugin%3F\"><h3>What happens to my data when I uninstall the plugin?<\/h3><\/dt>\n<dd><p>Clicking <strong>Delete<\/strong> in the plugin list runs <code>uninstall.php<\/code>, which drops the <code>{prefix}bentostudiomail_mail_log<\/code> table and removes all plugin options from <code>wp_options<\/code>. No data is left behind.<\/p><\/dd>\n\n<\/dl>\n\n<!--section=changelog-->\n<h4>2.0.5<\/h4>\n\n<ul>\n<li>New: Privacy Mode \u2014 storing message body content can be disabled optionally, enabling privacy-first configurations for sensitive data.<\/li>\n<li>New: Filter function in the statistics view (filter by subject, status, recipient, sender, source label).<\/li>\n<li>New: Delete individual messages from the mail log.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h4>2.0.4<\/h4>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Performance: Changed age-based log retention to run efficiently via a daily WP-Cron job instead of on every page load. The cleanup is also triggered instantly when the settings limit changes.<\/li>\n<li>Fix: Improved Multisite compatibility for the mail log database table and limit enforcement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h4>2.0.3<\/h4>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Fix: Age-based log retention (Max. storage duration) now correctly deletes entries older than the configured number of days.<\/li>\n<li>New: The SMTP Settings page now displays the currently active WordPress mail sending method (SMTP, PHP mail, Sendmail, etc.) with full configuration details, detected live via <code>phpmailer_init<\/code>.<\/li>\n<li>Change: \"Max. storage duration\" now defaults to 14 days when left empty \u2014 same behaviour as \"Max. number of entries\" (default: 10,000). Saving 0 or an empty field applies the 14-day default.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h4>2.0.2<\/h4>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Improved formatting in the mail preview.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h4>2.0.1<\/h4>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Consolidated update \u2014 see previous releases.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h4>1.0.18<\/h4>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Initial public release.<\/li>\n<li>Modular architecture with four built-in modules: Overview, Statistics, SMTP Settings, Plugin Setup.<\/li>\n<li>Role-based capability system with per-module granularity.<\/li>\n<li>SMTP connection tester with raw socket probe and full PHPMailer debug transcript.<\/li>\n<li>Detection of active third-party SMTP plugins.<\/li>\n<li>Mail log with configurable entry-count and age-based retention limits.<\/li>\n<li>AJAX detail modal with sandboxed email body preview.<\/li>\n<li>Clean uninstall script.<\/li>\n<\/ul>","raw_excerpt":"Secure SMTP mail delivery, privacy-friendly mail logging, and role-based access control for WordPress \u2014 with no external services or dependencies.","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xho.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin\/339064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xho.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xho.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/plugin"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xho.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339064"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xho.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wporg\/v1\/users\/gunther9966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xho.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"plugin_section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xho.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_section?post=339064"},{"taxonomy":"plugin_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xho.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_tags?post=339064"},{"taxonomy":"plugin_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xho.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_category?post=339064"},{"taxonomy":"plugin_contributors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xho.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_contributors?post=339064"},{"taxonomy":"plugin_business_model","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xho.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_business_model?post=339064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}