I moved to GSuite myself from Sendgrid. Paying $20/month just to get issues with Hotmail e-mails being blocked because of IP reputation issues caused by other clients, and I'm sure not paying $100/month just for a dedicated IP so I can avoid issues I had less often sending mail locally from my server.

Google Suite seems to just work. You also get to set an avatar for users that use the GMail app to see. I considered Amazon SES before moving to GSuite but never have tried it, so not sure how the deliverability is in comparison.

The main limitations with GSuite are that it's a little more of a pain to set up, it requires SMTP (there's no API, though I mean, it's Google, so even their SMTP servers are reasonably fast) and there's hard-capped sending limits (3,000/day was the old advertised limit for G Suite but I've seen posts suggesting it can be up to 10,000/day).

Do you know of a online guide on how to set up Google Workspace correctly? In IPS I selected SMTP, then the following:

SMTP Host: smtp-relay.gmail.com
SMTP Protocol: TLS
SMTP Port: 587
SMTP Username: My google workspace email
SMTP Password: My google workspace password

Is any of this wrong? I'd appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.

I've developed an integration application that will allow your IPB community to send emails via the AWS SES API. I will release it to the marketplace however looking for some folks to test it. Please send me a PM if interested.

 

I've developed an integration application that will allow your IPB community to send emails via the AWS SES API. I will release it to the marketplace however looking for some folks to test it. Please send me a PM if interested.

Great news! I’ll send you a pm.

Application has been released!

 

Purchased, thanks!

@Jon Erickson

I just messaged Amazon Services support to see if I can use the credentials from my Wordpress/WooCommerce site with my forum. Not sure if I need to create a new account, or something like that, to keep them separated. I will be purchasing once I get the answer. Thank you so much for building this plugin and offering a feature that should already be built in. 

Edited January 4, 20214 yr by SC36DC

As long as the AWS Access Key has the right policies attached, yes you can use the same credentials. It comes down to more user preference. I typically sort my credentials by service so I can rotate them individually. That way if your Wordpress installation is compromised, IPB will remain safe. Also, you may attach different policies for IPB than for Wordpress which helps you keep each credential with the least amount of access as possible. 

Edited January 4, 20214 yr by Jon Erickson

 

I typically sort my credentials by service so I can rotate them individually. That way if your Wordpress installation is compromised, IPB will remain safe.

This is how I would like to set mine up, but not sure what you mean by 'sort credentials by service'.

I will look into it, unless they get back to me on how to proceed. 

Thanks Jon.

Service refers to the software being used in this case. So in AWS, you will have a Wordpress user with their own credentials and a separate IPB user with their own credentials. 

 

Do you know of a online guide on how to set up Google Workspace correctly? In IPS I selected SMTP, then the following:

SMTP Host: smtp-relay.gmail.com
SMTP Protocol: TLS
SMTP Port: 587
SMTP Username: My google workspace email
SMTP Password: My google workspace password

Is any of this wrong? I'd appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.

The first result in google for "how to config smtp with gsuite" is from google itself teaching how to config (it's VERY easy).

In short you have to add the DKIM, SPF records to your domain, allow your workspace users to send email with smtp (this is done on google workspaces) and you must allow "less secure apps" on your account, otherwise google wont allow IPB to use the smtp.

For people wanting to use SES, you can config SES as a SMTP server and use it with IPB without any third party pluging or "tweaks". Better yet, amazon itself have a great tutorial on how to do this.

 

you must allow "less secure apps" on your account, otherwise google wont allow IPB to use the smtp.

Just to correct this statement..enabling that setting is NOT a must. Enable an app password on an account, and use that instead.

 

The first result in google for "how to config smtp with gsuite" is from google itself teaching how to config (it's VERY easy).

In short you have to add the DKIM, SPF records to your domain, allow your workspace users to send email with smtp (this is done on google workspaces) and you must allow "less secure apps" on your account, otherwise google wont allow IPB to use the smtp.

For people wanting to use SES, you can config SES as a SMTP server and use it with IPB without any third party pluging or "tweaks". Better yet, amazon itself have a great tutorial on how to do this.

I tried using Google Workspace, googled the issues that came up, tried for hours, then gave up.

I will be using SES though and will try to connect my forum with that service instead. Thanks for the reply though FP.

 

For people wanting to use SES, you can config SES as a SMTP server and use it with IPB without any third party pluging or "tweaks". Better yet, amazon itself have a great tutorial on how to do this.

But the whole point for having a plugin made for using SES with IPB is the fact that using the SES api is much faster than using it through SMTP.

https://sendgrid.com/blog/web-api-or-smtp-relay-how-should-you-send-your-mail/

https://www.pepipost.com/blog/smtp-or-api-what-to-choose/

 

Edited January 4, 20214 yr by SC36DC

 

But the whole point for having a plugin made for using SES with IPB is the fact that using the SES api is much faster than using it through SMTP.

Exactly. Been using SES via SMTP for a while and topics that have less than 30 replies and do not get batched out, take long to post.

That's great news, been waiting for that for a while now. Time to move from SendGrid

 

Application has been released!

 

Nice! Does it block bounced emails?

 

But the whole point for having a plugin made for using SES with IPB is the fact that using the SES api is much faster than using it through SMTP.

https://sendgrid.com/blog/web-api-or-smtp-relay-how-should-you-send-your-mail/

https://www.pepipost.com/blog/smtp-or-api-what-to-choose/

 

Maybe I'm a cheap bastard, but if you insist in using ses, I would still use the SES smtp instead of paying for a plugin for an API.

The whole reason I don't use sendgrid or other services is to decrease costs, in the case of ses api you will be stuck with a third party app and still have to pay for ses.

Now it might not make any difference, but depending of your needs, I would be cautious about scalability in the future.

In my case, If would have to use a plugin to use ses api:

• U$20 plugin
• U$5 every 6 months for renew
• U$0,10 for every 1000 emails from SES (60.000 free if you send then by a EC2 instance, not my case)

I send almost 10.000 emails per day (notifications, etc), so lets cut it to HALF just to generate a simple example: 5.000 emails per day x 30 days = 150.000 * 0,10USD = U$15/month

The end result in the first year: U$210, U$190 everyother year.

Now, using google workspaces every year: U$64 (more than 3 times less).

If the quantity of emails you particulary send is small and this comparison don't make a lot of sense, you have a lot of great options too.

Just for example: without having to deal with any setup, sendgrid (that IPB fully support their api), allow you to send 100 emails per day FOR FREE, and for U$15 bucks you can send up to 50.000 (this is 1600+ emails per day).

TL:DR: in the end of the day, google workspaces trumps everything if you send less than 10.000 emails per day.

Edited January 5, 20214 yr by FabioPaz

 

Nice! Does it block bounced emails?

No, use mail bouncer to do that. This is just a sending method.

 

TL:DR: in the end of the day, google workspaces trumps everything if you send less than 10.000 emails per day.

I tried for a while to get Google Workspace to work with IPS, I just could not get it to work unfortunately.

 

No, use mail bouncer to do that. This is just a sending method.

How are you mail bouncer? Thanks!

Alex is referring to this application:

A word of warning, it is still not compatible with 4.5 (though mostly is functional).

FYI we are building bounce and complaint management into our AWS SES app. Are there any specific features you’d like to apply to members when a bounce or complaint is returned from their email besides moving them groups, and sending them a message?

 

FYI we are building bounce and complaint management into our AWS SES app. Are there any specific features you’d like to apply to members when a bounce or complaint is returned from their email besides moving them groups, and sending them a message?

1. If mail is bounced put user to validation group till they update and put correct address.

2. If they complain for email (complain report) - deactivate the user ID. 

 

@Jon Erickson - If you can promise, above will be added in XX days or X week - define yours their as per your schedule and to support it, I will go ahead and buy the application right now. Thanks!

 

@Jon Erickson - If you can promise, above will be added in XX days or X week - define yours their as per your schedule and to support it, I will go ahead and buy the application right now. Thanks!

It’s worth it right now (as is) in my opinion. I would raise the price after those updates and added functions...how much can you really expect for $20?