Updated: 28 September 2026 · Applies to: PHPMailer 6 and PHP 8.1 to 8.4
PHP's built-in mail() function is simple but unreliable: it sends without authentication, so messages often land in spam. Sending through an SMTP mailbox with a library such as PHPMailer works much better.
Install PHPMailer
composer require phpmailer/phpmailer
Example
<?php
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
$mail = new PHPMailer(true);
$mail->isSMTP();
$mail->Host = 'mail.yourdomain.com'; // see Email Accounts > Connect Devices
$mail->SMTPAuth = true;
$mail->Username = 'noreply@yourdomain.com';
$mail->Password = 'mailbox-password';
$mail->SMTPSecure = PHPMailer::ENCRYPTION_SMTPS;
$mail->Port = 465;
$mail->setFrom('noreply@yourdomain.com', 'Your Site');
$mail->addAddress('customer@example.com');
$mail->Subject = 'Test';
$mail->Body = 'Hello from PHPMailer';
$mail->send();
Note: Keep passwords out of files inside public_html where possible, and respect the sending limits of your plan (100 emails per hour per account on shared hosting). For newsletters, use a dedicated email service.
