4 ms·

My question is, of the options listed, who's got the best deliverability to Gmail users? As a small mail server operator, that's always been my biggest challeng

My question is, of the options listed, who's got the best deliverability to Gmail users? As a small mail server operator, that's always been my biggest challenge.

codegeek 11y ago
This. It almost feels like google/gmail wants us to buy their service for emails as they tag a majority of emails from other servers into spam.
- packetslave 11y ago
  [citation needed]. Depending on which report you believe, between 50-90% of ALL email traffic is spam, so...
rory096 11y ago
A thousand times this. Do any of these providers not have the intermittent periods of 6-10 minute delays on emails to Gmail like Mandrill?
- true_religion 11y ago
  Just my experience, but mailgun has up to 30 minute delays on emails to Gmail.
rolfvandekrol 11y ago
My experience with these providers is limited to Mailgun, but after I followed their instructions of setting SPF and DKIM records, I never had any issues with Gmail delivery. Hotmail however sometimes flags my messages as spam. I also never had any issues with delivery delays. When I send a mail using Mailgun, it ends up in my inbox within a second.
- Torgo 11y ago
  Mailgun has been good to me, but I was getting bounces sending to a user with a Comcast email address.
  - mwpmaybe 11y ago
    http://postmaster.comcast.net/block-removal-request.html http://postmaster.comcast.net/block-removal-request.html They respond quickly.
tyingq 11y ago
I would guess Google Apps might be a good choice for that. It does have limits on the number of SMTP relay calls per day though: https://support.google.com/a/answer/2956491#sendinglimitsforrelay https://support.google.com/a/answer/2956491#sendinglimitsfor... (see the limits per customer section first)
metachris 11y ago
They should all work well with Gmail, since it's the most popular recipient, and all popular solutions have deliverability statistics. I'd guess that using Gmail itself via its SMTP service [1] would be the most reliable overall. [1] https://support.google.com/a/answer/176600?hl=en https://support.google.com/a/answer/176600?hl=en
- Scramblejams 11y ago
  But can we use that for arbitrary domains that aren't operating under the Google Apps system? Been looking but haven't found the answer so far. Edit: Looks like you can, but Google says it's "not recommended." Also, you need to be a paying Apps member to use the service from what I can tell. Not sure if you can if you aren't a paying member.
  - tyingq 11y ago
    https://support.google.com/a/answer/2956491?hl=en https://support.google.com/a/answer/2956491?hl=en Scroll down to Step 6, where it shows "Any addresses (not recommended)" Apparently, it works, but with some notable caveats, like: "If the envelope sender is not in one of your domains, the system changes the envelope sender from user@[domain you don't own] to postmaster@[your domain]"
    - Scramblejams 11y ago
      Cool. But do you need to be a paying Apps member to do this?
      - tyingq 11y ago
        >>But do you need to be a paying Apps member to do this? The issue would likely be the limit on messages per day. Google spells this out for paying Apps members (https://support.google.com/a/answer/2956491#sendinglimitsforrelay https://support.google.com/a/answer/2956491#sendinglimitsfor..., see "Limits Per Customer") They don't say what the limit is if you're using SMTP relay as a regular gmail user. I suspect it's much lower.
brightball 11y ago
Setup SPF, DKIM and DMARC. If everything's passing you shouldn't have any issue delivering to Gmail unless your IP is on a blacklist somewhere. Check that here: http://whatismyipaddress.com/blacklist-check http://whatismyipaddress.com/blacklist-check
- yesbabyyes 11y ago
  I want to encourage everybody to set up their own e-mail infrastructure, as it's both fun, rewarding and useful. However, deliverability has become really difficult. It seems during the ten years since I last ran my own e-mail, it has become an oligopoly. I have SPF, DKIM, DMARC and reverse DNS, my IP is not on any blacklists, and still my e-mail ends up spam listed in both Gmail and Hotmail. It seems to be getting a worse treatment by Hotmail but it's hard to say due to the small volume. It is getting better but slowly, it seems.
  - Scramblejams 11y ago
    Yep. Haven't done DMARC yet, but I did everything else on the list years ago and Gmail's always been suspicious of my server.
    - joering2 11y ago
      Where do you host? what class of IP you have? I had some issues with Gmail but adding rDNS IPv6 and enlisting into DMARC fixed it. I sent about 125k per week, 80% gmail, no serious issues (I would known cause users pay for email's content).
- TheLogothete 11y ago
  multirbl.valli.org mxtoolbox.com
baudehlo 11y ago
I actually had an idea to provide A/B testing of transactional email providers, with feedback on deliverability (using their own stats). Would that be a valuable service to anyone?

My question is, of the options listed, who's got the best deliverability to Gmail users? As a small mail server operator, that's always been my biggest challenge.

codegeek 11y ago

This. It almost feels like google/gmail wants us to buy their service for emails as they tag a majority of emails from other servers into spam.

packetslave 11y ago
[citation needed]. Depending on which report you believe, between 50-90% of ALL email traffic is spam, so...

rory096 11y ago

A thousand times this. Do any of these providers not have the intermittent periods of 6-10 minute delays on emails to Gmail like Mandrill?

true_religion 11y ago
Just my experience, but mailgun has up to 30 minute delays on emails to Gmail.

rolfvandekrol 11y ago

My experience with these providers is limited to Mailgun, but after I followed their instructions of setting SPF and DKIM records, I never had any issues with Gmail delivery. Hotmail however sometimes flags my messages as spam. I also never had any issues with delivery delays. When I send a mail using Mailgun, it ends up in my inbox within a second.

Torgo 11y ago
Mailgun has been good to me, but I was getting bounces sending to a user with a Comcast email address.
- mwpmaybe 11y ago
  http://postmaster.comcast.net/block-removal-request.html http://postmaster.comcast.net/block-removal-request.html They respond quickly.

tyingq 11y ago

I would guess Google Apps might be a good choice for that. It does have limits on the number of SMTP relay calls per day though: https://support.google.com/a/answer/2956491#sendinglimitsforrelay https://support.google.com/a/answer/2956491#sendinglimitsfor... (see the limits per customer section first)

metachris 11y ago

They should all work well with Gmail, since it's the most popular recipient, and all popular solutions have deliverability statistics. I'd guess that using Gmail itself via its SMTP service [1] would be the most reliable overall. [1] https://support.google.com/a/answer/176600?hl=en https://support.google.com/a/answer/176600?hl=en

Scramblejams 11y ago
But can we use that for arbitrary domains that aren't operating under the Google Apps system? Been looking but haven't found the answer so far. Edit: Looks like you can, but Google says it's "not recommended." Also, you need to be a paying Apps member to use the service from what I can tell. Not sure if you can if you aren't a paying member.
- tyingq 11y ago
  https://support.google.com/a/answer/2956491?hl=en https://support.google.com/a/answer/2956491?hl=en Scroll down to Step 6, where it shows "Any addresses (not recommended)" Apparently, it works, but with some notable caveats, like: "If the envelope sender is not in one of your domains, the system changes the envelope sender from user@[domain you don't own] to postmaster@[your domain]"
  - Scramblejams 11y ago
    Cool. But do you need to be a paying Apps member to do this?
    - tyingq 11y ago
      >>But do you need to be a paying Apps member to do this? The issue would likely be the limit on messages per day. Google spells this out for paying Apps members (https://support.google.com/a/answer/2956491#sendinglimitsforrelay https://support.google.com/a/answer/2956491#sendinglimitsfor..., see "Limits Per Customer") They don't say what the limit is if you're using SMTP relay as a regular gmail user. I suspect it's much lower.

brightball 11y ago

Setup SPF, DKIM and DMARC. If everything's passing you shouldn't have any issue delivering to Gmail unless your IP is on a blacklist somewhere. Check that here: http://whatismyipaddress.com/blacklist-check http://whatismyipaddress.com/blacklist-check

yesbabyyes 11y ago
I want to encourage everybody to set up their own e-mail infrastructure, as it's both fun, rewarding and useful. However, deliverability has become really difficult. It seems during the ten years since I last ran my own e-mail, it has become an oligopoly. I have SPF, DKIM, DMARC and reverse DNS, my IP is not on any blacklists, and still my e-mail ends up spam listed in both Gmail and Hotmail. It seems to be getting a worse treatment by Hotmail but it's hard to say due to the small volume. It is getting better but slowly, it seems.
- Scramblejams 11y ago
  Yep. Haven't done DMARC yet, but I did everything else on the list years ago and Gmail's always been suspicious of my server.
  - joering2 11y ago
    Where do you host? what class of IP you have? I had some issues with Gmail but adding rDNS IPv6 and enlisting into DMARC fixed it. I sent about 125k per week, 80% gmail, no serious issues (I would known cause users pay for email's content).
TheLogothete 11y ago
multirbl.valli.org mxtoolbox.com

baudehlo 11y ago

I actually had an idea to provide A/B testing of transactional email providers, with feedback on deliverability (using their own stats). Would that be a valuable service to anyone?