# Email (/docs/v8/config/email)



phpvms sends transactional email (registration, PIREP receipts, password resets,
etc). Use a third-party email provider — they handle SMTP, deliverability,
logging, and analytics.

<Callout type="warning">
  On shared hosting, email is often locked down. A "naughty neighbor" can get your
  shared IP blacklisted in hours. Use a provider over SMTP — and prefer a
  provider's API integration over plain SMTP, since API calls are faster than
  blocking SMTP handshakes.
</Callout>

### Supported providers [#supported-providers]

Laravel ships first-class drivers for these:

| Provider                                  | Free tier                           |
| ----------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------- |
| [Mailgun](http://www.mailgun.com)         | Up to 10k messages/month            |
| [Postmark](https://postmarkapp.com)       | First month free (mention referral) |
| [Amazon SES](https://aws.amazon.com/ses/) | Very cheap, free from EC2           |

<Callout type="warning">
  After editing `.env`, clear the application cache. Otherwise your new mail
  settings won't load:

  ```bash
  php artisan config:clear
  ```
</Callout>

## SMTP [#smtp]

Generic SMTP — works with any provider that exposes SMTP credentials.

```bash title=".env"
MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_FROM_NAME='phpvms No-Reply'
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS='no-reply@phpvms.net'
MAIL_HOST=
MAIL_PORT=
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=
MAIL_USERNAME=
MAIL_PASSWORD=
```

Host, port, and encryption values come from your hosting control panel or VPS
provider — they vary per host, so there's no generic default.

## Mailgun [#mailgun]

```bash title=".env"
MAIL_MAILER=mailgun
MAILGUN_DOMAIN='your mailgun domain'
MAILGUN_SECRET='your mailgun secret'
```

## Postmark [#postmark]

```bash title=".env"
MAIL_MAILER=postmark
POSTMARK_TOKEN='your postmark token'
```

## Amazon SES [#amazon-ses]

```bash title=".env"
MAIL_MAILER=ses
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID='key id'
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY='access key'
AWS_DEFAULT_REGION='the region if not us-east-1'
```

## Debugging with Mailtrap [#debugging-with-mailtrap]

[mailtrap.io](https://mailtrap.io) catches all outgoing mail in a fake inbox so
you can test registrations, password resets, and PIREP receipts without spamming
real users. Mailtrap gives you Laravel-ready creds:

```bash title=".env"
MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_FROM_NAME='phpvms Admin'
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS='no-reply@phpvms.net'
MAIL_HOST=smtp.mailtrap.io
MAIL_PORT=2525
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls
MAIL_USERNAME='as provided'
MAIL_PASSWORD='as provided'
```