SMTP is the simplest way of sending out email to your clients/subscribers and followers. This protocol has been around for ages and although Magento has some basic SMTP settings in place, it's doesn't give you the full control of your mailing schedule, customization, security and authentication. In many cases it will require additional coding skills. 

That's why there are tons of great solutions that provide superb SMTP email services. With this wide selection it can be pretty hard to pick the right solution, especially given that some of these are geared towards more tech-savvy Magento users. In this article we'll review some of the most popular and reliable Magento SMTP products that are compatible with most of the popular email clients, like Gmail.