I’m building an application that sends automated emails to users when they sign up or update their settings. Right now I’m using my own domain’s SMTP server with a no-reply email address. The email credentials are stored securely in Firebase config.
I’ve used services like Mailgun before for other projects. Since my app won’t be sending huge volumes of emails, I’m wondering if my current setup is okay or if I should go back to using a dedicated email service.
What are the pros and cons of each approach? Is there anything I should be worried about with my current SMTP setup?
I’ve been running my own SMTP setup for transactional emails for about two years now, and honestly it works well enough for smaller applications. The key difference I’ve noticed is maintenance overhead versus control. With your own server you have complete control over sending patterns and don’t worry about third-party rate limits or account suspensions. However, you need to properly configure authentication records and monitor your server’s reputation regularly. I spend roughly an hour monthly checking blacklist status and delivery logs. The biggest challenge isn’t technical setup but rather handling ISP-specific quirks when delivery issues arise. If your application is revenue-critical or you’re planning growth, switching to a dedicated service makes sense for the reliability guarantees. For hobby projects or internal tools, self-hosted SMTP remains perfectly viable if you’re comfortable with the occasional troubleshooting session.
tbh i’d just switch to mailgun or sendgrid now before you run into issues later. your current setup might work fine but when things break (and they will) you’ll be debugging mail server stuff instead of working on your actual app. third party services are pretty cheap for low volume and handle all the annoying deliverability stuff automatically.
Having dealt with similar decisions across multiple projects, I’d recommend sticking with third-party services even for low volumes. The main issue I’ve encountered with self-hosted SMTP is deliverability problems that creep up gradually. Your emails might work fine initially, but over time you’ll notice more landing in spam folders or getting blocked entirely by major providers like Gmail or Outlook. Email reputation is surprisingly fragile and requires constant monitoring. Third-party services handle all the technical overhead like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configuration, plus they provide analytics to track delivery rates. The cost difference is negligible for low volumes, and you’ll save significant time troubleshooting delivery issues. I learned this the hard way when a client’s signup confirmations started failing silently due to reputation issues with their domain.