---
title: How Hive Mail sends email
description: How Hive Mail queues emails and hands them to WordPress mail, an SMTP plugin, Mailgun or SendGrid, how fast they go and who is skipped.
url: "https://hiveplugins.com/docs/hive-mail-how-hive-mail-sends-email/"
updated: "2026-10-28"
category: Hive Mail
---

# How Hive Mail sends email

Hive Mail writes and queues your emails; a delivery method then carries them to the inbox. Fill in **Default From email** and **Business address** in **Settings > General** first.

## Delivery methods

| Method | What it is |
| --- | --- |
| **WordPress mail** | Hive Mail hands each email to WordPress. If an SMTP plugin is active, it sends it, and the card is renamed **Your SMTP plugin** followed by its name. Hive Mail recognises FluentSMTP, WP Mail SMTP, Post SMTP and Easy WP SMTP. |
| **Mailgun** | Hive Mail sends each email to Mailgun over its API. Badge: **Recommended for newsletters**. |
| **SendGrid** | Hive Mail sends each email to SendGrid over its API. |

Hive Mail has no SMTP form of its own on purpose; an SMTP plugin does that better.

> **Warning:** With no SMTP plugin, WordPress sends straight from your web server. Many hosts limit that and mail is often marked as spam. The first card then shows **Testing only**. Do not use it for campaigns.

## Choose a method

1. Open **Settings > Sending**.
2. In **How should Hive Mail send email?** pick a method.
3. For **Mailgun**, fill in **Mailgun API key**, **Mailgun sending domain** (for example `mg.example.com`) and **Mailgun region** (**United States** or **Europe**). For **SendGrid**, fill in **SendGrid API key** (Mail Send access is enough).
4. Click **Save changes**.
5. Type your address in **Send a test email to** and click **Send test email**.

![The Sending settings with the three delivery method cards and Mailgun selected](https://hiveplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/hivemail-start-sending-methods-01.webp)

The test button stays off until you have saved, so the test uses the method you chose. All settings are in [Settings: Sending](/docs/hive-mail-settings-sending/).

To keep a key out of the database, define it in `wp-config.php`: `HIVEMAIL_MAILGUN_API_KEY`, `HIVEMAIL_MAILGUN_DOMAIN`, `HIVEMAIL_MAILGUN_REGION` (`us` or `eu`), `HIVEMAIL_MAILGUN_SIGNING_KEY`, `HIVEMAIL_SENDGRID_API_KEY` or `HIVEMAIL_SENDGRID_WEBHOOK_KEY`. The field then shows **Set in wp-config.php** and the constant wins.

## Sending speed

In the card **Sending speed** choose **Recommended** (up to 60 emails a minute) or **Manual**: "Send up to … emails every … minutes" (default 25 every 5). Match your host's or service's limit; the rest of a campaign waits in the queue.

## How it works

- **Queue.** Campaigns, automation emails and confirmation emails go into a queue that the once-a-minute scheduler sends at your sending speed. If the scheduler stops, queued email waits. See [Scheduled sending and cron](/docs/hive-mail-scheduled-sending-and-cron/). The test buttons and alerts to you skip the queue, so a working test does not prove the queue is moving.
- **Every marketing email** carries a footer with your business name, address and unsubscribe link, the `List-Unsubscribe` headers, and open and click tracking as set in **Settings > Tracking & Privacy**. See [The email footer](/docs/hive-mail-email-footer-and-unsubscribe-link/).
- **Skipped.** Just before each email leaves, Hive Mail checks the person again. It skips someone who is no longer subscribed, is suppressed or bounced, asked not to be emailed, or was deleted. The [sending log](/docs/hive-mail-sending-log/) shows **Skipped** with the reason.
- **Retries.** A temporary problem is tried again, up to 3 attempts in total, at least 30 seconds times the attempt number apart. A refused key fails at once. A message stuck in sending for over 30 minutes is requeued, or marked failed after 3 attempts. Retry failed emails from **Deliverability > Sending Log**.
- **Bounces.** Mailgun and SendGrid tell Hive Mail about bounces so it stops emailing that address. Plain WordPress mail cannot. See [Bounces and suppressions](/docs/hive-mail-bounces-and-suppressions/) and [Webhooks and API keys](/docs/hive-mail-webhooks-and-api-keys/).

Next: [Scheduled sending and cron](/docs/hive-mail-scheduled-sending-and-cron/), [Is my site ready to send email?](/docs/hive-mail-is-my-site-ready-to-send/), [Emails are not sending](/docs/hive-mail-emails-are-not-sending/).