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What is SMTP in computer network?

Author

Sarah Smith

Published Jan 15, 2026

SMTP is used to send and receive email. It is sometimes paired with IMAP or POP3 (for example, by a user-level application), which handles the retrieval of messages, while SMTP primarily sends messages to a server for forwarding.

What is SMTP and how it works?

SMTP or Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is an application that is used to send, receive, and relay outgoing emails between senders and receivers. When an email is sent, it's transferred over the internet from one server to another using SMTP. In simple terms, an SMTP email is just an email sent using the SMTP server.

What is SMTP in simple words?

The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is an internet standard communication protocol for electronic mail transmission. Mail servers and other message transfer agents use SMTP to send and receive mail messages.

What are the features of SMTP?

Characteristics of SMTP-

  • SMTP is a push protocol.
  • SMTP uses TCP at the transport layer.
  • SMTP uses port number 25.
  • SMTP uses persistent TCP connections, so it can send multiple emails at once.
  • SMTP is a connection oriented protocol.
  • SMTP is an in-band protocol.
  • SMTP is a stateless protocol.

What is port number for SMTP?

Port 587: The standard secure SMTP port

Modern email servers use port 587 for the secure submission of email for delivery. For example, if you use an email client software like Outlook or Apple Mail, it most likely is configured to use this port to send your messages.

30 related questions found

What is SMTP example com?

An SMTP email server will have an address (or addresses) that can be set by the mail client or application that you are using and is generally formatted as smtp.serveraddress.com. For example, the SMTP server Gmail uses is smtp.gmail.com, and Twilio SendGrid's is smtp.sendgrid.com.

Is SMTP still used?

SMTP, which is specified in RFC 5321, uses port 25 by default. It may also use port 587 and port 465. The latter, which was introduced as the port of choice for secure SMTP (a.k.a. SMTPS), is supposed to be deprecated. But in reality, it's still being used by several mail service providers.

What is SMTP vs POP3?

SMTP is referred to as PUSH protocol, and POP3 is called a POP protocol. SMTP sends the email from the device of the sender to the mailbox from the mail server of the receiver. POP3 lets you retrieve and organize emails from the mailbox on the mail server of the receiver to the computer of the receiver.

How SMTP works step by step?

(The SMTP connection is built on something called a TCP connection, which stands for Transmission Control Protocol.) From there, the SMTP client uses commands to tell the server what to do and transfer data, like the sender's email address, the recipient's email address, and the email's content.

Can SMTP work without internet?

As a practical matter, no. SMTP is the de facto email service used on the internet.

What is difference between HTTP and SMTP?

HTTP. SMTP and HTTP are both network layer protocols that are used to transfer information between hosts. SMTP is used to transfer emails between mail servers, while HTTP is used to transfer data from a web server to a web client.

Is SMTP secure?

SMTPS utilizes either TLS or SSL to secure email communications using asymmetric cryptography. The main takeaway is that SMTP is susceptible to attacks while SMTPS uses TLS for email to provide a secure connection.

What is the full meaning of POP3?

POP3 (Post Office Protocol)

POP3 is an older protocol that was originally designed to be used on only one computer. Unlike modern protocols that use two-way synchronization, POP3 only supports one-way email synchronization, only allowing users to download emails from a server to a client.

What is SMTP and IMAP?

IMAP is for the retrieval of emails and SMTP is for the sending of emails. That means IMAP talks to both the client and server to get emails, and SMTP talks only to servers to send emails.

Which is better IMAP or POP3?

For most users, IMAP is a better choice than POP. POP is a very old way of receiving mail in an email client. It only lets you download your Inbox on your computer, and not any other folders. When an email is downloaded using POP, it is usually then deleted from Fastmail.

Why SMTP is used?

The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is used to deliver e-mail messages over the Internet. This protocol is used by most e-mail clients to deliver messages to the server, and is also used by servers to forward messages to their final destination.

Can SMTP receive email?

SMTP server: explained

But SMTP servers don't work in both directions; they can only deliver outgoing mail, not receive incoming messages. The counterpart for receiving emails would be POP3 or IMAP.

Is Gmail SMTP?

Google's Gmail SMTP server is a free SMTP service which anyone who has a Gmail account can use to send emails. You can use it with personal emails, or even with your website if you are sending emails for things such as contact forms, newsletter blasts, or notifications.

How do I find my SMTP server IP address?

Type "ping," a space and then the name of your SMTP Server. For example, type "ping smtp.server.com" and press "Enter." The window will then try to contact the SMTP server by the IP address. It will say, "Pinging x.x.x.x with 32 bytes of data." The "x.x.x.x" will be the SMTP server's IP address.

What is my SMTP server name?

Outlook for PC

In Outlook, click File. Then navigate to Account Settings > Account Settings. On the Email tab, double-click on the account you want to connect to HubSpot. Below Server Information, you can find your incoming mail server (IMAP) and outgoing mail server (SMTP) names.

What is the full form of HTTP?

HTTP, in full HyperText Transfer Protocol, standard application-level protocol used for exchanging files on the World Wide Web.

How is IMAP used?

IMAP allows you to access your email wherever you are, from any device. When you read an email message using IMAP, you aren't actually downloading or storing it on your computer; instead, you're reading it from the email service.

What does TCP stand for?

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)

Does SMTP require SSL?

One way to secure SMTP is to require the use of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for SMTP connections. However, that approach raises a problem. By default, all SMTP servers use port 25. But if you use SSL on port 25, non-SSL servers won't be able to connect through that port.