How to Integrate MailChannels SMTP with Your PHP Website (Step-by-Step Guide)

Are you tired of email delivery issues from your PHP website? Are your contact form messages ending up in spam folders instead of your client’s inbox? Say goodbye to email headaches! In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to easily integrate MailChannels SMTP with your PHP website — step by step, sweet and simple.

Whether you’re running a contact form, order confirmation emails, or just need reliable transactional email delivery — MailChannels is a powerful, cloud-based SMTP relay that ensures your emails reach inboxes, not spam folders.

Why Use MailChannels?

MailChannels is trusted by thousands of hosting providers (including us at SailexHost) because it solves one of the most frustrating problems in web hosting — email deliverability.

Here’s why developers and hosting clients love MailChannels:

• Stops your emails from getting marked as spam
• IP reputation protection (you use their IPs, not yours!)
• Built-in spam filtering
• Perfect for shared hosting environments
• TLS encryption for secure transmission

What You’ll Need

Before we begin, make sure you have the following ready:

• A working PHP website
• Access to your web hosting control panel (cPanel or similar)
• MailChannels SMTP credentials (you’ll get this from your host or MailChannels reseller)
• A text editor or access to your website files via FTP or File Manager

Step-by-Step Guide to Integrate MailChannels SMTP in PHP

🔹 Step 1: Install PHPMailer (Recommended)

To use SMTP in PHP easily and securely, we recommend using the PHPMailer library.

You can install it via Composer:

composer require phpmailer/phpmailer

composer require phpmailer/phpmailer

Or, download it manually from GitHub and include it in your project.

🔹 Step 2: Configure PHPMailer to Use MailChannels

Here’s a sample PHP script using PHPMailer configured to send via MailChannels:

use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\Exception;

require 'vendor/autoload.php'; // Path to PHPMailer

$mail = new PHPMailer(true);

try {
    //Server settings
    $mail->isSMTP();
    $mail->Host       = 'smtp.mailchannels.net';
    $mail->SMTPAuth   = true;
    $mail->Username   = 'anyusername'; // MailChannels allows any string
    $mail->Password   = 'anypassword'; // You can use any password
    $mail->SMTPSecure = 'tls';
    $mail->Port       = 587;

    //Recipients
    $mail->setFrom('you@yourdomain.com', 'Your Website');
    $mail->addAddress('recipient@example.com', 'Recipient Name');

    //Content
    $mail->isHTML(true);
    $mail->Subject = 'Test Email via MailChannels';
    $mail->Body    = 'This email was sent using <strong>MailChannels SMTP</strong> and PHPMailer.';

    $mail->send();
    echo 'Message has been sent successfully!';
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo "Message could not be sent. Mailer Error: {$mail->ErrorInfo}";
}

use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\Exception;

require 'vendor/autoload.php'; // Path to PHPMailer

$mail = new PHPMailer(true);

try {
    //Server settings
    $mail->isSMTP();
    $mail->Host       = 'smtp.mailchannels.net';
    $mail->SMTPAuth   = true;
    $mail->Username   = 'anyusername'; // MailChannels allows any string
    $mail->Password   = 'anypassword'; // You can use any password
    $mail->SMTPSecure = 'tls';
    $mail->Port       = 587;

    //Recipients
    $mail->setFrom('you@yourdomain.com', 'Your Website');
    $mail->addAddress('recipient@example.com', 'Recipient Name');

    //Content
    $mail->isHTML(true);
    $mail->Subject = 'Test Email via MailChannels';
    $mail->Body    = 'This email was sent using <strong>MailChannels SMTP</strong> and PHPMailer.';

    $mail->send();
    echo 'Message has been sent successfully!';
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo "Message could not be sent. Mailer Error: {$mail->ErrorInfo}";
}

Note: MailChannels doesn’t verify username and password strictly — any credentials will work for basic SMTP routing. But always use secure and unique values.

🔹 Step 3: Test Your Integration

Upload the PHP file to your web server, then visit it in your browser. If everything is working correctly, you’ll see:

Message has been sent successfully!

Message has been sent successfully!

Check the inbox of the recipient email — your email should arrive there beautifully, without hitting the spam folder. 🎉

🔹 Step 4: Use in Your Contact Forms

You can now embed the above script into your contact form processing logic. Just make sure you sanitize and validate user inputs.

Example:

$mail->Subject = 'New Contact Form Message';
$mail->Body    = 'Name: ' . $_POST['name'] . '<br>Email: ' . $_POST['email'] . '<br>Message: ' . $_POST['message'];

$mail->Subject = 'New Contact Form Message';
$mail->Body    = 'Name: ' . $_POST['name'] . '<br>Email: ' . $_POST['email'] . '<br>Message: ' . $_POST['message'];

Pro Tips for Better Deliverability

• Always use a valid domain-based sender email like contact@yourdomain.com.
• Make sure your domain has SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records set up correctly.
• Avoid spammy language in subject and body (e.g. “free money”, “buy now”, etc.)
• Use a reply-to address if users should reply to a different email.

Why SailexHost Recommends MailChannels

At SailexHost, we prioritize reliability and client satisfaction. That’s why we integrate MailChannels SMTP in our hosting infrastructure it gives our users the confidence that their emails will always reach their destination.

If you’re using our shared or reseller hosting, your emails are already being routed through MailChannels seamless, secure, and professional. But if you’re building a custom PHP app or CMS, this guide helps you set it up manually.

Final Thoughts

Email is the lifeblood of your website’s communication. Don’t let it fail you. With just a few lines of code and the power of MailChannels, you can say goodbye to deliverability issues for good.

Let your messages fly, not flop!

Need Help?

If you’re stuck or need help integrating MailChannels into your PHP website, our expert team at SailexHost is here 24/7. Contact us now — we’re just one message away!