GrL'Ca MailGuard

Description

Does your WordPress site silently lose emails?

A customer completes a purchase but never receives the order confirmation. A user requests a password reset that never arrives. You have no idea — everything looks fine in the admin.

WordPress has no native email log. When an email doesn’t arrive, there’s no trace of what happened, why it failed, or even whether it was sent at all.

GrL’Ca MailGuard fixes that.

It hooks directly into wp_mail() and records every single outgoing email — recipient, subject, status, SMTP response, and full error details. Zero configuration needed to start logging.

🔍 Complete Email Audit Trail

Every email your site sends is recorded with:

  • Recipient address and subject line
  • Delivery status (sent or failed)
  • Exact SMTP server response
  • Full error message on failure
  • Automatic email type detection (WooCommerce orders, password resets, new user registrations, and 20+ more)

🔄 One-Click Resend

Found a failed email in the log? Resend it directly from the log table with a single click. No copy-pasting, no manual re-triggers. The original recipient, subject, and content are used automatically.

🔧 SMTP Configuration

Configure your outgoing mail server with quick-select presets for the most popular providers:

  • Gmail / Google Workspace
  • Microsoft 365 / Outlook
  • SendGrid
  • Mailgun
  • Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)
  • Amazon SES
  • Any custom SMTP server

A built-in test button sends a verification email and shows the exact server response so you know immediately whether your configuration works.

📊 Dashboard Widget

At-a-glance delivery stats right on your WordPress dashboard — sent count, failed count, and delivery rate for the last 7 days. Plus a full activity chart with 7, 14, and 30-day ranges.

🏷️ Automatic Email Type Detection

MailGuard automatically classifies every email so you can filter the log by type:

wc_new_order · `wc_completed_order` · `wc_cancelled_order` · `wc_refunded_order` · `password_reset` · `new_user` · `comment_notification` · and more.

Extend with the grlca_mg_detect_email_type filter to add your own types.

⚡ Zero Configuration to Start

Activate the plugin. That’s it. MailGuard immediately begins logging every email. No API keys, no external accounts, no setup wizard required for the core functionality.

🚀 Free vs Pro

Feature
Free
Pro

Unlimited email log

One-click resend

SMTP configuration + presets

Email type detection

Dashboard widget + chart

Email alerts on failure

Slack notifications

Webhook (Make, Zapier, n8n)

Open + click tracking

Daily digest emails

CSV export

SMTP diagnostics

Multisite Network Admin

✅ Agency plan

White-label branding

✅ Agency plan

Price
Free forever
From €49 one-time

👉 Learn more about MailGuard Pro

🤝 Compatible With Everything

  • WooCommerce (all versions) — order emails, invoices, refunds
  • All SMTP plugins (WP Mail SMTP, FluentSMTP, Easy WP SMTP…)
  • WordPress Multisite
  • Any plugin that uses `wp_mail()`
  • Custom code that calls `wp_mail()` directly

🛡️ Privacy

MailGuard stores email metadata (recipient, subject, status, error) in your own WordPress database. No data is sent to external servers. Email body storage is opt-in and disabled by default.

External services

This plugin optionally connects to a user-configured SMTP server to send outgoing emails. No SMTP connection is made unless the user explicitly enables and configures SMTP under MailGuard SMTP Setup.

When SMTP is enabled, the plugin sends email content (recipient, subject, message body) to the configured SMTP server each time WordPress sends an email via wp_mail(). The plugin includes quick-select presets for the following third-party SMTP providers:

Users may also enter any custom SMTP server of their choice. The plugin does not send any data to external servers unless the user explicitly configures and enables SMTP. All email log data is stored locally in the WordPress database.

Installation

From the WordPress plugin directory:

  1. Go to Plugins Add New in your WordPress admin
  2. Search for “GrL’Ca MailGuard”
  3. Click Install Now, then Activate
  4. Navigate to MailGuard in the left menu — logging starts immediately

Manual installation:

  1. Download the plugin zip file
  2. Go to Plugins Add New Upload Plugin
  3. Upload the zip file and click Install Now
  4. Activate the plugin

Optional SMTP setup:

  1. Go to MailGuard SMTP Setup
  2. Select your provider or enter custom SMTP credentials
  3. Click Send Test Email to verify

FAQ

Does it log emails immediately after activation?

Yes. The moment you activate the plugin it starts intercepting every wp_mail() call. No configuration needed.

Do I need to set up SMTP?

No. MailGuard logs all emails regardless of whether you configure SMTP. However, for reliable email delivery we strongly recommend using an SMTP service (Gmail, SendGrid, Mailgun, etc.) — WordPress’s default PHP mail is often blocked by spam filters.

Is the email log limited?

No. The free version includes a fully unlimited email log. All sent and failed emails are recorded with no entry cap. Log retention is configurable under MailGuard Settings. Upgrade to MailGuard Pro for email/Slack/webhook failure alerts, open and click tracking, CSV export, and more.

Will it slow down my site?

No. The log write happens after wp_mail() returns, is a single indexed INSERT into a dedicated table, and has no impact on page load times.

Does it work with WooCommerce?

Yes. All WooCommerce transactional emails are automatically detected and tagged with their type (wc_new_order, wc_completed_order, etc.) so you can filter the log by order email type.

Does it work with page builders, form plugins, etc.?

Yes. Any plugin that sends email via WordPress’s wp_mail() function is automatically covered — Contact Form 7, WPForms, Gravity Forms, Elementor forms, and so on.

Can I extend the email type detection?

Yes. Use the grlca_mg_detect_email_type filter to add custom type detection logic for your own plugins.

Is there a Pro version?

Yes. MailGuard Pro adds email/Slack/webhook failure alerts, open and click tracking, daily digest reports, SMTP diagnostics, CSV export, and a Multisite Network Admin dashboard. One-time payment, no subscription.

Does it store email content?

Not by default. Only the recipient, subject, status, and error are stored. You can optionally enable full email body storage under MailGuard Settings, but note this may store sensitive content.

Where is my data stored?

All data is stored in your WordPress database in the {prefix}grlca_mailguard_log table. Nothing is sent to external servers.

How do I delete all plugin data?

Deleting the plugin from Plugins Installed Plugins Delete will remove all data: the log table, all options, and any scheduled events.

Reviews

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Contributors & Developers

“GrL'Ca MailGuard” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

Translate “GrL'Ca MailGuard” into your language.

Interested in development?

Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.

Changelog

1.1.0

  • Added: Resend failed emails directly from the log (up to 5 attempts per entry)
  • Added: Automatic email type detection with 20+ types including WooCommerce order states
  • Added: Per-email-type filtering in the log
  • Added: DB schema auto-migration — no manual steps required on upgrade
  • Improved: Log table shows resend count badge and email type column

1.0.0

  • Initial release
  • Email log with search and filter
  • SMTP wizard with provider presets (Gmail, Outlook, SendGrid, Mailgun, Brevo, Amazon SES)
  • Dashboard widget with 7-day delivery stats
  • Activity chart (7, 14, 30-day ranges)
  • One-click test email
  • Configurable log retention with auto-purge