Read docs Updated 2026-06-17
What is Mailtrap?
Mailtrap is an email testing service that intercepts messages sent from development and staging environments.
It is used by developers and teams verifying email functionality without risking delivery to production addresses.
What you can build with Mailtrap
Test transactional emails in development
Configure a Node.js or Python app to route all password resets, order confirmations, and welcome emails through Mailtrap so developers can view rendered content without hitting real inboxes.
Validate email templates in staging
Point a CI/CD pipeline's staging environment to a dedicated Mailtrap inbox to automatically capture and inspect HTML/CSS rendering, attachment handling, and subject-line personalization before production release.
Debug email deliverability issues
Use Mailtrap's raw email view and header inspection to reproduce and fix problems like missing DKIM signatures or broken links that only appear when sending from test servers.
Get started with Mailtrap
- 1Sign up at mailtrap.io and create a new inbox to obtain SMTP credentials or an API token
- 2Update your application's mailer configuration with Mailtrap host, port, username, and password
- 3Send a test email from your development or staging code
- 4Open the Mailtrap dashboard to review captured messages, HTML, and headers
- 5Optionally call the Mailtrap REST API with your token to fetch email metadata programmatically
Mailtrap: pros & cons
Pros
- +Prevents accidental emails to real users
- +Provides detailed inspection of HTML, text, and headers
- +Works with any language or framework via standard SMTP
- +Supports multiple isolated inboxes per account
Cons
- –Cannot send real emails to recipients
- –Free plan limits number of emails and inboxes
- –Requires code changes to switch between test and production SMTP settings
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Frequently asked questions
Mailtrap is a fake SMTP service that captures emails sent from development and staging environments so they can be inspected safely without delivery to real addresses.
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