How to Unblock SMTP Ports (587/465/25) for Transactional Email via Mailjet

Posted on June 13, 2025

By 5375db2067244fb7b78a5fbf5ecca7

Hello DigitalOcean Support,

I am currently hosting a web application on my Droplet and need to enable outbound SMTP connections to send transactional emails (such as user registrations, password resets, and notifications) using Mailjet as the email service provider.

At the moment, it appears that SMTP ports (587, 465, and 25) are being blocked from the Droplet, which is preventing email functionality from working. I have confirmed that the email settings are correct and tested them externally.

This email functionality is critical for testing and production deployment, and I can assure you that the emails sent will comply with all anti-spam policies and are limited to legitimate application notifications.

I kindly request that you unblock SMTP ports (especially port 587 and 465) on this Droplet so that I can complete email integration.

Please let me know if you need any further information or verification.

Thank you for your assistance.

Best regards,

This textbox defaults to using Markdown to format your answer.

You can type !ref in this text area to quickly search our full set of tutorials, documentation & marketplace offerings and insert the link!

These answers are provided by our Community. If you find them useful, show some love by clicking the heart. If you run into issues leave a comment, or add your own answer to help others.

Bobby Iliev

June 19, 2025

Hey 👋

Just a heads up, SMTP ports 25, 465, and 587 are blocked by default on new DigitalOcean accounts to prevent spam and abuse:

https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/why-is-smtp-blocked/

Even though you’re using Mailjet (a legit transactional provider), the block still applies. You can try one of these options:

Go to https://do.co/support/ and explain your use case, sometimes they’ll lift the block after reviewing your account.
Use an alternate SMTP port: Mailjet supports port 2525, which is usually open on DigitalOcean and works just like 587 for STARTTLS.
Use their API instead of SMTP: I think that Mailjet (like most providers) offers a REST API, which can be easier to use and avoids SMTP issues entirely. And even has better performance.

Hope that helps!

- Bobby