I have a Node.js app running on a DigitalOcean Droplet that sends transactional emails using Nodemailer. Everything was working fine but recently emails started landing in spam or not arriving at all.
I checked my IP on MXToolbox and it shows up on several blacklists. I am not sure how this happened since I am only sending legitimate transactional emails.
Is there a way to get the IP removed from blacklists? And is there a better setup I should be using to avoid this in the future?
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Hi there,
This is a deliverability problem more than a blacklist problem. Sending from a Droplet IP directly is risky because DigitalOcean IP ranges are well known to spam filters, and a single misconfigured app or compromised account on any Droplet in that range can taint the whole block.
Getting removed from blacklists is possible but slow. MXToolbox shows which lists you are on and most have a manual delisting request process. That said, even after removal you are likely to end up back on them if you keep sending from the same Droplet IP.
The better fix is to stop sending directly from the Droplet and use a dedicated SMTP service instead. They maintain warm IPs with good reputation and handle bounce and complaint processing for you, which is what keeps you off blacklists in the first place.
A few worth looking at:
-
smtpfa.st is built specifically for fast transactional SMTP and is straightforward to plug into Nodemailer.
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Postmark has excellent deliverability and is strict about what you send through them, which works in your favour reputation-wise.
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Mailgun is a solid middle ground with reasonable pricing.
Plugging any of these into Nodemailer is a one line config change, just swap the host, port, and credentials.
Also worth reading if you want to understand why running your own mail server is harder than it looks: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/why-you-may-not-want-to-run-your-own-mail-server
And DigitalOcean’s SMTP policy: https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/why-is-smtp-blocked/
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