I recently set up a WordPress site on my Xisto free hosting account and ran into trouble getting the contact form to send emails. At first, I used the free package with limited email functions, so I stored messages locally with password protection. After upgrading to a paid plan, emails still wouldn’t send. The issue was that the contact form plugin (I was using the old wp-contact-form) set the ‘From’ header to the visitor’s email, which Xisto’s server rejected because it wasn’t a registered email on my account.
Solution: Use SMTP Instead
Instead of modifying the plugin to override the ‘From’ header (which I did back then), I now recommend using a dedicated SMTP plugin like WP Mail SMTP. This lets you send emails via Xisto’s cPanel email accounts or an external SMTP service (like Gmail or SendGrid). Here’s how:
- Set up an email account in cPanel – Create an email address under your domain (e.g., contact@yourdomain.xisto.com).
- Install WP Mail SMTP (or your preferred SMTP plugin) and configure it to use the cPanel email’s SMTP settings (server: mail.yourdomain.xisto.com, port 587, TLS).
- Test the connection – the plugin will verify if emails can be sent.
Modern Contact Form Plugins
I’d also suggest switching to a modern contact form plugin like Contact Form 7 or WPForms Lite. They handle email headers correctly and integrate well with SMTP plugins. With Xisto’s free hosting, you get full cPanel access, so setting up email is straightforward.
If you’re still seeing issues, double-check that your domain’s MX records are configured in cPanel. Feel free to ask if you need more specific steps!
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