Are you looking for a solution to the error “PHPMailer SMTP error could not connect to SMTP host”? We can help you.

PHPMailer offers many functionalities which include SMTP SSL encryption and authentication, HTML messages, file attachments and more.

Here at Bobcares, we receive requests to fix PHPMailer errors and other similar hosting errors as part of our Server Management Services.

Today, we’ll see why this error occurs and also see how our Support Engineers fix this error for our customers.

Why does PHPMailer fail to connect to the SMTP server?

We’ve seen many of our customers experiencing different problems with PHPmailer. One such problem is the PHPmailer failing to connect to the SMTP server.

There are different reasons for this problem to arise. They include firewall blockage, a change in the PHP version and many more that can prevent a successful connection to the SMTP server.

Among these, the most common one we’ve seen is a change in the PHP version.

How we fix ‘PHPmailer SMTP error could not connect to SMTP host’?

Till now we’ve discussed what causes this error to occur. Now let’s take a look at how our Support Engineers fix this error for our customers.

Recently, one of our customers had approached us with the below error message:

phpmailer SMTP error could not connect to smtp host

On investigation, our Support Engineers found that the PHPmailer was working well with the old PHP version. However, the error started to appear after upgrading the PHP version.

So, we added the below code in the PHP code:

Finally, after adding the code, this fixed the error.

We can also change these settings globally, in the php.ini file. However, this is not recommended because PHP has done these SSL level strictness for very good reasons only.

[Need any assistance with PHPMailer errors? – We’ll help you]

Conclusion

In short, the ‘PHPmailer SMTP error could not connect to SMTP host’ error occurs due to firewall blockage, PHP version or any other problem that occurred in the server. Today, we discussed the different causes and saw how our Support Engineers fix it.