European SMTP relay: transactional email with data processing in the EU

A European SMTP relay is a sending service whose servers, logs and tracking data stay inside the EU, so you do not have to justify any transfer outside the Union for your transactional email. 2Mail provides that relay from its own servers in Belgium: SMTP on port 587, a REST API with a key per application, signed webhooks and a data processing agreement on request.

This page is written for the people who build or run the integration. The policy side, why the location of a platform matters, is covered on the page about our European email platform. Here it is about the relay itself: protocols, logs, retention and price.

How you connect: SMTP, API and webhooks

Three entry points, each with its own credential per application. You pick per application what fits best and can mix them on the same domain.

SMTP with STARTTLS on port 587

The quickest route for anything that already speaks SMTP: Laravel, Symfony, Odoo, WordPress, Magento or a cron job on a server. Each application gets its own SMTP login that you can revoke individually.

REST API with a key per application

For those who prefer to keep sending in code: one HTTPS call per message or batch, with an API key per application. Handy for microservices, queues and environments where you do not want to open an outbound SMTP port.

Signed webhooks

Delivery, bounce and open come back to your endpoint as a signed webhook. You verify the signature and update your own database, without polling.

Logs and statistics per domain

Deliveries, bounces and rejections are listed per sending domain in the dashboard, in real time. Bounces are processed automatically via IMAP, so your application does not have to parse them itself.

See the email API More about transactional email

GDPR checklist for transactional email

Transactional mail looks harmless, an order confirmation or a password reset, but every message carries at least an email address and often more. Six questions you want answered before you put a relay into production.

1 Is there a data processing agreement, and does it cover the sending as well as the logs and the tracking?
2 In which country are the servers that process the mail, and where are logs and statistics stored?
3 How long are message content, metadata and tracking data retained, and can you influence that?
4 Is open and click tracking processed on the provider's own servers, or through a third party?
5 Which sub-processors are involved, and do you get that list in writing on request?
6 Can you switch tracking off per application for mail where it is not appropriate, such as password resets?

At 2Mail the answer to the first two questions is short: data processing agreement on request, own servers in Belgium, processing and storage inside the EU. The remaining questions we gladly discuss case by case, because the answer depends on your application and your retention policy.

Why data location matters

Four steps to production

An average integration costs a developer half a day, DNS propagation not included.

1

Register your sending domain and set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC

Add the domain in the dashboard and place the DNS records it gives you. The check in the dashboard confirms whether they are correct. Without a DKIM signature, some recipients will distrust your mail, however clean your code is.

2

Create an SMTP login or API key per application

One credential per system: web shop, CRM, staging, production. Keep them in your secrets manager, not in the code. If one ever has to be revoked, the rest simply keeps sending.

3

Connect your webhook endpoint and test the signature

Register the URL on which you want to receive delivery, bounce and open, and verify the signature on every call. Send a test to a deliberately non-existent address to see that the bounce comes in correctly.

4

Send, monitor and build up the volume

Send test messages to Gmail and Outlook and check in the dashboard that they are marked as delivered. Then start with your real volume; we guide the warm-up and watch the reputation. Look at bounces and rejections daily during the first weeks.

Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC

Why a price per domain is predictable

Many sending services charge per email or per thousand, which means a good month for your web shop is an expensive month for your mail. 2Mail charges per volume tier and per sending domain: you pick a tier between 1,000 and 250,000 emails per month and pay a fixed monthly amount for it, excluding VAT.

There is no price per email and no setup fee; the minimum term is twelve months. Several domains can share the volume on request. The exact amounts are on the pricing page, so you know what the bill will be before the integration starts.

See the pricing

How 2Mail does it

What you can expect from our platform, in facts you can verify.

Own servers in Belgium; processing and storage of mail, logs and tracking inside the EU; data processing agreement on request.
SMTP with STARTTLS on port 587, REST API with a key per application, signed webhooks for delivery, bounce and open.
Randomised IP pool with rate limiting per domain, automatic retry on greylisting and throttling, IP warm-up included.
SPF, DKIM and DMARC in one click, automatic bounce processing, real-time statistics per domain.
99.99% platform availability, handover to the receiving server within ten seconds, 24/7 monitoring.
Support in Dutch, French and English from Zelzate, Belgium; JAAN bv has built and run its own platforms since 2000.
See the pricing Read about deliverability Get in touch

Frequently asked questions about the European SMTP relay

A sending service whose servers, logs and tracking data stay inside the EU, so you do not have to justify any transfer outside the Union for your transactional email. At 2Mail that relay runs on our own servers in Belgium, with SMTP on port 587, a REST API and signed webhooks.
Yes. An order confirmation or password reset carries at least an email address and often a name or order number, and those are personal data. The relay's logs and open and click tracking fall under it as well, so where they are processed matters too.
On the same JAAN bv servers in Belgium as the sending itself, inside the EU. Open and click tracking happens there too, without placing your data with third parties. Retention periods are discussed per application.
Yes, the data processing agreement is available on request and belongs with every integration in which personal data is sent. Information about sub-processors is also provided on request, in writing.
Through SMTP with STARTTLS on port 587 with its own login per application, or through the REST API with a key per application. Signed webhooks report delivery, bounce and open back to your endpoint. An average integration takes half a day.
Per volume tier (twelve tiers from 1,000 to 250,000 emails per month) and per sending domain, as a fixed monthly amount excluding VAT. No price per email, no setup fee, minimum term twelve months. The amounts are on the pricing page.
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