Use your own email provider

You can use an external email provider to send email notifications in Okta. By default, email notifications such as the welcome email or an account recovery email are sent through an Okta-managed SMTP server. However, you can configure a third-party email provider in Okta and send these emails through it.

Adding a custom email provider gives you more control over your email delivery:

  • You can use an email provider that meets your business and regulatory requirements. For example, you can choose an email provider that has data centers in a certain geographical location. Or, you can choose a provider that gives you control over IP addresses for your emails.
  • Your email provider can give you detailed metrics and insights into the emails you send. For example, the status of the email delivery and its usage by your users.

When sending emails using the external email provider, Okta makes multiple attempts to deliver the message through the provider. If the first attempt fails, Okta queues the message again and reattempts the delivery within a random delay. Subsequent failed attempts are requeued with longer delays. When the maximum limit for retry exceeds, a FAILURE delivery event is logged into the System Log. In such cases, the message delivery doesn’t fall back to Okta's default email service. If the delivery is successful, a SUCCESS delivery event is logged into the System Log.

Before you begin

  • Set up an external email provider.

  • Have the following details of your SMTP handy:
    • Host: Hostname or IP address of your SMTP server. For example, your.smtp.host.com
    • Port: Port used by your SMTP server. This must be a number. For example, 465.
    • SMTP username: Your SMTP username.
    • SMTP password: Your SMTP password.

Start this procedure

Configure your email provider in Okta by first adding and testing it. Then add it to your brand in Okta. You can also edit or remove the email provider you've already added.

Add a custom email provider

Add a custom email provider at the org level. You can add only one external SMTP provider for your org.

  1. In the Admin Console, go to CustomizationsEmail provider.
  2. Click Add custom email provider.
  3. Enter the details of your SMTP: Host, Port, SMTP username, and SMTP password.
  4. Click Save. The new provider is added.
  5. Send a test email to ensure it's working properly.
  6. Toggle on Use custom email provider.

Send a test email

Confirm that your email provider is properly configured in Okta by sending a test email.

  1. In the Admin Console, go to CustomizationsEmail provider.
  2. Click Send test email under the SMTP server. A dialog opens.
  3. In the dialog, add From and To addresses.
    • From: The From address must be verified with the SMTP server.
    • To: This is the address where you're sending the test email.
  4. Click Send test email.
  5. A notification appears when the email is sent.

Add a custom email domain to a brand

Add a custom email domain to your brand. You must add a custom email domain for each brand.

  1. In the Admin Console, go to Brands.
  2. Click the brand where you want to add the custom email.
  3. Go to BrandDomainsEmail domain.
  4. Click Add email domain next to the default okta.com domain.
  5. Add the email address and name of the email sender. Your users see this information in their inbox.
  6. Click Next.
  7. Configure an email provider if you haven't already. See the Add a custom email provider task.
  8. Click Verify. The email provider is added to the brand and shows up under DomainsEmail domain.
  9. Repeat for each brand.

Remove custom email provider

Remove the custom email provider for your org. If you remove the provider, it's no longer used by any brands in the org. Emails are sent from the default okta.com email.

  1. In the Admin Console, go to CustomizationsEmail provider.
  2. Click the Delete icon next to the email provider. The Remove email provider window opens.
  3. Click Remove email provider.

Edit custom email provider

  1. In the Admin Console, go to CustomizationsEmail provider.
  2. Click the Edit icon next to the email provider. The Edit custom email provider window opens.
  3. Edit the email provider.
  4. Click Save.

Related topics

Branding