How to Send an Email via Gmail SMTP Server Using PHP

How I broke it, what that cryptic error actually means, and the cleaner code I use today plus a few drills you can practice on your own.

Error Code

I just wanted to ship a friendly “Hello” from a PHP page. Instead, Gmail greeted me with this brick wall:

Authentication failure [SMTP: SMTP server does no support authentication
(code: 250, response: mx.google.com at your service, [98.117.99.235]
SIZE 35651584 8BITMIME STARTTLS ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES PIPELINING)]

At first glance it screams, “Gmail won’t let you log in,” but hidden in the noise is the clue: STARTTLS.

My First Snippet

<?php
require_once "Mail.php";                // PEAR Mail

$from     = "Sandra Sender <sender@example.com>";
$to       = "Ramona Recipient <ramona@microsoft.com>";
$subject  = "Hi!";
$body     = "Hi,\n\nHow are you?";

$host     = "smtp.gmail.com";
$port     = 587;                        // Gmail’s TLS port
$username = "testtest@gmail.com";
$password = "testtest";                 // never hard-code real secrets

$headers  = [
    'From'    => $from,
    'To'      => $to,
    'Subject' => $subject
];

$smtp = Mail::factory('smtp', [
    'host'     => $host,
    'port'     => $port,
    'auth'     => true,
    'username' => $username,
    'password' => $password
]);

$result = $smtp->send($to, $headers, $body);

echo PEAR::isError($result)
     ? "<p>" . $result->getMessage() . "</p>"
     : "<p>Message successfully sent!</p>";
?>

Why it Fizzled

Symptom	Plain-English cause
SMTP server does no support authentication (code: 250)	Gmail is happy to talk, but on port 587 it demands a STARTTLS handshake before it will listen to any username or password. PEAR Mail tried to log in first—Gmail politely refused.

A couple more rules bit me too:

• Since May 2022 Gmail blocks “Less Secure Apps.” You need an app-specific password or OAuth2 your everyday login password no longer works.
• PEAR Mail doesn’t flip the TLS switch automatically.

Quick Patch While Staying on PEAR Mail

$smtp = Mail::factory('smtp', [
    'host'           => 'tls://smtp.gmail.com',   // tell PEAR to negotiate TLS
    'port'           => 587,
    'auth'           => true,
    'username'       => getenv('GMAIL_USER'),     // read from env vars
    'password'       => getenv('GMAIL_APP_PASS')
]);

This does work, but PEAR Mail is frozen in the early 2010s and has no native OAuth2 helper. That sent me hunting for a friendlier library.

The Clean UpGrade: PHPMailer

Install in one line:

composer require phpmailer/phpmailer

Drop the sample below into send-gmail.php and run it:

<?php
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\Exception;

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$mail = new PHPMailer(true);    // throws Exceptions

try {
    /* --- server --- */
    $mail->isSMTP();
    $mail->Host       = 'smtp.gmail.com';
    $mail->SMTPAuth   = true;
    $mail->Username   = getenv('GMAIL_USER');       // me@gmail.com
    $mail->Password   = getenv('GMAIL_APP_PASS');   // 16-char app password
    $mail->SMTPSecure = PHPMailer::ENCRYPTION_STARTTLS;
    $mail->Port       = 587;

    /* --- recipients --- */
    $mail->setFrom('sender@example.com', 'Sandra Sender');
    $mail->addAddress('ramona@microsoft.com', 'Ramona Recipient');
    $mail->addReplyTo('noreply@example.com', 'No-reply');

    /* --- content --- */
    $mail->isHTML(true);
    $mail->Subject = 'Hi!';
    $mail->Body    = '<p>Hi Ramona,<br><br>How are you?</p>';
    $mail->AltBody = "Hi Ramona,\n\nHow are you?";

    $mail->send();
    echo 'Message sent!';
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo "Mailer Error: {$mail->ErrorInfo}";
}
?>

Why this works

• SMTPSecure = STARTTLS forces encryption before AUTH.
• App passwords dodge Gmail’s “Less Secure Apps” block without a full OAuth2 dance.
• PHPMailer prints crystal-clear errors when something goes sideways.

Stretch Goals

Drill	One-liner to drop in
Attach a file	$mail->addAttachment(__DIR__.'/invoice.pdf');
Send CC/BCC	$mail->addCC('boss@example.com'); $mail->addBCC('audit@example.com');
Watch every SMTP command	$mail->SMTPDebug = 2; (great on a staging box—turn off in production)
Load secrets from .env	composer require vlucas/phpdotenv then $_ENV['GMAIL_USER']
HTML contact form	Pair a small index.html with action="send-gmail.php"; sanitize POST fields before calling $mail->Body.
Full OAuth2 (hard-mode)	Register a Google Cloud project, enable Gmail API, and use PHPMailer’s OAuth class.

Work through them one at a time enable SMTPDebug, re-run, and watch the live conversation: EHLO, STARTTLS, AUTH, MAIL FROM, RCPT TO, DATA, QUIT. Seeing the handshake click into place is oddly satisfying.

Final Thought

The scary-looking error wasn’t cryptic at all once I read between the brackets it was Gmail saying, “Talk TLS to me first.” As soon as I negotiated encryption and switched to an app password, Gmail behaved like any normal SMTP server.