Sending Servers for a Plan: Shared Pool or Bring-Your-Own

What this is for#

Every plan in AcelleMail has to answer one question before a customer on it can send a single email: whose sending server moves the message? You — the admin — decide that on the plan's Sending Servers tab. There are exactly two answers, and a customer on a given plan only ever sees one of them in their UI.

This guide walks both options end-to-end, so you can pick the right one for each plan you sell and know what your customer will see after they subscribe.

The two delivery modes#

Both modes coexist on the same install — you can have a Free plan in System mode and a Pro plan in Own mode, side by side. The mode is a per-plan setting, not a global setting.

Where to configure this#

1. Sign in to the admin area at /admin/login.
2. Open Plans in the left nav.
3. Pick the plan you want to configure, then open the Sending Servers sub-tab in the plan's sidebar.

The Sending Servers tab is the only place where the delivery mode toggle lives. The mode you pick here writes the HAS_OWN_SENDING_SERVER entitlement under the hood — every customer subscription against this plan inherits it the moment you click Save Changes.

Method 1 — System's Sending Servers (the "no setup" path for customers)#

Pick this when you want your customers to just hit Send and have AcelleMail handle delivery. They never see an SMTP host, never paste an API key, never know what an MTA is.

How it works#

You attach one or more admin-owned sending servers to the plan. Every customer subscribed to the plan shares that pool. You control the credentials, the IP reputation, and the warm-up — they only see "campaign sent."

Walkthrough#

On the plan's Sending Servers tab, select the System's Sending Servers card (it's the default on every newly created plan) and click Save Changes.

Once saved, the System Sending Servers panel appears underneath. It lists every server already attached to the plan with its name, type, primary flag, and the share of traffic it gets.

To attach a new one, click + Add Server:

A few rules to know:

• Only system (admin-owned) servers are pickable. Customer-owned servers don't appear because a plan is shared — you can't bind one customer's private SMTP to other people on the same plan.
• The first server you attach becomes Primary automatically. Add a second to enable load-balancing across both.
• Two or more servers → a "Load balance" button appears next to + Add Server. That's where you set the per-server traffic % so you can split sends 70/30, 50/50, or any ratio you like.
• Customers see nothing. Their Sending → Sending servers menu is hidden by the has_own_sending_server entitlement gate — they can't add a server, can't see your credentials, and don't need to.

When to pick this mode#

• Free tier — you want zero-friction signup, send-the-first-email-in-30-seconds.
• "Managed" tiers where deliverability is your value-add.
• Any plan where the customer would not realistically own SMTP credentials (e.g. small business / non-technical).

Method 2 — Own Sending Servers (customer brings their own)#

Pick this when your customer is technical, has their own IPs / domains / vendor accounts, and wants AcelleMail as a pure sending engine on top of their infrastructure.

How it works#

You enable Own mode on the plan and toggle which providers they're allowed to use (Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, raw SMTP, etc.). You also cap how many servers any one customer can add. The customer then sees a Sending servers menu in their own UI and adds the credentials themselves — you never see them.

Walkthrough#

On the plan's Sending Servers tab, select the Own Sending Servers card. The form expands to show two new sections:

Allowed Providers. Each toggle here corresponds to one server type the customer can add — Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Elastic Email, SparkPost, Blastengine, Generic SMTP, Sendmail (local MTA), and Gmail (OAuth). Turn off the ones you don't want them touching. A common pattern: enable only Amazon SES and SMTP on a starter "Own" plan, then unlock the rest on a higher tier.

Maximum Sending Servers. A hard cap on how many servers each customer can add. Set an integer (e.g. 5) or flip the Unlimited switch. This is the MAX_SENDING_SERVERS quota — leave it at a low number on entry-level Own plans, raise it for agency tiers.

Click Save Changes when both sections look right. The customer subscription doesn't change until they reload — but the next time they hit their dashboard, the new menu is there.

What your customer sees after subscribing#

They sign in to the customer side at /login and a new Sending servers entry shows up under the Sending menu in their sidebar. The page is headed Sending Servers — Manage SMTP and API servers that power your email delivery, with a sidebar that surfaces their vendor mix, combined throughput, warmup status, and a 3-step setup checklist:

They click + Add server in the top-right. AcelleMail opens Choose a server type — a tiled grid of every provider you allowed on the plan, grouped under Built-in providers. If you only enabled SES + SMTP on this plan, only those tiles show up:

They click a tile (say, SMTP) and land on the connection form. For SMTP they paste host, port, encryption, username and password — for API providers (SES, SendGrid, etc.) they paste an API key. Then + Add server:

That server is theirs — bound to their customer record. Other customers on the same plan don't see it and can't use it. The credentials are stored in AcelleMail's sending_servers.config JSON column scoped by customer_id.

When to pick this mode#

• Customers who already pay for their own SES / SendGrid / Mailgun account and don't want to re-pay for sending volume on your side.
• Agencies sending on behalf of clients — each client account gets its own vendor credentials.
• Compliance / data-residency situations where the customer must be the legal sender.
• Any plan where deliverability is the customer's responsibility, not yours.

Common questions#

Can I mix both modes on the same plan? No. The two cards are mutually exclusive — saving one disables the other. If you want a plan where the customer can fall back to your servers when they have none, that's a feature request, not a setting today.

What happens to customers already subscribed to a plan when I change its mode? The mode flips for every existing subscription on the next page load. Customers on a now-System plan will lose the Sending servers menu (their saved servers stay in the DB but become inaccessible). Customers on a now-Own plan get the menu and start at zero servers. Switch modes with care on plans that already have paying subscribers — usually safer to clone the plan and migrate customers across.

Why is the "Add Server" dropdown empty for me? The popup only lists system-owned, active sending servers that aren't already attached to this plan. If you only have one system server and it's already attached, the dropdown is empty. Add a new system server first at Admin → Sending → Sending servers → + New server, then come back to the plan and attach it.

Customer says they don't see the Sending servers menu — why? Three possibilities:

1. Their plan is in System mode. That's by design — switch the plan to Own mode if you want them to see it.
2. Their plan is in Own mode but every provider toggle is off — there's nothing they can add, so the menu hides itself.
3. Their MAX_SENDING_SERVERS quota is set to 0. Bump it (or flip Unlimited) and they'll see the menu again.

Can I set "Use my system servers AND let them add their own"? Not as a single mode. The two cards are mutually exclusive. In practice almost nobody needs the hybrid — pick the mode that matches the buyer profile of the plan and stick with it.