If you have a cloud website hosting package and you create an e-mail address, you may consider the option to send out and receive emails for granted, but in fact, this is not always true. Sending e-mail messages isn't always part of the hosting plans that companies have and an SMTP service is necessary to be capable to do that. The abbreviation represents Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and that is the piece of software that allows you to send e-mail messages. If you use an e-mail app, it connects to the SMTP server. The latter then searches the DNS data of the domain name, that is a part of the receiving address to find out which email server deals with its email messages. After system information is interchanged, your SMTP server provides the e-mail to the remote IMAP or POP server and then the email is finally delivered in the corresponding mailbox. An SMTP server is needed if you are using some kind of contact page as well, so in case you have a free hosting package, for instance, it is very likely that you will not be able to make use of this type of form since many cost-free web hosting service providers do not allow outgoing email messages.