SMTP related plugins, absolutely needed?

Hello,

I hate bloated websites and prefer absolutely necessary minimal code, no unnecessary plugins and seems to have worked well as I place sites great on SERPs, etc. That’s the reason I chose GeneratePress, as I perceived it to be the least bloated.

I’m having issues with emails being sent on form completion (CF7) and was suggested to install https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-mail-smtp/ (fun fact, look at the reviews and most of the ones I saw were written by a small group of people, odd).

As I understand plugins are meant to bridge a knowledge gap or if the code in question would take a lot of effort but if it doesn’t, using php (hooks?) is a more elegant practice, no need to install, maintain, etc, so I’m trying the following:

https://formvibes.com/general/smtp-in-wordpress-without-plugin/

//adding to wp-config.php
// SMTP email settings
define( ‘SMTP_USERNAME’, ‘[email protected]’ );
define( ‘SMTP_PASSWORD’, ‘1234567’ );
define( ‘SMTP_SERVER’, ‘smtp.gmail.com’ );
define( ‘SMTP_FROM’, ‘[email protected]’ );
define( ‘SMTP_NAME’, ‘webtechstreet’ );
define( ‘SMTP_PORT’, ‘587’ );
define( ‘SMTP_SECURE’, ‘tls’ );
define( ‘SMTP_AUTH’, true );
define( ‘SMTP_DEBUG’, 0 );

// adding to functions.php
add_action( ‘phpmailer_init’, ‘my_phpmailer_smtp’ );
function my_phpmailer_smtp( $phpmailer ) {
$phpmailer->isSMTP();
$phpmailer->Host = SMTP_SERVER;
$phpmailer->SMTPAuth = SMTP_AUTH;
$phpmailer->Port = SMTP_PORT;
$phpmailer->Username = SMTP_USERNAME;
$phpmailer->Password = SMTP_PASSWORD;
$phpmailer->SMTPSecure = SMTP_SECURE;
$phpmailer->From = SMTP_FROM;
$phpmailer->FromName = SMTP_NAME;
}

Other than these settings being overwritten on theme update (I’ll setup a child theme for that), do you see an issue on going this route versus adding the plugin?

Thanks,

T