If you’ve searched for this before, you might have found old instructions telling you to go to Gmail Settings, click “Add a mail account” under “Check mail from other accounts,” and pull your Hostinger mail into Gmail that way. That button no longer exists.
Google removed it, along with a feature called Gmailify, starting in January 2026, and it’s gone for good on the web version of Gmail.
I confirmed this myself while testing this guide: the “Check mail from other accounts” section in my own Gmail settings now shows only a “Learn more” link pointing to Google’s deprecation notice, with no way to actually add an account.
So this guide covers what actually works right now for connecting Hostinger email to Gmail, which is two separate things: sending mail through Gmail using your Hostinger address, and forwarding incoming Hostinger mail into your Gmail inbox.
Set up both, and you get functionally the same result as the old method, checking and sending Hostinger mail without leaving Gmail, just through two different settings instead of one.
Step 1: Set Up “Send Mail As” So You Can Send Through Gmail
This lets you compose and send email from Gmail’s interface while it appears to recipients as coming from your Hostinger address. This part of Gmail hasn’t been affected by the POP changes and works the same as before.
- In Gmail, go to Settings (gear icon) > See all settings > Accounts and Import
- Next to “Send mail as,” click Add another email address
- Enter the name you want recipients to see and your full Hostinger email address, then click Next Step »
You’ll land on a screen asking for your SMTP details.
Here’s where I’d slow down, because Gmail tried to autofill mine, and it filled in the wrong hostname.
| Field | What Gmail Autofilled | What You Actually Need |
|---|---|---|
| SMTP Server | mx1.hostinger.com | smtp.hostinger.com |
| Username | hostadvice | Full address: hostadvice@webhostpro.io |
| Port | 587 | 587 (correct as-is) |
| Encryption | TLS | TLS (correct as-is) |
Gmail pulled mx1.hostinger.com from somewhere, likely guessing based on the domain, but that’s an MX record used for routing incoming mail, not an SMTP server for sending.
If you leave it as autofilled, the connection will fail. Correct the server field to smtp.hostinger.com and the username to your full email address, then enter your mailbox password (not your hPanel password) and click Add Account ».
Step 2: Verify the Address
Once you submit the corrected SMTP details, Gmail confirms it located the server and sends a verification email to your Hostinger inbox.
- Log into your Hostinger webmail and find the email titled something like “Gmail Confirmation – Send Mail as [your address]”
- Click the confirmation link inside it, which opens a Gmail confirmation page
- Click Confirm
You’ll see a “Confirmation Success!” page, and that’s it; the address is now verified.
Back in Gmail’s Accounts and Import settings, the “Send mail as” section will now list your Hostinger address alongside your regular Gmail address, showing exactly which server it’s sending through and what port and encryption it’s using.
When mine finished, it showed mail sent through smtp.hostinger.com on port 587 using TLS, confirming the corrected settings from Step 1 actually took.
From here, every time you compose a new email, the From field becomes a dropdown. Click it, and you can choose to send as your Hostinger address instead of your Gmail address, with the message going out through Hostinger’s server even though you’re composing it in Gmail.
How to Connect Hostinger Email to Gmail
Step 3: Set Up Forwarding So Hostinger Mail Actually Reaches Gmail
Sending covers half the picture. For incoming mail, since Gmail can no longer pull it in on its own, you need Hostinger to push it to Gmail instead.
That’s what a forwarder does.
- In hPanel, go to Emails > Forwarders
- Click Create forwarder
- In “Forward all emails sent to,” confirm it shows your Hostinger mailbox address
- In “To email address,” enter your Gmail address
- Leave Save copies of forwarded emails on if you want messages to remain in the Hostinger mailbox too, rather than only existing in Gmail
- Click Create
Step 4: Confirm the Forwarder (Both Sides Need To)
This is the part that catches people off guard. After clicking Create, the forwarder doesn’t activate right away. It shows a status of Waiting confirmation, and Hostinger sends a confirmation email, not to your Hostinger inbox this time, but to the Gmail address you just entered as the destination.
This step exists to stop someone from forwarding a mailbox they don’t control to an address without that address owner’s consent.
- Check the Gmail inbox you entered as the destination
- Find the email from Hostinger titled “Confirm your email forwarder request”
- Click Activate forwarder
That opens a confirmation page reading “Forwarder confirmation was successful.” Back in hPanel’s Forwarders list, the status changes from “Waiting confirmation” to Active, and from that point on, any new mail sent to your Hostinger address gets pushed into your Gmail inbox automatically.
With both steps done, sending through “Send mail as” and receiving through a forwarder, you get essentially the same day-to-day experience the old POP method offered, checking and sending Hostinger mail entirely from Gmail.
The setup takes two separate configurations instead of one, and forwarding only catches new mail going forward rather than pulling in anything already sitting in the Hostinger inbox, but once it’s active it runs on its own without further attention.
Troubleshooting
- SMTP verification fails immediately. Double-check the server field wasn’t left as an autofilled mx1.hostinger.com or similar. It needs to read exactly smtp.hostinger.com.
- Never received the “Send mail as” verification email. Check the Hostinger inbox’s spam folder, and confirm you entered the Hostinger address correctly with no typos in Step 1.
- Forwarder stuck on “Waiting confirmation.” This means the confirmation email hasn’t been actioned yet. It goes to the Gmail address you’re forwarding to, not the Hostinger inbox, so check Gmail’s inbox and spam folder for an email from Hostinger.
- Old mail isn’t showing up in Gmail after setting up the forwarder. Forwarding only applies to new incoming mail from the point of activation onward. Anything already in the Hostinger inbox before that stays there and needs to be checked separately or exported manually.
- Replies from Gmail don’t show your Hostinger address as the sender. Make sure you’re actively selecting the Hostinger address from the From dropdown when composing, since Gmail defaults to your primary address unless you choose otherwise each time, or set it as default under Accounts and Import.
