diff --git a/src/platform.js b/src/platform.js
index 7175c43c5..3eb0a105e 100644
--- a/src/platform.js
+++ b/src/platform.js
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ function createMailConfig(callback) {
             settings.getMailRelay(function (error, relay) {
                 if (error) return callback(error);
 
-                const enabled = relay.enabled || false,
+                const enabled = relay.provider === 'cloudron-smtp' ? true : false,
                       host = relay.host || '',
                       port = relay.port || 25,
                       tls = !!relay.tls,
diff --git a/src/routes/settings.js b/src/routes/settings.js
index 0ad502ee1..2b50bad56 100644
--- a/src/routes/settings.js
+++ b/src/routes/settings.js
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ function getMailRelay(req, res, next) {
 function setMailRelay(req, res, next) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof req.body, 'object');
 
-    if (typeof req.body.enabled !== 'boolean') return next(new HttpError(400, 'enabled is required'));
+    if (typeof req.body.provider !== 'string') return next(new HttpError(400, 'provider is required'));
     if ('host' in req.body && typeof req.body.host !== 'string') return next(new HttpError(400, 'host must be a string'));
     if ('port' in req.body && typeof req.body.port !== 'number') return next(new HttpError(400, 'port must be a string'));
     if ('tls' in req.body && typeof req.body.tls !== 'boolean') return next(new HttpError(400, 'tls must be a boolean'));
diff --git a/src/routes/test/settings-test.js b/src/routes/test/settings-test.js
index 63d7566a6..7fb7b5e2d 100644
--- a/src/routes/test/settings-test.js
+++ b/src/routes/test/settings-test.js
@@ -15,9 +15,10 @@ var appdb = require('../../appdb.js'),
     expect = require('expect.js'),
     path = require('path'),
     paths = require('../../paths.js'),
-    superagent = require('superagent'),
     server = require('../../server.js'),
     settings = require('../../settings.js'),
+    settingsdb = require('../../settingsdb.js'),
+    superagent = require('superagent'),
     fs = require('fs'),
     nock = require('nock');
 
@@ -321,12 +322,12 @@ describe('Settings API', function () {
                    .query({ access_token: token })
                    .end(function (err, res) {
                 expect(res.statusCode).to.equal(200);
-                expect(res.body).to.eql({ enabled: false });
+                expect(res.body).to.eql({ provider: 'cloudron-smtp' });
                 done();
             });
         });
 
-        it('cannot set without enabled field', function (done) {
+        it('cannot set without provider field', function (done) {
             superagent.post(SERVER_URL + '/api/v1/settings/mail_relay')
                    .query({ access_token: token })
                    .send({ })
@@ -339,30 +340,36 @@ describe('Settings API', function () {
         it('cannot set with bad host', function (done) {
             superagent.post(SERVER_URL + '/api/v1/settings/mail_relay')
                    .query({ access_token: token })
-                   .send({ enabled: true, host: true })
+                   .send({ provider: 'external-smtp', host: true })
                    .end(function (err, res) {
                 expect(res.statusCode).to.equal(400);
                 done();
             });
         });
 
-        it('set succeeds', function (done) {
+        it('set fails because mail server is unreachable', function (done) {
             superagent.post(SERVER_URL + '/api/v1/settings/mail_relay')
                    .query({ access_token: token })
-                   .send({ enabled: true, host: 'host', port: 25, username: 'u', password: 'p', tls: true })
+                   .send({ provider: 'external-smtp', host: 'host', port: 25, username: 'u', password: 'p', tls: true })
                    .end(function (err, res) {
-                expect(res.statusCode).to.equal(202);
+                expect(res.statusCode).to.equal(400);
                 done();
             });
         });
 
         it('get succeeds', function (done) {
-            superagent.get(SERVER_URL + '/api/v1/settings/mail_relay')
-                   .query({ access_token: token })
-                   .end(function (err, res) {
-                expect(res.statusCode).to.equal(200);
-                expect(res.body).to.eql({ enabled: true, host: 'host', port: 25, username: 'u', password: 'p', tls: true });
-                done();
+            var relay = { provider: 'external-smtp', host: 'host', port: 25, username: 'u', password: 'p', tls: true };
+
+            settingsdb.set(settings.MAIL_RELAY_KEY, JSON.stringify(relay), function (error) { // skip the mail server verify()
+                expect(error).to.not.be.ok();
+
+                superagent.get(SERVER_URL + '/api/v1/settings/mail_relay')
+                       .query({ access_token: token })
+                       .end(function (err, res) {
+                    expect(res.statusCode).to.equal(200);
+                    expect(res.body).to.eql(relay);
+                    done();
+                });
             });
         });
     });
diff --git a/src/settings.js b/src/settings.js
index 840e97ec4..308c48b48 100644
--- a/src/settings.js
+++ b/src/settings.js
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ var gDefaults = (function () {
     result[exports.UPDATE_CONFIG_KEY] = { prerelease: false };
     result[exports.APPSTORE_CONFIG_KEY] = {};
     result[exports.MAIL_CONFIG_KEY] = { enabled: false };
-    result[exports.MAIL_RELAY_KEY] = { enabled: false };
+    result[exports.MAIL_RELAY_KEY] = { provider: 'cloudron-smtp' };
     result[exports.CATCH_ALL_ADDRESS] = [ ];
 
     return result;
@@ -682,6 +682,20 @@ function setMailRelay(relay, callback) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof relay, 'object');
     assert.strictEqual(typeof callback, 'function');
 
+    function save() {
+        settingsdb.set(exports.MAIL_RELAY_KEY, JSON.stringify(relay), function (error) {
+            if (error) return callback(new SettingsError(SettingsError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
+
+            exports.events.emit(exports.MAIL_RELAY_KEY, relay);
+
+            platform.createMailConfig(NOOP_CALLBACK);
+
+            callback(null);
+        });
+    }
+
+    if (relay.provider === 'cloudron-smtp') return save();
+
     var transporter = nodemailer.createTransport(smtpTransport({
         host: relay.host,
         port: relay.port,
@@ -694,15 +708,7 @@ function setMailRelay(relay, callback) {
     transporter.verify(function(error) {
        if (error) return callback(new SettingsError(SettingsError.BAD_FIELD, error.message));
 
-        settingsdb.set(exports.MAIL_RELAY_KEY, JSON.stringify(relay), function (error) {
-            if (error) return callback(new SettingsError(SettingsError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
-
-            exports.events.emit(exports.MAIL_RELAY_KEY, relay);
-
-            platform.createMailConfig(NOOP_CALLBACK);
-
-            callback(null);
-        });
+       save();
     });
 }
 
diff --git a/src/test/settings-test.js b/src/test/settings-test.js
index 2206bab93..b9c5d0acc 100644
--- a/src/test/settings-test.js
+++ b/src/test/settings-test.js
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ var async = require('async'),
     config = require('../config.js'),
     database = require('../database.js'),
     expect = require('expect.js'),
-    settings = require('../settings.js');
+    settings = require('../settings.js'),
+    settingsdb = require('../settingsdb.js');
 
 function setup(done) {
     config.set('provider', 'caas');
@@ -184,18 +185,19 @@ describe('Settings', function () {
         it('can get mail relay', function (done) {
             settings.getMailRelay(function (error, address) {
                 expect(error).to.be(null);
-                expect(address).to.eql({ enabled: false });
+                expect(address).to.eql({ provider: 'cloudron-smtp' });
                 done();
             });
         });
 
         it('can set mail relay', function (done) {
-            settings.setMailRelay({ enabled: true, host: 'mx.foo.com', port: 25 }, function (error) {
+            var relay = { provider: 'external-smtp', host: 'mx.foo.com', port: 25 };
++            settingsdb.set(settings.MAIL_RELAY_KEY, JSON.stringify(relay), function (error) { // skip the mail server verify()
                 expect(error).to.be(null);
 
                 settings.getMailRelay(function (error, address) {
                     expect(error).to.be(null);
-                    expect(address).to.eql({ enabled: true, host: 'mx.foo.com', port: 25 });
+                    expect(address).to.eql(relay);
                     done();
                 });
             });
diff --git a/webadmin/src/views/email.html b/webadmin/src/views/email.html
index a5354797f..433d5a716 100644
--- a/webadmin/src/views/email.html
+++ b/webadmin/src/views/email.html
@@ -75,11 +75,11 @@
     <div class="row">
         <div class="col-md-12">
             <div class="form-group">
-                <select class="form-control" style="width: 50%;" ng-model="mailRelay.preset" ng-options="a.name for a in mailRelayPresets track by a.id" ng-change="mailRelay.presetChanged()"></select>
+                <select class="form-control" style="width: 50%;" ng-model="mailRelay.preset" ng-options="a.name for a in mailRelayPresets track by a.provider" ng-change="mailRelay.presetChanged()"></select>
             </div>
         </div>
     </div>
-    <div class="row" ng-show="mailRelay.preset.id !== 'builtin'">
+    <div class="row" ng-show="mailRelay.preset.provider !== 'cloudron-smtp'">
         <div class="col-md-6">
             <div>
                 <form name="mailRelayForm" role="form" ng-submit="mailRelay.submit()" autocomplete="off" novalidate>
diff --git a/webadmin/src/views/email.js b/webadmin/src/views/email.js
index 1a6fadbe2..82aa730df 100644
--- a/webadmin/src/views/email.js
+++ b/webadmin/src/views/email.js
@@ -85,13 +85,13 @@ angular.module('Application').controller('EmailController', ['$scope', '$locatio
     };
 
     $scope.mailRelayPresets = [
-        { id: 'builtin', name: 'Built-in SMTP server', enabled: false },
-        { id: 'ses', name: 'Amazon SES', enabled: true, host: 'email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com', port: 25, tls: true },
-        { id: 'custom', name: 'Custom SMTP server', enabled: true, host: '', port: 587, tls: true },
-        { id: 'google', name: 'Google', enabled: true, host: 'smtp.gmail.com', port: 587, tls: true },
-        { id: 'mailgun', name: 'Mailgun', enabled: true, host: 'smtp.mailgun.org', port: 587, tls: true },
-        { id: 'postmark', name: 'Postmark', enabled: true, host: 'smtp.postmarkapp.com', port: 587, tls: true },
-        { id: 'sendgrid', name: 'SendGrid', enabled: true, host: 'smtp.sendgrid.net', port: 587, tls: true },
+        { provider: 'cloudron-smtp', name: 'Built-in SMTP server' },
+        { provider: 'external-smtp', name: 'External SMTP server', host: '', port: 587, tls: true },
+        { provider: 'ses-smtp', name: 'Amazon SES', host: 'email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com', port: 25, tls: true },
+        { provider: 'google-smtp', name: 'Google', host: 'smtp.gmail.com', port: 587, tls: true },
+        { provider: 'mailgun-smtp', name: 'Mailgun', host: 'smtp.mailgun.org', port: 587, tls: true },
+        { provider: 'postmark-smtp', name: 'Postmark', host: 'smtp.postmarkapp.com', port: 587, tls: true },
+        { provider: 'sendgrid-smtp', name: 'SendGrid', host: 'smtp.sendgrid.net', port: 587, tls: true },
     ];
 
     $scope.mailRelay = {
@@ -102,8 +102,7 @@ angular.module('Application').controller('EmailController', ['$scope', '$locatio
         presetChanged: function () {
             $scope.mailRelay.error = null;
 
-            $scope.mailRelay.relay.enabled = $scope.mailRelay.preset.enabled;
-            $scope.mailRelay.relay.presetId = $scope.mailRelay.preset.id;
+            $scope.mailRelay.relay.provider = $scope.mailRelay.preset.provider;
             $scope.mailRelay.relay.host = $scope.mailRelay.preset.host;
             $scope.mailRelay.relay.port = $scope.mailRelay.preset.port;
             $scope.mailRelay.relay.tls = $scope.mailRelay.preset.tls;
@@ -111,8 +110,7 @@ angular.module('Application').controller('EmailController', ['$scope', '$locatio
 
         // form data to be set on load
         relay: {
-            enabled: false,
-            presetId: 'builtin', // stash this so we can set the preset label correctly in the UI
+            provider: 'cloudron-smtp',
             host: '',
             port: 25,
             username: '',
@@ -149,7 +147,7 @@ angular.module('Application').controller('EmailController', ['$scope', '$locatio
             $scope.mailRelay.relay = relay;
 
             for (var i = 0; i < $scope.mailRelayPresets.length; i++) {
-                if ($scope.mailRelayPresets[i].id === relay.presetId) {
+                if ($scope.mailRelayPresets[i].provider === relay.provider) {
                     $scope.mailRelay.preset = $scope.mailRelayPresets[i];
                     break;
                 }