# Error: Trial accounts can only send to the admin address (MailerSend)

Source: https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/error-mailersend-trial-accounts/
Updated: 2026-10-19 · By Duane Garner

Your MailerSend account is still in its trial state, so it may only send to the account owner's address. Verify a domain and finish approval.

This article is for sites using the **MailerSend** mailer where a send fails because a trial account may only email its administrator.

 

> **The error as you see it:** `Trial accounts can only send emails to the administrator's email.` (MailerSend often adds a code starting with `#MS`)
>  
> Shown by the **MailerSend** mailer, in the failed-send banner, in **Tools → Debug Events** and in the **Email Log**. MailerSend returns it with HTTP status 422.

 

## What this error means

 

When you first sign up, MailerSend lets you try the service before it trusts your account with the public. During this trial stage you can send only to the email address that owns the MailerSend account. Your **API Key** works; the message was refused because the recipient is someone else. This is why a test to your own address may succeed while real site mail (to customers, or to another admin address) fails.

 

## Common causes

 
- **No sending domain has been verified yet.** MailerSend keeps accounts in the trial state until you add and verify your own domain.
- **The account has not been approved** after domain verification. MailerSend may review new accounts.
- **You are testing with a different address** than the account owner's, so even the test fails.
- **The API key belongs to a second, newer account** that is still in its trial.

 

## How to fix

 
1. Sign in to MailerSend
  Go to `https://app.mailersend.com/` and look at the dashboard for a notice about the trial or account approval.
2. Add your domain
  Open **Domains** (in the left menu, under the email section) and choose **Add domain**. Enter the domain of your From Email.
3. Add the DNS records
  MailerSend lists SPF, DKIM and return-path records. Add each one at your DNS host exactly as shown, then return and press **Verify** (or the check button on the domain page). See [Domain not verified](https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/error-mailersend-domain-not-verified/) if it does not verify.
4. Complete any approval steps
  Answer any questions MailerSend asks about your sending, and complete your account profile. Approval moves the account out of the trial state.
5. Match the plugin
  In **CRM-NG SMTP → Settings → General**, set **From Email** to an address on the verified domain and tick **Force From Email**. Check that **API Key** was created in the same MailerSend account. Press **Save Settings**.
6. Send a test
  Go to **CRM-NG SMTP → Tools → Email Test**. Enter an address that is *not* the account owner's in **Send To** and press **Send Email**.

 

## Verify it worked

 

The test to another address succeeds with "Test email sent successfully! Check your inbox to confirm delivery." MailerSend's activity page shows it as sent.

 

## Notes

 
- Until approval, you can still check that the plugin is set up correctly by sending a test to the account owner's address.
- The trial restriction is separate from your account's sending limits. Reaching a limit gives a different error; see [Email sending limit reached](https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/error-email-sending-limit/).

 

## Related

 
- [MailerSend](https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/mailer-mailersend/)
- [Error: Domain not verified (MailerSend)](https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/error-mailersend-domain-not-verified/)
- [Adding DNS records: SPF, DKIM and DMARC](https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/dns-records/)
- [Troubleshooting email delivery](https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/troubleshooting/)