How to Change the WordPress Admin Email (3 Methods)

Key Takeaways

• Update your email directly from the WordPress dashboard, but ensure you have SMTP configured if your confirmation link is stuck on pending or not sending.
• Bypass the mandatory verification process completely by using a free plugin to change your administration email address instantly.
• Regain access when locked out by force-updating both your main site email and user profile email directly within your database using phpMyAdmin or the Cloudways Database Manager.

Managing your WordPress admin email is crucial for receiving vital site notifications, security alerts, and password resets. If it is outdated or inaccessible, you risk losing touch with your site’s health.

However, trying to change the admin email in WordPress isn’t always smooth. Many users get stuck with a “pending” notice simply because the WordPress admin email is not sending the required confirmation link.

In this guide, we will show you three ways to update your administration email address. We’ll cover the default dashboard method, how to change the WordPress admin email without confirmation if you’re stuck, and a direct database update using phpMyAdmin.

Let’s get started…

Why Should You Change the Admin Email Address?

Your WordPress admin email handles important site communications. This address gets password recovery links, security alerts, update notifications, and new user registration messages. Keeping it updated protects your site access and looks more professional.

Security and Account Recovery

If you lose access to your admin email, recovering your WordPress account becomes almost impossible. An old email means you won’t get password reset links or security warnings when you actually need them. Having an active, secure admin email means you can always get back into your site.

Professional Branding

Gmail or Yahoo addresses don’t look professional for a business site. A branded email like [email protected] presents a better image and separates business communications from your personal inbox. This simple change builds more credibility with clients and partners.

Business Changes

When your business rebrands or switches domains, your admin email needs to match. Keeping everything consistent matters. An outdated email creates confusion about who runs the site.

Taking Over from Developers

Agencies and freelancers usually set up sites with their own email addresses. This means critical notifications go to someone outside your company. Updating the admin email gives you complete ownership and cuts out communication delays when urgent issues pop up.

Protect Your WordPress Admin Access

Changing your email is just one security measure. Cloudways blocks malicious login attempts with built-in Bot Protection, dedicated firewalls, and automated daily backups.

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Things to Do Before Changing Admin Email Address in WordPress

Before changing your WordPress admin email, follow these essential preparation steps to ensure a smooth transition and avoid getting stuck on a pending verification error:

Backup Your Website

Before making any significant changes, create a backup of your WordPress site. You can easily use the 1-click backup feature available on our WordPress web hosting platform, or a reliable backup plugin to securely save your website’s data, including files and databases.

Check Administrative Privileges

Ensure the account you are currently logged into has full “Administrator” rights. WordPress requires the user to have top-level administrative privileges to change the core administration email address.

Review Notification Plugins or Services

Review any plugins (like contact forms or security plugins) that send custom notifications to the admin email. Take note of them so you can ensure these services are also updated with the new email address later, ensuring you continue to receive important alerts seamlessly.

Pro-Tip: Configure SMTP to Avoid Verification Errors

This is where most users get stuck. When you attempt to change your email, WordPress sends a verification link to the new address. Because WordPress relies on the basic PHP mail function by default, it often fails.

If your WordPress admin email is not sending, your update will be permanently stuck on “pending.” To guarantee you receive the confirmation link, we highly recommend configuring an SMTP service (like the Cloudways Elastic Email add-on or a free SMTP plugin) before proceeding.

Method 1: Changing WordPress Admin Email Address via Admin Area

We’ll start with the simplest method: using your WordPress dashboard.

Quick note before we jump in – our test WordPress site for this tutorial runs on Cloudways. Your site can be hosted anywhere and these steps work the same way. If you’re dealing with slow loading times and want to see how we handle hosting, you can try our 3-day free trial without entering a credit card.

Now let’s get into it. We’re splitting this method into two parts because WordPress actually uses two different admin emails: the main website notification email and your personal administrator account email. We’ll update both so everything stays in sync.

Part 1: Changing the Main Website Admin Email

First, we’ll tackle the main administration email address. This is the one WordPress uses to send you core site updates and new user registration alerts.

• First things first, log into your WordPress dashboard.
• In the left-hand menu, hover over Settings and click on General.

• Scroll down until you see the Administration Email Address field.
• Delete the old email and enter your new WordPress admin email.

• Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes.

• At this point, you’d expect your old email address to be changed immediately. But if you look back at the email field, you’ll see a message: “There is a pending change of the admin email to [your new email].” Your email hasn’t actually changed yet. WordPress requires verification first.

Open the inbox for the new email address you just entered. You should see an email from WordPress asking you to confirm the change.

Click the link in that email. Once you do, the “pending” notice disappears and your new site admin email is officially active.

Part 2: Changing the Admin User Profile Email

Now that we have the site email updated, we need to update your actual user account. This is the email you use to log in, and where your personal password reset links go.

• Back in your WordPress dashboard, look at the left-hand menu and click on Users (or hover over it and click All Users).

• Find your administrator account in the list, hover over your name, and click Edit.

• This opens up your profile settings. Scroll down the page until you reach the Contact Info section.
• Locate the Email (required) field. Replace the old email with your new one here as well.

• Scroll all the way to the bottom of your profile and click the Update Profile button.

Just like before, WordPress sends a confirmation link to that new email address. Click the confirmation link and you’ve successfully changed both admin emails.

But wait… what if the emails never arrive?

If your site runs on Cloudways or another managed host, you might get stuck at this step because the confirmation email never arrives.

Here’s why this happens. WordPress sends emails using a basic server function called PHP mail(). This method doesn’t authenticate properly, so these emails look like spam to Gmail or Outlook.

Cloudways doesn’t enable this basic mail server by default for security and deliverability reasons. Instead of sending unauthenticated emails that get flagged as spam, the system just drops them.

The Fix: Route Your Emails via SMTP

To get that confirmation link delivered, your website needs a proper, authenticated way to send emails. The best way to fix this permanently is to configure SMTP.

If you are on Cloudways, we make this incredibly easy right from your server dashboard. You can navigate to Servers > SMTP and choose between our Elastic Email add-on or configuring Your Own SMTP (like Mailgun, SendGrid, or Gmail).

We actually have a complete, step-by-step tutorial on exactly how to do this here: How to Configure WordPress SMTP on a Cloudways Server. Once you have your SMTP set up, simply cancel your pending email request, re-enter your new email, and the confirmation link will hit your inbox instantly.

If you just want to update your email immediately without configuring a mail server, move on to Method 2 where we’ll show you how to bypass the confirmation step completely.

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Method 2: Change WordPress Admin Email Without Verification (Using a Plugin)

If you ran into the exact “pending change” error we talked about above, or if you simply don’t have the time to configure SMTP settings right now, this is the perfect workaround.

We are going to use a free, lightweight plugin that basically tells WordPress to turn off its mandatory email verification. This allows you to force the email change instantly.

Here is how we’ll go ahead and set this up:

Step 1: Install the “Change Admin Email” Plugin

• From your WordPress dashboard, hover over Plugins in the left-hand menu and click Add New Plugin.
• In the search bar on the top right, type in Change Admin Email.
• Look for the plugin with that exact name (usually authored by johndeebdd). Click Install Now, and then click Activate.

Step 2: Change the Email Instantly

• Now that the plugin is active, navigate back to Settings in your left menu and click on General.
• Scroll down to the Administration Email Address field.
• If you still have a “pending change” notice sitting there from Method 1, go ahead and click the “Cancel” link to clear it out.
• Type your brand new WordPress admin email into the box.
• Just below that field, you will now see a Test Email button added by the plugin. Go ahead and click it! This will send a quick test message to your new address to confirm that the plugin is working properly.

• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes.

Because the plugin is running in the background, WordPress completely skips the verification process. When the page refreshes, you will see that your administration email address has been successfully updated without a single confirmation email required.

You can now go ahead and safely deactivate or delete the plugin until you need it again.

Wait, what about my User Profile email?

It is important to note that this plugin only bypasses the verification for your Main Site Admin Email (the one in General Settings). If you also need to update your personal User Profile email (under Users > All Users) and your site’s emails are still not sending, we have one option you can try.

We can force both emails to change instantly by going straight to the source. Let’s move on to Method 3.

Method 3: Change WordPress Admin Email via Database (phpMyAdmin / Cloudways DBMS)

If you are completely locked out of your WordPress dashboard, or if you prefer to bypass plugins and SMTP settings entirely, this method serves as your ultimate failsafe.

We will change the administration email address directly within your WordPress database, allowing you to force-update both your site email and your user profile email instantly.

For websites hosted on traditional shared servers, you will typically access your database using a tool called phpMyAdmin located inside your cPanel. However, if you are hosting with us on Cloudways, you can manage this easily using our built-in Database Manager.

Here are the exact steps to follow:

Step 1: Access Your Database

• First, log into your Cloudways Platform account.
• From the top menu bar, click on Applications and select the WordPress site you want to update.

• On the Access Details screen, under Database, click the Launch Database Manager button. This will open your database in a new tab.

Step 2: Update the Main Site Admin Email

Now that we are inside the database, we need to locate the table that stores your general WordPress settings.

• In the left-hand column of your Database Manager, find and click on the wp_options table. (Note: Your database prefix might be slightly different for security reasons, like wp_a1b2_options, but just look for the one ending in _options.)

• In the main window, look at the option_name column and find the row titled admin_email.
• Click the Edit button next to that row.

• In the option_value field, delete the old email and type in your new WordPress admin email.
• Click the Save button at the bottom to lock in your changes.

And just like that, your main site admin email is now updated without needing a verification link.

Step 3: Update Your User Profile Email

Finally, let’s make sure your personal administrator account is updated so you can safely receive password reset links.

• Look back at the left-hand column and click on the wp_users table.

• Find the row containing your specific administrator username.
• Click the Edit button next to your row.

• Locate the user_email field, delete the old address, and type in your new email.
• Hit the Save button.

That’s it. You’ve successfully changed the admin email in WordPress directly from the database. Close the database manager and log back into your WordPress dashboard.

Fix Your WordPress Emails Permanently

Cloudways features a 1-click Elastic Email integration so your password resets and site alerts actually hit your inbox, plus built-in caching for faster load times.

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Admin Email Change in WordPress: Troubleshooting Tips

Changing your WordPress admin email is usually a straightforward process, but if you run into roadblocks, here is how to troubleshoot the most common issues:

• The Email Never Arrives (Check Spam & SMTP): As we mentioned earlier, WordPress’s default PHP mail function is notoriously unreliable. First, check your spam or junk folder, unauthenticated emails often end up there. If the email is completely missing, the best fix is to configure an SMTP service (like Cloudways Elastic Email or a plugin like WP Mail SMTP) to guarantee delivery.
• Plugin or Theme Conflicts: Sometimes, a poorly coded security plugin or an outdated theme can block WordPress’s core email functionality. Temporarily deactivate your plugins and switch to a default WordPress theme (like Twenty Twenty-Four). If the email is sent successfully, reactivate your plugins one by one to identify the culprit.
• Enable Debugging (wp-config.php): If emails are still failing and you suspect a deeper error, you can verify the WP_DEBUG constant in your wp-config.php file. Setting it to true enables debugging mode, which will display any hidden PHP errors that might be breaking your site’s background processes.
• Outdated Software: Always ensure your WordPress core, theme, and plugins are fully updated. Running an outdated WordPress version can cause compatibility issues that interfere with core functions, including administrative emails.

Wrapping Up!

Changing your WordPress admin email might seem like a small task, but it’s important for keeping your site secure. You need to receive critical updates, security warnings, and password reset links without issues.

Whether you used the WordPress dashboard, bypassed the verification step with a plugin, or edited the database directly through phpMyAdmin, you now control your site’s primary communication channel.

Managing your admin email properly and making sure your site can actually send those emails keeps your WordPress platform secure and fully under your control.