Hello,
My Node.js application (Service ID: srv-d386h9er433s73fa0b60) is unable to connect to any external SMTP server. I believe there may be a network or firewall issue preventing outbound connections on SMTP ports from my free-tier service.
Here is the evidence I have gathered:
I first configured the application to use my hosting provider’s email, Hostinger (smtp.hostinger.com on port 465). All connection attempts from the live Render service failed with an ETIMEDOUT error.
To prove this was not a provider-specific issue, I switched to a completely different, dedicated email service, Brevo (smtp-relay.brevo.com on port 587). The connection still fails with the exact same error.
The application works perfectly in my local development environment, so I know my credentials and code are correct.
Here is the exact error log from my Render service when trying to connect to Brevo, which is identical to the error I received with Hostinger:
Code:
Error sending verification code: Error: Connection timeout
at SMTPConnection._formatError (/opt/render/project/src/backend/node_modules/nodemailer/lib/smtp-connection/index.js:809:19)
at SMTPConnection._onError (/opt/render/project/src/backend/node_modules/nodemailer/lib/smtp-connection/index.js:795:20)
at Timeout.<anonymous> (/opt/render/project/src/backend/node_modules/nodemailer/lib/smtp-connection/index.js:237:22)
at listOnTimeout (node:internal/timers:581:17)
at process.processTimers (node:internal/timers:519:7) {
code: 'ETIMEDOUT',
command: 'CONN'
}
Since the connection fails with a timeout to two different, reliable providers, this strongly suggests a network-level firewall on the Render platform is blocking outbound connections on ports 465 and 587 for my free-tier service.
Could you please investigate the outbound network policies for my container and confirm if these ports are open?
Thank you.