MX record checker
Enter a domain to inspect its email infrastructure — MX records, SPF, DMARC, DKIM selectors, and an overall security score.
About this tool
Whether your mail reaches an inbox or a spam folder is decided largely by three DNS records that have nothing to do with the mail server itself. SPF lists which servers may send on your domain's behalf, published as a TXT record. DKIM signs each outgoing message with a private key whose public half lives in DNS, so a recipient can verify the message was not altered and did come from you. DMARC ties the two together: it tells receiving servers what to do when SPF and DKIM fail — nothing, quarantine, or reject — and where to send reports. Since 2024, Google and Yahoo require DMARC for bulk senders, so a missing record is no longer a theoretical weakness but a delivery failure. MX records themselves are simpler: they name the servers that accept mail, with a preference number where the lowest value is tried first. This tool checks a domain's MX records alongside its SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configuration and scores the result, so you can see what a receiving server sees.
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Enter a domain name in the input field.
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Click Check — the tool fetches MX records and scans TXT records for SPF, DMARC, and DKIM.
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Review the email security score and each section's status (pass, warning, or missing).
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Use the feedback to fix any missing or misconfigured email authentication records.
Verify MX records and SPF/DMARC are correctly configured before going live with a new domain.
Debug email deliverability issues by checking whether SPF and DMARC are properly set up.
Check a domain's email security posture before accepting correspondence from it.
Well-configured domain
google.comScore: 95/100 — MX ✓ SPF ✓ DMARC (reject) ✓ DKIM ✓Missing DMARC
example.comScore: 60/100 — MX ✓ SPF ✓ DMARC ✗No email setup
parked-domain.ioScore: 0/100 — No MX records foundTwo SPF records are reported
Cause: A domain may publish exactly one SPF record. A second is usually added when a new sending service is onboarded and its instructions are followed literally rather than merged into the existing record.
Fix: Merge all sending sources into a single TXT record beginning v=spf1. Two records is a permanent error condition that causes SPF to fail entirely, not to fall back to one of them.
SPF fails despite listing the right servers
Cause: The ten DNS lookup limit. Each include, a, mx, and redirect mechanism costs a lookup, and nested includes count too — adding a fourth or fifth provider quietly exceeds the cap and returns permerror.
Fix: Count your lookups, flatten includes where a provider publishes stable ranges, and remove services no longer in use. Use ~all or -all rather than ?all, which asserts nothing.
DKIM shows as missing though it is configured
Cause: DKIM records live at a selector-specific name, and there is no way to enumerate selectors from DNS. A checker can only test common ones, so an unusual selector looks absent.
Fix: Look up the selector directly as selector._domainkey.yourdomain.com. Your mail provider's setup page names the selector it signs with; some providers rotate through several.
These answers explain common mx checker tasks, expected input formats, and edge cases so both visitors and search engines can understand what this tool does.
What is an MX record?
An MX (Mail Exchanger) record tells email servers where to deliver mail for a domain. It points to one or more mail servers with priority values — lower priority numbers are tried first.
What is SPF?
SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a TXT record that lists the mail servers authorised to send email on behalf of your domain. Strict SPF (-all) rejects mail from unlisted servers; soft SPF (~all) marks it as suspicious.
What is DMARC?
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) builds on SPF and DKIM to tell receiving servers what to do with mail that fails authentication — none (monitor), quarantine (spam folder), or reject (block).
How is the email security score calculated?
The score awards points for having MX records (25), an SPF record (up to 25), a DMARC policy (up to 30), and at least one DKIM key (20). A strict SPF -all and a DMARC reject policy earn the maximum points in each category.