SPF Record Checker
Use this tool to lookup and validate your SPF record.
SPF Status
Record Checks
Valid SPF record | |
Failure Mode | |
DNS Lookups below 10 | /10 |
Void Lookups below 2 | /2 |
Error Details | |
Warning |
Tag | Value | Description |
---|---|---|
v | v = spf1 Record version | |
+ip4 | Allow the listed IPv4 addresses | |
+ip6 | Allow the listed IPv6 addresses | |
+include | Check the SPF record of the listed domain for a matching IP address | |
+a | Allow the IP addresses listed in the domain’s A record | |
+mx | Allow the IP addresses of the domain’s MX hosts | |
+ptr | Allow the IP addresses of the domain’s PTR hosts | |
+exist | SPF passes if an A record lookup of the listed domain returns a valid result | |
+redirected | Replace the current SPF record with that of the listed domain | |
-/~/? | Apply a hardfail/softail/neutral result if no other mechanisms match |
Get your SPF record validated in seconds with PowerDMARC’s SPF record checker today!
What is an SPF Record?
SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is an email authentication protocol that allows recipients to distinguish between the domain owner’s authorized list of senders, and unauthorized emails. Authenticating your email using SPF is the first step toward preventing domain name abuse and impersonation. To configure SPF you have to set up a DNS record. Pairing your SPF record with other email authentication DNS records can increase its efficacy against cyberattacks.
Our free SPF checker tool helps you look up and check for errors in your SPF record. SPF checks help you to verify your domain’s SPF (Sender Policy Framework) configuration.
SPF Record Examples
How Our SPF Checker Works
Our SPF Checker Tool works by:
1. Retrieving the domain’s SPF record from DNS.
2. Parsing the record to understand its rules and mechanisms.
3. Evaluating the sender’s IP address against the SPF record.
4. Determining the authentication result (pass, fail, softfail, neutral, or permerror)…
Our SPF lookup tool performs the following functions:
1. Checks the existence of your published SPF record
2. Detects Multiple SPF Lookups
3. Evaluates SPF Record Validity
4. Validates IP Addresses and Domains
SPF Record Check FAQs
Check our comprehensive database of popular SPF record checker questions we come across often on our support forum.
- Log in to your Office 365 Admin Center
- Go to Settings > Domain
- Select your domain name and click on DNS records
- Check if your TXT status is ok, and review your SPF record from the list of DNS records.
- Increased likelihood of emails being marked as spam or rejected by recipient servers.
- Diminished email deliverability, affecting communication with clients, partners, or customers.
- Higher risk of phishing attacks succeeding, as spoofed emails may appear legitimate to recipients.
- Damage to the sender's reputation, potentially leading to being blacklisted by email service providers.
- Negative impact on brand reputation due to compromised email security and potential misuse of the sender's domain.
- Review the SPF record syntax and configuration for accuracy, ensuring that it includes all authorized email sources.
- Correct any misconfigurations, such as missing or incorrect IP addresses, or mechanisms.
- Update DNS records with the revised SPF information and allow time for DNS propagation.
- Test the revised SPF record using the SPF checker tool to verify its accuracy.
- Monitor email deliverability and SPF authentication status to ensure that the issues have been resolved effectively through DMARC reports.
- Consider consulting with our email security experts for assistance in troubleshooting and optimizing SPF configurations. Contact us now!
- Make sure you are following RFC-specified SPF restrictions. The details of these limitations have been explained more in the next question.
- Make sure you are authorizing all your email-sending sources, including third-party vendors. Failing to authorize email vendors and service providers you use to frequently send emails can lead to serious deliverability issues. Generally, you can find configuration guides in the support section on each of your vendor websites. Alternatively, you can check out our FAQs and blogs to find steps to configure SPF records for most vendors.
- Avoid using SPF mechanisms like the “PTR”. It is widely considered unreliable and slows down the authentication process. It also introduces more complexities in your SPF record.
- White SPF “-all” and “~all” can both be configured as a part of best SPF practices, in case of safe SMTP relaying we recommend using the softfail mechanism (~all). On a hardfail policy, relayed SMTP emails will fail SPF, leading to potential deliverability issues.