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Automatic SPF Flattening Service

Your Dynamic and Hassle-free SPF Flattening tool

A One-Click Automatic SPF flattening tool for your Sender Policy Framework Record. Instantly flatten SPF records for multiple domains and accounts, and stay updated on uninformed changes to authorized IPs. Excessive lookups? Not anymore! We make sure you don’t exceed the 10 DNS lookup limit.

What is SPF Flattening?

SPF flattening is the process of converting an SPF record into a compressed format that reduces your DNS lookup count, ensuring that the record contains fewer than 10 DNS lookups. It works by replacing all the domains in the SPF record with their IP addresses, which eliminates the need for multiple DNS queries. SPF record compression can be useful for troubleshooting your DNS record for SPF and making sure your email authentication protocol validates legitimate emails properly.

Why is Flattening SPF Records Important?

Flattening SPF helps domain owners restrict the number of DNS lookups to stay below the RFC-specified limit of 10. Complying with the DNS lookup limitation ensures proper functioning of the SPF authentication system, and prevents unwanted errors.

SPF flattening

SPF breaks if the limit is exceeded

Your DNS record for SPF instructs receiving email servers to perform DNS lookups for every included record during authentication checks. Every included record adds an extra DNS query. When the number of lookups exceeds the limit of 10, SPF breaks for your email. leaving it vulnerable to phishing attacks. This may result in false negatives, and unreasonable load and impact your email deliverability metrics.

Read RFC specification

automatic SPF flattening

Your Email Service Providers add more lookups

Each email provider or vendor brings in their own set of complications by adding more records to your SPF, leading to additional DNS lookups! When using multiple vendors and email clients there is no way to avoid this DNS lookup error.

SPF flattening service

SPF issues are more common than you think

9 out of 10 domain owners face email deliverability issues because of the 10 DNS lookup limit for SPF, and they have no clue about what is going wrong!

SPF flattening tool

SPF Flattening resolves SPF problems.

A tried and tested method – SPF record flattening is a hassle-free solution to mitigate this error that shows instant results and works even for organizations using multiple email vendors.

Troubled with deliverability issues? Check your record now using our free SPF record checker tool!

SPF Record Flattening Process

  • Replacing SPF records with IP addresses

During the SPF flattening process, SPF records are replaced with their subsequent IP addresses, reducing the number of lookups during checks.

  • Removal of SPF mechanisms

“a”, “mx”, and “include” mechanisms are removed as a part of the SPF compression process to decrease redundancy and lookups even further.

  • Simplifying SPF record 

When you flatten SPF record, the record is overall much more simplified and straightforward, reducing error messages and helping streamline the authentication process.