How it works · SPF

SPF - who's allowed to send as you

SPF is the published list of mail servers permitted to send on your domain's behalf. Receiving servers check it to spot mail coming from somewhere it shouldn't.

What it is

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a record in your domain's DNS that names the servers and services allowed to send email as you - your mail provider, your marketing platform, your helpdesk, and so on. When a receiving server gets a message, it checks whether the sending server is on that list.

Why it matters

Without SPF, a receiver has no way to know whether a server sending "as you" is legitimate. With it, mail from unauthorised servers can be flagged or rejected - and your DMARC policy can act on the result. Get it wrong, though, and legitimate mail can quietly start failing.

What "good" looks like

A single, accurate record that covers every service you genuinely send from, stays within the protocol's lookup limits, and ends in a strict policy so unlisted servers are treated as fakes. The hard part is keeping it correct as your sending services change - which is exactly what we watch for you.

Related: DKIM · DMARC · MTA-STS · TLS-RPT · DNSSEC · Blacklist monitoring

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