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SPF Record Checker

Validate SPF syntax and count the DNS lookups.

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Quick Tool Overview

The SPF Record Checker validates an SPF record term by term and counts its DNS lookups against the limit of ten — the limit being what actually breaks most records, rather than a typo.

What it does
Validates SPF syntax and counts the DNS lookups it needs
You give it
An SPF TXT record, quoted or not
You get back
Every term explained, with a running lookup total
The limit
Ten lookups per evaluation, from RFC 7208
Best for
Finding why SPF stopped passing after adding a sender
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About the SPF Record Checker

The SPF record that breaks is almost never the one with a typo in it. It is the one that grew past ten DNS lookups, because RFC 7208 caps an evaluation there and going over does not degrade gracefully — it returns a permanent error, and SPF stops passing for everything.

Paste your record and every term is listed with what it does, what it costs in lookups, and a running total against the limit. Includes, a, mx, ptr and exists each cost one; ip4 and ip6 cost nothing, which is why replacing an include with the ranges behind it is the usual fix.

The rest of the syntax is checked too — malformed IP ranges, unknown mechanisms, terms placed after "all" where they will never be read, the deprecated ptr mechanism, and a record long enough to need splitting into several strings. The "all" policy at the end is read back in plain English, since the difference between ~all and -all is the whole point of the record.

Key features of the SPF Record Checker

Lookup count per term

Which mechanisms cost a lookup, and the running total.

Every mechanism explained

What each one authorises, in plain terms.

Dead terms flagged

Anything after "all" is never evaluated, and is marked as such.

The all policy read back

The difference between ~all, -all and ?all, spelled out.

Works on an unpublished draft

It checks what you paste, so you can test before publishing.

How to use the SPF Record Checker

  1. 1

    Paste your SPF record

    The TXT value, with or without the surrounding quotes.

  2. 2

    Check the lookup count

    The running total against the limit of ten.

  3. 3

    Read each mechanism

    What it authorises and whether it costs a lookup.

  4. 4

    Confirm the all policy

    Soft fail, hard fail or neutral, explained in plain terms.

Frequently asked questions

RFC 7208 allows an SPF evaluation at most ten DNS lookups. Each include, a, mx, ptr, exists and redirect costs one, and nested includes count too. Exceed it and receivers return permerror, which in practice means SPF stops passing altogether.

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