Where do I publish an SPF record?

SPF records live in your domain's DNS as TXT records. If you control your domain, you have access to publish one.

Who manages your DNS? That's the first question to answer. Your DNS might be managed by your domain registrar (like Namecheap, GoDaddy, or Google Domains), or by a separate DNS provider (like Cloudflare, or your hosting company). Log in to whichever one handles your DNS records, go to the DNS management section, and look for your existing TXT records.

How to add the SPF record:

• Create a new TXT record
• Set the "Name" or "Host" field to @ (which represents the root domain itself)
• Set the "Value" or "Content" field to your SPF record, starting with v=spf1
• Leave the TTL at the default unless you have a reason to change it

Important: you can only have one SPF record per domain. If you already have a TXT record starting with v=spf1 and you create another one, both become invalid and SPF breaks completely. If you need to authorize multiple senders, add them all to a single record using multiple include: statements, not multiple records. If you have DMARC set up, the SPF record is one of the three authentication records it relies on.

For subdomains that send email (like mail.yourdomain.com or marketing.yourdomain.com), each one needs its own SPF record published separately under that subdomain.

Once you've published the record, give it a few minutes to propagate, then check it with our free SPF checker to confirm it's valid. If you're getting stuck in your registrar's interface or the record isn't parsing correctly, the SOS hotline is free and we'll help you figure it out.

And If you're not sure what value to put in the record yet, check with your ESP. They'll have instructions for authorizing their sending servers with an include: mechanism.