Your Server Is Judged Before Your Message Is.

Eight things in one pass: SPF, DKIM signing keys, DMARC policy, MX records, reverse DNS, TLS encryption, BIMI, and blacklist status. Those cover the four areas receivers actually score, authentication, infrastructure, reputation, and compliance. Each check returns pass, warn, or fail with the exact record we found. It audits the domain and server, not individual addresses; the email verification service handles mailbox-level checks.

Yes. Signing up gets you 1,000 free credits, or 2,500 with a work email, no card required, and the server test runs from the same dashboard. Credits are pay-as-you-go and never expire; volume rates are localized on the pricing page. Want zero signup? The authentication slice of the test, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, runs free right now on the SPF, DKIM and DMARC checker.

Almost always because no TXT record exists at _dmarc.yourdomain.com, or the record that does exist has a syntax error receivers cannot parse. Publish at minimum v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:[email protected] to start collecting reports, then tighten to quarantine or reject. Once it passes, the DMARC monitor reads those reports for you continuously.

Add one TXT record at your domain root listing every service that sends for you, for example v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all for Google Workspace. Two rules trip most people: a domain may publish only one SPF record, so merge providers into a single string, and the record may trigger at most 10 DNS lookups. Re-run the free SPF check after DNS propagates to confirm the fix.

A or A+ means every receiver-scored check passes and your setup is not the reason mail lands in spam. B means the essentials pass but warnings remain, typically a missing BIMI record or a DMARC policy still at p=none. C or F means at least one authentication or reputation check fails outright, and that is where deliverability damage is concentrated. Fix fails before warnings: a missing DMARC record costs you far more than a missing logo.

Run the test after every change to DNS, your ESP, or your sending infrastructure, and monthly as a baseline even when nothing changed, because records get edited by other teams and certificates expire quietly. Reputation moves faster than configuration: blacklist operators add and remove entries daily, so pair the periodic test with blacklist monitoring and a one-off email blacklist check whenever engagement suddenly drops.

Scope. An SMTP test checks one connection: can a specific server be reached on its port and complete a handshake. An email server test audits the whole sending domain, the DNS records, authentication policies, encryption, and reputation that decide how receivers treat your mail once that connection works. If mail is not leaving at all, start with the SMTP test; if it leaves but lands in spam, start here.

No. It removes the configuration reasons for spam placement, which is necessary but not sufficient. List quality and engagement still decide the rest: 20 to 40% of B2B lists fail at catch-all domains alone, and bounces from bad addresses erode the reputation a clean server earned. Verify your list with the 9-point verification engine, then measure where real campaigns land with an inbox placement test.

Yes. The REST API exposes the same domain and authentication checks the dashboard runs, so you can test servers from CI after DNS changes or audit every domain on a customer list. AI agents connect through the native MCP server with no glue code. Everything runs on the same pay-as-you-go credits, and results return as structured JSON you can alert on.