SPF Record Raw Checker
Paste an SPF record you haven't published yet – check its lookup count and syntax before you go live.
Need to monitor this across every client domain you manage? ActiScan does bulk scanning, scoring, and white-labeled reporting for MSPs.
How to Use the SPF Raw Checker
Paste your draft SPF record
The full record, e.g. v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com -all – it doesn't need to be published anywhere yet.
Optionally add your domain
Only used to label bare a/mx mechanisms – your domain itself is never looked up.
Click Check
ActiScan walks every include:/redirect= target live over DNS, exactly as it would once published.
Why the 10-Lookup Limit Matters
RFC 7208 caps SPF evaluation at 10 DNS lookups – every include:, a, mx, and redirect= mechanism costs one (plain ip4:/ip6: ranges don't). Go over it and mail servers are supposed to treat the entire record as a permanent error – not "fail open," fail entirely. It's easy to blow past once you combine two or three email vendors' own include: mechanisms, each of which can itself include further mechanisms.
Next Steps
Want ongoing monitoring?
ActiScan tracks lookup count over time and alerts you before you go over.
Start free →Frequently Asked Questions
Is this SPF raw checker free?
Yes – check any draft record for free, no signup required.
Why check a record before it's even published?
Because SPF's 10-lookup limit (RFC 7208) is easy to blow past once you start combining multiple email vendors' include: mechanisms – better to find out before you publish and mail starts failing.
Does this actually query DNS?
Yes, for every include:/redirect= target named in your pasted record – since those already exist in DNS even if your own record doesn't yet. Your own domain is never queried unless you paste a record that names it directly.
What if I don't have a domain to test with yet?
Leave the domain field blank – it only affects how bare a/mx mechanisms are labeled in the result, everything else works the same.
How is this different from the regular SPF checker?
The regular SPF checker looks up a domain's already-published record. This one checks a record you're still drafting, before you publish anything.