MX Record Look Up
Related tools
What this is
MX (Mail Exchange) records name the servers that accept incoming email for a domain, each with a priority — lower numbers are tried first. Without MX records, mail servers fall back to the A record, which rarely does what you want.
How to read your result
Expect one or more entries like "10 mail.example.com", sorted by priority. Confirm the hostnames belong to your actual email provider. A domain that does not receive mail legitimately has no MX records.
Common problems and how to fix them
No MX records for a domain that should receive mail
How it shows up: Senders get bounce messages, or mail silently disappears; new email setups never receive their first message.
How to fix it: Add the MX records your email provider documents (e.g. Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 each publish an exact set with priorities). Remove the setup-verification records once done.
MX records still point at the previous email provider
How it shows up: After switching providers, some mail keeps arriving in the old mailboxes or bounces once the old service is cancelled.
How to fix it: Replace the complete set of old MX records with the new provider's set in one change. Leaving a mix of old and new providers splits delivery unpredictably between them.
MX points to a CNAME or to an IP address
How it shows up: Some sending servers reject or defer mail; strict validators flag the domain.
How to fix it: MX targets must be plain hostnames with A/AAAA records — not CNAMEs and not raw IPs. Create a proper host record (e.g. mail.example.com with an A record) and point the MX there.
Related reading
- DNS Record Types, ExplainedA practical tour of every DNS record you will actually touch — A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, SRV, CAA, the DNSSEC set and the modern HTTPS record — with syntax, gotchas and when to reach for each.
- PTR Records and Reverse DNS: What They Are and Why Your Mail Depends on ThemHow reverse DNS and PTR records work across IPv4 and IPv6, who actually controls them, and why mail servers use FCrDNS to decide whether to trust your IP.
- MTA-STS: Forcing Encrypted SMTP, and How to Check It Is Actually OnMTA-STS turns opportunistic SMTP encryption into an enforced policy. Here is how the DNS record and policy file work, and how to verify both are live.
Frequently asked questions
- What is an MX record?
- An MX (Mail Exchanger) record is a DNS record that tells other mail servers which host is responsible for receiving email for your domain. Each record points to a mail server hostname and carries a priority number that ranks it against other MX records.
- How do I use this MX record tool?
- Enter a domain name (like example.com, not an email address) and run the lookup; the tool queries the domain's MX records server-side and lists each mail server hostname with its priority. Nothing you enter is stored.
- Why do MX records matter?
- Without a correct MX record, other servers have nowhere to deliver your incoming mail, so email simply bounces or fails. They are the foundation of receiving email and must point to a working mail server that accepts messages for your domain.
- How do I read the priority numbers?
- The priority (also called preference) is a number where lower means higher priority, so sending servers try the lowest-numbered host first. If two records share the same priority, mail is balanced between them; higher-numbered hosts act as backups when the primary is unreachable.
- Why does my MX record point to a hostname instead of an IP address?
- MX records must point to a hostname (like mail.example.com), never directly to an IP address, and that hostname needs its own A or AAAA record to resolve. Pointing an MX record straight at an IP is invalid and can cause mail delivery to fail.