- DNS lookup for 12 record types
- Choose the DNS server
- Email the report
DNS Lookup
Check all DNS records for any domain — A, AAAA, CAA, CNAME, MX, NS, PTR, SOA, SRV, TXT and more.
Enter a domain above to see all DNS records
Run a DNS lookup on any domain to see every record it publishes. Pick a DNS server, switch between record types with the tabs, and email the full DNS records lookup to your team.
How to run a DNS lookup
Check any domain's DNS records in four steps.
- 1
Enter a domain
Type the domain or subdomain you want to check, such as mail.example.com.
- 2
Pick a DNS server
Use Google, Cloudflare or another public resolver to see whether a change has spread.
- 3
Switch record types
Use the tabs to read A, MX, TXT, CNAME, NS and the other records the domain publishes.
- 4
Share the results
Email the DNS records lookup to your developer or DNS host so everyone works from the same data.
DNS record types in this DNS checker
Each tab in the tool shows one record type. Here is what each one does and why it matters for email.
| Record | What it does | Email relevance |
|---|---|---|
| A / AAAA | Points a hostname to an IPv4 or IPv6 address. | Your mail server hostname must resolve. |
| MX | Names the servers that receive mail for the domain. | No MX means no inbound mail and failed verification. |
| TXT | Holds text values, including SPF, DKIM, DMARC and site verification. | The home of email authentication. |
| CNAME | Aliases one hostname to another. | Used for DKIM keys and tracking domains. |
| NS | Lists the nameservers in charge of the domain. | Tells you where to edit records. |
| SOA | Start of authority: primary nameserver, serial and timers. | Useful when changes do not appear. |
| PTR | Reverse DNS: maps an IP back to a hostname. | Sending IPs without PTR are often filtered. |
| CAA | Lists who may issue SSL certificates. | Indirect. Matters for tracking domains on HTTPS. |
| SRV | Points services like autodiscover to a host and port. | Used by Microsoft 365 and some clients. |
Why choose a different DNS server?
Different resolvers can return different answers while a change spreads. Checking more than one tells you where things stand.
Check propagation
Compare public resolvers to see if your new record is live everywhere yet.
Spot stale caches
If one server shows the old value, it is still cached. Wait for the TTL to pass.
Confirm the source
Query your authoritative nameserver directly to see exactly what you published.
Reading MX and TXT records for email
When email goes wrong, two record types explain most of it. MX shows where inbound mail lands. TXT holds the SPF record and any DMARC or verification entries.
Lower MX priority numbers are tried first. A domain should have one SPF TXT record at the root and one DMARC TXT record at _dmarc.
- MX present and pointing at your real provider
- One v=spf1 TXT record, not two
- DMARC published at _dmarc
- DKIM at selector._domainkey
When to run a DNS lookup
Run one after every DNS change, before you launch a new sending domain, and whenever bounce or spam rates jump without a clear reason. Most deliverability problems trace back to a record that is missing, duplicated or pointing at an old provider.
For an email-focused view, the domain scanner checks SPF, DKIM, DMARC and MX in one pass and grades the result.
A DNS lookup asks the Domain Name System for the records a domain publishes, such as its IP address, mail servers and TXT entries. This tool shows all of them in one place, sorted by type.
Enter the domain above and open the ALL tab. Use the ANY tab to ask the server for everything at once, though many servers limit ANY replies, so ALL is more complete.
Each resolver caches records for the time set by the TTL. After a change, some servers show the new value while others still serve the old one until their cache expires.
Usually minutes to a few hours, and up to 48 hours in rare cases. It depends on the old record's TTL. Lower the TTL before planned changes to speed things up.
Yes. SPF appears in the TXT tab for the root domain. For DMARC, look up _dmarc.yourdomain.com, or use the SPF checker and DMARC checker for a full validation.
Further reading
- RFC 1035: Domain names The core DNS specification that defines record types and lookups.
- RFC 5321: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol How mail servers hand off messages and how MX records are used.
- RFC 7208: Sender Policy Framework The official SPF specification, including the 10 DNS lookup limit.
DNS records look right but mail still bounces?
We audit your sending domains end to end and fix the records, mailboxes and warm-up behind poor placement.