Free tools / Email

DMARC Record Check

Reads and explains your DMARC policy, and tests report delivery.

What this tool does

DMARC tells receiving mail servers what to do with a message that claims to be from your domain but fails authentication, and sends you reports of who is using your name. Without it, anyone can send mail that looks like yours.

Enter a domain to see its record, what each tag means, whether the policy actually protects anything, and whether the addresses that should receive your reports will really get them.

Reading the result

p=none
Monitoring only. Spoofed mail is still delivered.
p=quarantine
Failing mail goes to junk. A sound step towards reject.
p=reject
Failing mail is refused. This is the goal.
pct
The share of failing mail the policy applies to. Anything under 100 is a rollout stage.
rua
Where aggregate reports go. Without one you cannot see who sends as you.

Questions people ask

How do I move from p=none to p=reject safely?

Publish p=none with a rua address, and read the reports for a few weeks to find every service that sends as your domain. Fix SPF and DKIM for each, then move to quarantine at a small pct, raise it, and finally set reject.

Why were my reports not arriving?

If the rua address is at a different domain, that domain must publish a record at yourdomain._report._dmarc.theirdomain agreeing to receive them. Without it receivers drop the reports. The check tests this.

Does a subdomain need its own record?

No. A subdomain uses the organisational domain's record unless it publishes its own. The sp tag sets a different policy for all subdomains.

Do small companies need DMARC?

Yes. Google and Yahoo have required it from bulk senders since 2024, and any domain can be impersonated whatever its size.

Related tools

Stuck at p=none? Most domains stay at monitoring because moving on feels risky. Our posture review sets out the steps to an enforced policy without losing legitimate mail. See the posture review →