Free MX lookup
Where does this domain's email actually go?
See priority, provider, failover, TTL, and the IP addresses behind every receiving mail server — with migration leftovers and broken hosts called out.
What this check looks at
We query the domain's MX records directly and list every mail server returned, sorted by priority, resolve each hostname to its current IP addresses, and show its DNS TTL. Where the mail server's hostname matches a pattern used by a major provider, we label it in plain English so you don't have to recognize raw hostnames like aspmx.l.google.com yourself.
MX records only control where mail is delivered — they say nothing about whether that mail is authenticated or protected from spoofing. Pair this with our SPF checker and DMARC checker for the full picture of a domain's email health.
Common questions
What is an MX record?+
An MX (Mail Exchange) record is the DNS entry that tells the rest of the internet which mail servers receive email for your domain, and in what priority order. If no MX exists, SMTP can fall back to the domain's A or AAAA address, but that implicit setup is fragile and rarely the right choice for modern business email.
What does the priority number mean?+
Lower numbers are tried first. If a domain lists two mail servers at priority 10 and 20, sending servers will attempt the priority-10 server first and only fall back to the priority-20 one if the first is unreachable.
Why does this matter if I already know I use Gmail or Outlook?+
It confirms the setup is actually live and correctly pointed — a common failure mode is a domain migration where MX records were never updated, so mail silently goes to an old, abandoned mailbox instead of the current one.
My MX lookup came back empty. What does that mean?+
If the domain also has no A or AAAA address, email has nowhere to go and will bounce. If an address does exist, SMTP uses it as an implicit fallback; the tool shows that separately because it may work but is often accidental. A null MX is different: it explicitly declares that the domain accepts no email.
How is this different from a general DNS lookup tool?+
This tool is focused specifically on mail routing. It identifies common providers, resolves every MX hostname to IPv4 and IPv6, shows TTL and priority, detects null MX, and flags weak failover or mixed-provider records that can be left behind during a migration.
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