Home/Fix/SPF ProblemsSPF ProblemsDiagnose SPF failures, softfails, include limits, and alignment issues.Reading time: 8 minDifficulty: IntermediateEstimated duration: 8 minPrerequisites: SPFLast updated: 2026-07-17Author: EmpirePrerequisitesSPFSender Policy Framework — authorizes hosts that may send for a domain.▼Related learningSPFSender Policy Framework — authorizes hosts that may send for a domain.▼Related problemsBroken SPF includeAn included SPF domain is missing, invalid, or fails closed.Forwarded email fails SPFForwarding paths break SPF because the forwarder is not authorized.Incorrect IP authorizationSending infrastructure IPs are not authorized by SPF.Invalid SPF mechanismSPF record contains unsupported or malformed mechanisms.Multiple SPF recordsMore than one SPF TXT record exists, causing evaluation failure.SPF passes but DMARC failsSPF authenticates a domain that does not align for DMARC.SPF PermErrorSPF evaluation fails permanently due to policy or lookup errors.SPF record missingNo SPF TXT record is published for the sending domain.SPF TempErrorTemporary DNS or evaluation failure during SPF checks.Too many DNS lookupsSPF evaluation exceeds the ten-lookup limit.▼Recommended toolsdigCLI DNS lookup utility for authoritative and recursive inspection of mail-related records.MXToolboxPopular DNS and mail diagnostics suite for SPF, DMARC, blacklist, and MX checks.Mail-TesterSend-a-message spam and authentication scoring for pre-send QA.Kitterman SPF validatorClassic web SPF policy evaluator used by operators for syntax checks.WorkflowsOpen step-by-step: Configure SPFPublish and validate an SPF policy for authorized senders.Open step-by-step: Migrate authentication recordsMove SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to a new platform without dual-record failures.Continue LearningDKIM ProblemsFix missing signatures, selector mismatches, and body hash failures.PreviousSolveNextDKIM Problems