MX Records: The Backbone of Email Receiving
Mail Exchange (MX) records direct email to your mail servers. Understand priority, TTL, and common configuration mistakes.
What are MX Records?
MX records specify the mail servers responsible for accepting email on behalf of your domain. While SPF and DKIM are for sending, MX is strictly for receiving. If your MX records are wrong, you will not receive any emails.
Priority Setting
MX records have a priority number (e.g., 5, 10, 20). Lower numbers mean higher priority. If the primary server (5) is down, the sender tries the next one (10). This provides redundancy for your business communications.
Verification Tip: If you're wondering why a contact isn't replying, use our Single Check tool to see if their MX records are actually responding.
Common MX Mistakes
- Pointing to an IP: MX records must point to a hostname (e.g., mail.example.com), not an IP address.
- High TTL: setting a Time-to-Live (TTL) that is too high can make migrating email providers a nightmare, as old records stay cached for days.
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