- Spedito
- Deliverability test
Email deliverability test: will your emails reach the inbox?
Type the domain you send email from (or one of your addresses): we check what Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo look at before deciding between the inbox and the spam folder, and give you a score from 1 to 100. Answer four questions about your habits for the full score.
How we calculate the score
The score goes from 1 to 100 and combines the two things Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo and sending services such as Amazon SES look at before deciding where an email goes: how the domain you send from is set up, and how you treat your list.
- Domain, half the score. SPF is worth 20 points, DKIM 25, DMARC 25, MX records 10: 80 points in all, scaled to 100.
- Habits, the other half. Four questions worth 25 points each: how people sign up, how many report spam, how many emails bounce, how you clean your list.
- Without answers, the score is the domain’s alone. 85 and up is excellent, 70 good, 50 needs work, under 50 at risk.
The domain checks
- SPF lists the servers allowed to send for your domain. It must be a single record, ending with “~all” or “-all”, within the 10 DNS lookups the standard allows (RFC 7208).
- DKIM signs every email with a key published in DNS. Without the selector it cannot be read: we try the most used ones and, if we don’t find it, we don’t call it missing.
- DMARC tells providers what to do with fake emails in your name. Since 2024 Gmail and Yahoo, and since 5 May 2025 Microsoft, require it (at least “p=none”) from anyone sending over 5,000 emails a day; “quarantine” and “reject” actually protect you.
- MX lets you receive replies and bounce notices: a domain that receives no mail looks disposable.
- BIMI, optional, shows your logo in the inboxes that support it: we report it but it costs no points.
The thresholds providers use
- Spam complaints: Gmail and Yahoo ask you to stay under 0.3%, ideally under 0.1%. Amazon SES puts an account under review from 0.1% and may pause it from 0.5%.
- Bounces: Amazon SES recommends staying under 5%: from 5% the account goes under review, from 10% it may be paused.
- Unsubscribe: Gmail and Yahoo ask bulk senders for one-click unsubscribe (RFC 8058), honoured within two days.
- Consent: everyone recommends double opt-in and forbids bought lists: they are the main source of spam traps and complaints.
What this test cannot see
From outside you can see DNS, not reputation: how Gmail and Outlook rate you (Google Postmaster Tools tells you), whether your domain is on a blocklist, your content and how many people open your emails. That takes your real sending data: in Spedito the Deliverability page works it out on its own, with a score you can follow week by week and tips to keep it high.
Frequently asked questions
What is email deliverability?
It is your emails’ ability to land in the inbox rather than the spam folder. It depends on how your domain is set up (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and on your reputation: spam complaints, bounces and how much people open your emails.
Does a high score guarantee the inbox?
No: nobody can guarantee it, because each provider also decides based on content and on how recipients behave. A high score means you have done everything that is up to you.
Why does DKIM show as “not found” when I turned it on?
A DKIM key lives under a name, the selector, that only your sending service knows. We try the most common ones; if yours is different, type it in the field and we check it.
Should I set DMARC to “reject” straight away?
No. Start with “p=none” and an address for reports (rua), check for a few weeks that all your emails pass, then move to “quarantine” and finally to “reject”.
Do you store the domain I type?
No. The domain is only used for DNS lookups, which are public. To prevent abuse we keep a keyed hash of your IP address for one day, as for our other free tools.