SPF record 'too many DNS lookups' error — Support

Kenneth T. 5 days ago

Added the SPF include as instructed in an earlier thread I found, but now I'm getting a “too many DNS lookups” warning when I check my SPF record.

Margaret Turner Staff 4 days ago

That's a real limit worth understanding — unlike the simpler case in the earlier SPF thread, SPF has a hard cap of 10 DNS lookups total across the whole record (each include: can itself trigger more lookups internally, they add up fast). This usually happens when a domain already sends through several services (e.g. Google Workspace, a CRM, and now SubsiMail) and each adds its own include. Can you paste your current full SPF TXT record here? I can help figure out which includes are actually still needed and flatten or trim the rest.

Kenneth T. 4 days ago

Here it is: v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:sendgrid.net include:mailgun.org include:_spf.subsimail.com include:spf.protection.outlook.com ~all. Honestly not sure which of these we still actively use.