MX record lookup
List the mail servers that receive email for a domain, in the order senders try them, and see who runs them.
- MX hosts in priority order
- Null MX and missing-MX cases explained
- Free: 20 checks a day, no account
Give it something to look up — Glee will do the digging.
How the mx lookup works
An MX (mail exchanger) record tells the world which servers accept email for a domain. When mail bounces, when a new domain is set up, or when you want to know whether a company handles its own mail or uses a hosted service, the MX records are the first thing to read.
This lookup queries DNS for the domain's MX records and lists the hosts in preference order — senders try the lowest number first and fall back to the others. We name the mail service when the hosts make it obvious (a hosted workspace, a security gateway, a self-hosted server), and add the domain's SPF and DMARC status because the three are usually checked together.
Two edge cases matter. A null MX (a single record pointing at ".") is the domain owner saying, deliberately, that the domain receives no mail. No MX at all means senders fall back to the domain's own address, which rarely runs a mail server; in practice that mail is usually lost.
What each field means
- Mail servers
- The hosts that accept mail, lowest preference first.
- Mail handled by
- The service those hosts belong to, when recognisable.
- SPF / DMARC
- Whether the domain publishes sender rules and a policy for failures.
Where this check stops
- An MX record does not establish whether a specific mailbox exists or can receive email.
- DNS answers are cached for up to an hour; a record changed minutes ago may not show yet.
The same check, through the API
Same calculation, same answer, with a key. 5 credits per check ($0.50 per 1,000). A free account includes 1,000 credits a month.
GET /v1/email/[email protected] Host: gleanzy.com Authorization: Bearer $GLEANZY_KEY
Frequently asked
What does a null MX mean?
The domain declares that it accepts no email. Any address at that domain is undeliverable by design.
Can I check one mailbox?
Not reliably: most mail services accept every address during delivery and bounce later. Use the email validator for the address-level signals we can stand behind.