MX Record Lookup Tool
An MX record lookup lists the mail servers a domain publishes for incoming email. Each row pairs a hostname with a preference from 0 to 65535, and senders try the lowest number first. No rows means mail is not delivered. Use it to confirm which provider — Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or WebJi® — holds your mailbox.
For business owners and IT staff in India checking where a domain's email is delivered before they change DNS or move mailboxes.
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Last editorial update: 14 November 2026.
Live MX record lookup
Live checkNo MX rows at all means mail to this domain bounces. Setting up mail? Business email hosting publishes its MX records for you automatically.
What does an MX record lookup result show?
An MX record lookup returns one row per mail exchanger: a preference number and the hostname that receives email for the domain. Type only the bare domain, such as yourcompany.in, without www or https. The tool asks public DNS the same question a sending mail server asks before it delivers a message.
| Field | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Preference | 10 | A 16-bit number from 0 to 65535; senders try the lowest first |
| Exchange | mx.zoho.in | The host that accepts SMTP for the domain; it must have its own A or AAAA record |
| TTL | 3600 | Seconds a resolver may cache the answer, which is why changes take time to spread |
| Null MX | 0 . | A deliberate signal (RFC 7505) that the domain accepts no email at all |
The exchange is always a name, never an IP address, and RFC 2181 says it should not be a CNAME alias either. For the A, TXT and NS records around it, run the full DNS lookup.
How MX priority decides which mail server gets the message
A sender sorts the MX rows by preference and tries the lowest number first, falling back to higher numbers only if the first server cannot be reached. Rows with the same number are picked at random, which spreads load. The number itself has no meaning beyond its order: 0, 5 and 10 behave the same as 10, 20 and 30.
- Primary and backup: priority 10 for the main host, 20 for a standby that queues mail during an outage.
- Load sharing: two hosts both at 10 receive roughly equal traffic.
- Mixed providers: rows from two different mail services split incoming mail between them, so some messages land in a mailbox you never check.
Which MX records do Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and Zoho use?
Each major provider publishes a recognisable MX pattern, so the hostname in your result usually tells you who holds the mailbox. Providers revise these values over time; always confirm against the setup screen in the provider's admin console before editing DNS.
| Provider | Typical MX hostname | Typical priority |
|---|---|---|
| Google Workspace | smtp.google.com (older setups: aspmx.l.google.com plus four alt hosts) | 1 (older: 1, 5, 5, 10, 10) |
| Microsoft 365 | yourdomain-in.mail.protection.outlook.com | 0 |
| Zoho Mail (India data centre) | mx.zoho.in, mx2.zoho.in, mx3.zoho.in | 10, 20, 50 |
| WebJi® business email | The hostnames listed in your WebJi® welcome mail | As given in that mail |
A hostname that matches none of these points to a cPanel or Plesk server, a security gateway that filters mail first, or an old host left behind after a migration.
Why mail bounces when the MX records look wrong
Most delivery failures traced through an MX lookup come from one of four mistakes: no MX rows, a stale host, an exchange that does not resolve, or rows from two providers. Fix the record at the DNS host that the domain's nameservers point to; editing a zone at any other company changes nothing.
- No rows returned: senders may try the domain's A record instead (RFC 5321), which is usually a web server with no mailbox. Publish the correct MX.
- Old host still listed: after moving email, delete the previous provider's rows, not just add the new ones.
- Exchange does not resolve: look the hostname up in the DNS lookup; without an A or AAAA record the row is useless.
- Change not visible yet: wait out the old TTL and watch resolvers worldwide with the DNS propagation checker.
Correct MX rows get mail to the server; whether Gmail and Outlook trust it is a separate test of SPF, DKIM and DMARC in the email authentication checker. If the sending IP is listed as spam, the blacklist checker shows where.
Checking MX records for a mailbox hosted at WebJi®
For WebJi® mailboxes, the welcome mail lists the exact MX hostnames and priorities; the lookup should show those and nothing else. If the domain also uses WebJi® nameservers, the records are created for you. If DNS sits with another registrar or Cloudflare, copy them there. Plans and setup are on business email hosting, and the guide to adding an MX record in cPanel walks through the panel screens. Stuck? Send the lookup output to support@webji.services, answered 24/7 in Hindi and English.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check MX records from the command line?
On macOS or Linux run dig MX yourdomain.in +short, which prints each preference and hostname. On Windows run nslookup -type=mx yourdomain.in in Command Prompt. Both query your configured resolver, so a cached old answer can appear until its TTL expires.
Can an MX record point to an IP address?
No. The MX exchange field must be a hostname. Create an A record such as mail.yourdomain.in pointing to the server IP, then use mail.yourdomain.in as the MX target. Some DNS panels accept an IP silently, but many senders will reject or ignore that row.
How long does an MX change take to work?
It depends on the TTL the old record carried. With a TTL of 3600, most resolvers pick up the new rows within an hour; long TTLs such as 86400 can take a day. Lower the TTL a day before a planned move to shorten the switch.
Is a backup MX server worth having?
Only if it is run by your mail provider. Hosted services such as Google, Microsoft and WebJi® already queue and retry mail, and sending servers retry for days. A third-party backup MX with weak spam filtering often becomes the path spammers use.
What does an MX record of "0 ." mean?
It is a null MX, defined in RFC 7505. It tells senders the domain never receives email, so messages are rejected immediately instead of waiting in a retry queue. It suits parked domains and web-only brands that send no mail.
Last editorial update: 14 November 2026.
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