Free blacklist checker — no account, no card

Are you on a blacklist right now?

We query 39 lists for your domain and for every IP behind your MX records. Each listing comes with the reason and the delisting link. SPF, DKIM and DMARC come with it, in the same run.

~40 seconds · you get a report link you can send to anyone

What we query

39 lists, your domain and every sending IP.

DOMAIN LISTS Spamhaus DBL, SURBL, URIBL — the lists that judge the domain in the message, not the server.
IP LISTS Every IP behind your MX records, checked against the RBLs receivers actually consult.
SPAMHAUS ZEN, SBL, XBL, PBL and DBL. One Spamhaus listing outweighs a dozen obscure ones.
DELISTING Every listing we find comes with the removal form for that specific list.
THE COST A listing on a list Gmail trusts doesn't slow your mail down. It stops it.

Two kinds of list

One judges the server. One judges the domain.

A blacklist is a DNS zone that answers a single yes-or-no question. The question is not always about the same thing. Some ask about the IP that connected; others ask about the domain inside the message. You can be clean on one kind and blocked by the other.

The sending IP, against an RBL

10.113.0.203.zen.spamhaus.org  →  127.0.0.4   (XBL — compromised machine)

The domain in the message, against a DBL

example.com.dbl.spamhaus.org   →  127.0.1.2   (DBL — spam domain)

RBLs judge the IP that connected. Spamhaus ZEN, Barracuda, SpamCop and UCEPROTECT all answer for a sending address, not a brand. ZEN is really three zones in one: SBL for sources Spamhaus lists by hand, XBL for exploited and compromised machines, and PBL for ranges — home connections, unconfigured cloud instances — that were never meant to send directly to a receiver. The return code tells you which one caught you, and each points at a different fix.

Domain lists judge the message. DBL, SURBL and URIBL read the links and the sender domain inside the mail itself, and they do not care which server carried it. That is the trap: your IP can pass every RBL while a shortener or a tracking domain in your template sits on URIBL, and Gmail bins the message on the strength of the link alone. We check both sides in the same run, because clearing one proves nothing about the other.

Blacklists in one minute

Not all lists are worth the same panic.

An RBL is a DNS zone that answers "listed" or "not listed" for an IP or a domain. Anyone can run one. What matters is which receivers consult it.

A Spamhaus listing is an emergency. A listing on a boutique list nobody queries is a footnote. We query 39 lists, but we do not treat them as 39 equal votes — we weight them, so you are not left staring at a wall of red trying to work out which line is actually holding your invoices at the door. That weighting is the difference between a report and a scare.

Triage by who reads the list. Gmail and Outlook lean on Spamhaus and a small handful of others. Start there: if ZEN or DBL is red, that is where your mail is dying, and everything else can wait. UCEPROTECT is a special case — its higher levels list entire network ranges to pressure hosts, so you can appear on it through no fault of your own, and few receivers act on it. Knowing that saves you an afternoon of chasing a listing that changes nothing.

Delisting is the last step, not the first. A listing is a symptom, not the disease. Remove yourself before you have fixed the cause and you will be relisted within the week — and re-listings clear more slowly than the original. Fix, confirm quiet, then delist.

Before you delist

Find the cause, or you will be back.

Lists do not add you at random. Something sent mail that looked like spam, or your address sat next to something that did. Name it before you touch a removal form.

The usual causes are short and specific. A mailbox with a stolen password, quietly relaying spam through your own SMTP. A neighbour on a shared IP at a cheap host, whose mail lands in the same block as yours. A contact form or comment box a bot has hijacked to fire messages at strangers. A cold list you bought or scraped and mailed anyway. A single large send that tripped a spike in bounces and spam complaints. Each leaves a different fingerprint, and the fix differs accordingly — resetting a password does nothing for a bad neighbour.

Removal is not uniform. Some lists expire on their own once the behaviour stops — PBL and XBL clear when the IP goes quiet, and UCEPROTECT's lowest level rolls off after a stretch of clean days. Some are instant self-service: the Spamhaus Blocklist Removal Centre and the Barracuda form take a request the moment you submit it. A few make you wait, or ask you to justify the removal. Every listing in your report links to the removal guide for that exact list, so you are not hunting for the right form under pressure.

But none of that matters if the source is still sending. Clear the cause, watch the IP stay silent for a few days, then ask to be removed. Do it in that order and most lists let you go within hours.

Reputation vs listing

A clean check is a floor, not a ceiling.

Passing every blacklist means no list has flagged you yet. It does not mean receivers like your mail. Reputation and listing are different things, and they move independently.

IP reputation belongs to the server; domain reputation follows you. An IP's standing stays with the address — leave the host and you leave it behind. Your domain's standing is yours wherever you send from, and it comes with you when you switch ESP or move to a fresh IP. That is why a spotless new server does not reset a domain that receivers have already learnt to distrust.

The case that confuses everyone: the IP is clean and mail still bounces. If no RBL is red and Gmail is still refusing you, a public blocklist was never the problem. Either your authentication is failing — SPF, DKIM or DMARC alignment, which no blacklist measures — or Gmail's own view of your domain has soured, which lives in Postmaster Tools, not in any DNS zone we can query. A blacklist check tells you what has gone publicly wrong. It cannot vouch for what receivers privately think. Your report covers authentication in the same run, so you are not left guessing which of the two is biting.

Common questions

About listings, specifically.

Why am I listed? Usually a compromised mailbox, a bulk send to an old list, or a neighbour on a shared IP. The listing page for each RBL states the reason it recorded.
How long does delisting take? Hours on most lists once the cause is fixed. Some expire automatically. Ask for removal while you are still sending spam and you will be back on within days.
Does one listing really matter? It depends entirely on the list. One that Gmail and Outlook consult can stop your mail dead; one nobody queries changes nothing. The report tells you which you are on.
My IP is clean but mail still bounces. Then the problem is authentication, not reputation — SPF, DKIM or DMARC. Your report covers all three, in the same run.
How do I get off Spamhaus? Fix the cause first — a stolen password, a hijacked form, a listed neighbour — then submit the IP or domain to the Spamhaus Blocklist Removal Centre. ZEN clears fast once XBL and PBL have nothing left to flag. Your report links to the removal guide for the exact zone you are on.
Why do I keep getting relisted? You delisted before fixing the cause. The spam that got you listed is still leaving your server, so the list records it again — and repeat offences clear more slowly than the first. Stop the source, confirm it is quiet for a few days, then remove yourself.
Does a listing affect my domain or my IP? Either, and they are separate. RBLs like ZEN, Barracuda and UCEPROTECT list the sending IP; DBL, SURBL and URIBL list the domain in the message. A new IP escapes an IP listing and does nothing for a domain one.
Will a new IP fix it? Rarely. If you are on a domain list, or your domain reputation is the real problem, the listing follows you to the new address. Changing IP only helps when the IP itself is at fault — a bad neighbour on shared hosting — and even then the underlying sending has to be clean.

How it works

Real DNS queries, not a cached database.

We query your records live, the way Gmail or Outlook would at the moment of delivery. What you see is what receivers see.

  1. 1 You enter a domain. No verification needed — the records we read are public DNS, the same ones every mail server reads.
  2. 2 We run ~90 live queries. DNS records, selector probes, and one lookup per blacklist — about 40 seconds in total.
  3. 3 Every finding is scored and explained. Problems that cost you deliverability today, watches that will — each with numbered steps to fix it.
  4. 4 The report gets its own link. It stays at that URL: send it to your host, your IT provider or your client instead of a screenshot. Public DNS only — we store the answers, never your mail.

The other free checks

Same run, different question.

Full domain check → Everything at once: SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MX and the blacklists, scored out of 100. SPF checker → Syntax, the 10-lookup limit, and the mechanisms that let anyone spoof you. DMARC checker → Policy strength, alignment with SPF and DKIM, and where your reports go. Email tester → Send a real message and see SPF, DKIM and DMARC as a receiver does — with true alignment.