Last reviewed by Netlify Support: March 2022
That’s a really common question! Netlify does not provide email service. But no worries! You can choose a service yourself, and then set up the DNS records required by that email provider at Netlify. Note that these instructions are primarily for folks who are using Netlify’s DNS Hosting.
Any mail provider should work with our DNS hosting, from major ones like GSuite and Outlook to your own mail server. Some specific services customers have reported working well that are cheap or free are:
- Zoho mail has a very cheap plan for “full” email service.
- You can also consider a email forwarding service like ImprovMX, which is free forever, but somewhat more limited in functionality.
Once you have selected your service, you can then follow the directions below to add your MX (mail) records to your Netlify DNS zone if you are using Netlify to manage your DNS . Otherwise, you’ll do this following the instructions provided by DNS hosting provider, in their dashboard. In many cases, if you have not configured DNS, specifically, this will be your domain registrar.
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In the Admin UI for your site, go to Domains - Production domains and click the
NETLIFY DNSlink to the right of your production domain to access the DNS panel for that domain. You can also get to the page to add the record via Account Name > Domains > “Name of the domain”. -
Click the Add new record button and enter the settings below:
The settings for each record are as follows:
- Record type - select MX.
- Name - just the @ symbol, nothing else needed. This will default to the name of your Netlify site name.
- Priority - an integer; lower numbers are higher priority. Set it to whatever your email service recommends -which is often different for each of several records you should add!
- Value - this will be the server path provided by your email service. Do not include http:// or https://. For example, for GSuite, you can find the settings here.
- TTL (Time To Live) - this will default to 3600 seconds and the default is usually appropriate.
Click the Save button and wait for the settings to propagate (wait time will vary, based on the TTL of your OLD settings. Typically 15 minutes to 1 hour.).
Most email services now use at least one of three “sub-types” of TXT type records for security and verification. Those sub-types are: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
There can also be other records required as well (besides SPF, DKIM, and DMARC).
Please consult the documentation for the email service to find out which DNS records it requires. Your email service’s documentation will be the best place to find this information. Once you know what the required records are, be sure to add all of them to Netlify DNS.
Once all your records are saved your email should now be working!
If it doesn’t work, or you have further questions, let us know below. (Please include the name of the email service you are using and a link to the instructions you are following to start.)
Additionally, for further information on Netlify DNS, such as migrating a domain with zero downtime, how to set up DNS, or how to detect and fix inactive Netlify DNS zones, check out our Support Guides!
to netlify. Should I do this step first and then set up emails? --what would you recommend?
