How to Add an SPF Record for Zoho Mail (2026 Guide)

Zoho Mail is one of the most common ESPs for small businesses and startups in India and Southeast Asia, and it's also one of the easiest to misconfigure SPF for - because Zoho's include often pushes senders over the 10-DNS-lookup limit when combined with other services. Here is the correct setup.

The SPF Record for Zoho Mail

• Type: TXT
• Host / Name: @
• Value: v=spf1 include:zoho.com ~all
• Value (Zoho EU): v=spf1 include:zoho.eu ~all
• Value (Zoho IN): v=spf1 include:zoho.in ~all

Where to Add It

If Zoho also hosts your DNS: Zoho DNS Management console → Add Record → TXT → paste the value above. If your domain's DNS lives elsewhere (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, Hostinger), add the same TXT record there instead - Zoho only needs the record to exist somewhere resolvable, not to host it.

The "Too Many DNS Lookups" Error

SPF allows a maximum of 10 DNS lookups per check. include:zoho.com uses several lookups on its own, so stacking it with two or three other ESP includes (a CRM, a marketing tool, a cold email platform) commonly exceeds the limit - which causes SPF to fail silently (a "permerror"), not just for the extra sender but for Zoho mail too. If you send from Zoho plus other tools, flatten the record with a tool that resolves nested includes, or drop unused includes rather than stacking them indefinitely.

Verify the Record

Use MXToolbox's SPF lookup, or send yourself a test email from Zoho to a Gmail address and check spf=pass in the message headers. Pair this with DKIM (Zoho Mail Admin → Email Authentication → DKIM) and a DMARC record - all three are required for consistent inbox placement with Gmail and Outlook in 2026.