Defaults.Exposed › October 2026 census › v10 registry › MX records
MX records
Methodology v10 · canonical ID mx-record · Email Security · scored
Whether your domain is correctly set up to receive email at all.
MX records: definition
| Canonical ID | mx-record |
|---|---|
| Category | Email Security |
| Grade impact | Scored, counts toward the grade |
| Pass | The domain publishes at least one resolvable MX (Mail Exchange) record. |
| Fail | No MX records are published (mail to the domain cannot be routed normally). |
| Example (passing) | example.com. 3600 IN MX 10 mail.example.com. |
MX records across the census
54.3% of graded domains publish at least one MX record (180,462,439 of 332,492,319, as of October 12, 2026).
Aggregates only: never an individual domain's result.
How this check is scored
MX records is one of the 24 scored checks in methodology v10. It carries points toward the grade, and a pass earns them. When the result cannot be determined for a domain (a timeout, a SERVFAIL, a redacted source), the check returns N/A and drops out of that domain's scoring denominator. A result that could not be determined is never counted as a fail; a determined absence is.
In the October 2026 census, every graded domain had a determinable result for this check.
Every outcome in the census
| Outcome | Domains | Share of graded domains | In the headline figure |
|---|---|---|---|
| At least one MX record | 180,462,439 | 54.3% | Yes |
| No MX record | 152,029,880 | 45.7% | No |
Source: the October 2026 census rollup, deduplicated per domain, as of October 12, 2026.
By top-level domain
This splits the share of graded domains that publish at least one MX record by TLD, with generic and country-code TLDs kept apart. A TLD is named below only when at least 100,000 of its domains are in this check's base.
| Kind | Combined share | Highest | Lowest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Generic TLDs (gTLDs): 353 TLDs, 234,547,634 domains | 50.1% | .xyz 75.7%, .cat 73.6%, .email 66.8% | .bond 2.06%, .vip 6.49%, .top 6.50% |
| Country-code TLDs (ccTLDs): 167 TLDs, 97,233,639 domains | 64.5% | .hr 90.0%, .jp 86.6%, .it 86.1% | .gq 0.05%, .cf 0.27%, .tk 0.28% |
The largest TLD in this base, .com, stands at 53.7% (82,584,004 of 153,849,480).
Kind follows the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) delegation type: every two-letter TLD is a ccTLD. The per-TLD rollup covers 331,781,273 of the 332,492,319 domains in this base. Grade shares for every TLD are on TLDs compared: the census section.
Against the other checks
Among the 7 Email Security checks with a published figure, MX records has the 2nd highest pass share. Next above it is Reverse DNS (Domain Name System, PTR, Pointer): 77.2% of domains with a mail-relevant address. Next below it is DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): 50.5% of domains where a DKIM selector could be determined. Across every check with a published figure it ranks 10th of 24 .
Each share is measured on the check's own base, named on its page, so the ranking compares rates across different sets of domains.
Who the MX records point to
The census MX provider evidence classifies 180,564,746 domains with MX records by the mail provider their MX hosts belong to. The three largest named providers are Google Workspace (22,069,386, 12.2%), Microsoft 365 (14,967,920, 8.29%), GoDaddy (9,627,799, 5.33%). 96,688,981 (53.5%) point to self-hosted or unclassified mail hosts. The check passes on any resolvable MX record, whichever provider runs it.
Fix it
Plain-English impact, cost of ignoring it, and step-by-step remediation: How to fix MX records
Cite this check
Defaults.Exposed, "MX records (mx-record)", Grading Methodology v10 (census as of October 12, 2026). https://defaults.exposed/methodology/mx-record
Permalink: https://defaults.exposed/methodology/mx-record ·
All 33 checks: v10 registry ·
Machine-readable: /methodology/checks.json ·
Licence: open data