How to Create an SPF Record for Zoho Mail

Zoho Mail is a popular email platform for small and mid-sized businesses, offering professional email hosting with a clean interface and solid security features. If you use Zoho Mail for your business email, you need an SPF record to tell receiving mail servers that Zoho is authorized to send email on behalf of your domain. Without it, your messages are more likely to land in spam folders or get rejected entirely.

This guide walks you through creating the right SPF record for Zoho Mail, including how to handle Zoho's regional data centers, combine Zoho with other services, and verify everything is working.

The SPF Include for Zoho Mail

According to Zoho's SPF configuration guide, the SPF include mechanism for Zoho Mail depends on which regional data center your account uses. Most users are on the US data center and need this include:

include:zoho.com

Zoho operates data centers in multiple regions. Here's the include for each:

• US (default): include:zoho.com
• EU: include:zoho.eu
• India: include:zoho.in
• Australia: include:zoho.com.au
• Japan: include:zoho.jp

If you're not sure which region you're on, check your Zoho Mail URL. If you sign in at mail.zoho.com, you're on the US data center. If it's mail.zoho.eu, you're on the EU data center, and so on.

A basic SPF record for Zoho Mail (US region) looks like this:

v=spf1 include:zoho.com -all

If you use the EU region, it would be:

v=spf1 include:zoho.eu -all

You can use the free SPF record generator to build your record with the correct Zoho include and any other services you use.

Step-by-Step: Creating Your SPF Record for Zoho Mail

Common SPF Record Combinations With Zoho Mail

Most businesses don't use Zoho Mail in isolation. Here are common combinations you might need:

Verifying Your SPF Record

Once you've added or updated your SPF record, verify it's working correctly.

Go to SPF Record Check and enter your domain. The tool will show your published SPF record, validate the syntax, count DNS lookups, and flag any issues. Make sure the Zoho include appears in the record and that you haven't exceeded the 10 DNS lookup limit specified in RFC 7208.

You should also send a test email from Zoho Mail to an external address (a personal Gmail account works well). On the receiving end, check the email headers for Authentication-Results: spf=pass. If you see spf=fail, double-check that your SPF record contains the correct Zoho include for your region.

Common Mistakes With Zoho Mail SPF Records

Using the Wrong Regional Include

This is the most common Zoho-specific mistake. If your account is on the EU data center but your SPF record says include:zoho.com, your emails won't pass SPF authentication. Always match the include to your Zoho region.

Creating a Second SPF Record

If your domain already has an SPF record for another service (like Google Workspace), don't create a separate record for Zoho. Instead, add the Zoho include to your existing record. Two SPF records on the same domain cause a permerror per RFC 7208 that breaks authentication for all your email.

Forgetting About Zoho CRM or Campaigns

If you use Zoho CRM to send emails or Zoho Campaigns for marketing, those emails come from the same Zoho infrastructure. The good news is you don't need extra includes -- but you do need to make sure the SPF record is in place, or those emails will fail authentication too.

Using ~all Instead of -all

While ~all (soft fail) is more forgiving, -all (hard fail) gives you stronger protection. With -all, any server not listed in your SPF record is explicitly rejected. If you're confident your record includes all legitimate senders, use -all.

Complete Your Email Authentication

SPF is one piece of the email authentication puzzle. For full protection and the best deliverability, you need all three protocols:

• SPF authorizes which servers can send email for your domain (what you just set up)
• DKIM adds a cryptographic signature to each outgoing email, proving it wasn't altered in transit. Use DKIM Creator to generate your DKIM keys for Zoho Mail
• DMARC ties SPF and DKIM together and tells receiving servers what to do when authentication fails. Use DMARC Creator to build your DMARC policy

Zoho Mail supports all three protocols. Setting up DKIM and DMARC alongside SPF significantly improves your email deliverability and protects your domain from spoofing.

Monitor Your SPF Record

You've set up SPF for Zoho Mail -- now make sure it keeps working. DNS records can be accidentally deleted, overwritten during domain migrations, or broken by well-meaning colleagues. Daily monitoring catches problems before they affect your email deliverability.