SPF Softfail vs. Hardfail: A Data-Backed Decision Guide
The article discusses the differences between SPF softfail and hardfail in email authentication. It highlights the conflicting recommendations from major providers like Google and Microsoft regarding which option to choose. The guide provides data-backed insights to help email administrators make informed decisions about their SPF configurations.
- ▪53.6% of SPF-enabled domains use SPF softfail, while 40.2% use hardfail.
- ▪Google recommends using softfail, whereas Microsoft advises against it, suggesting DMARC instead.
- ▪The article includes data from a scan of 5.5 million domains to support its findings.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
April 13, 2026 (Updated April 26, 2026 ) by DMARCguard Teamspf email-authentication dmarc deliverability dns18 min readShare document.querySelectorAll("[data-copy-url]").forEach(e=>{e.addEventListener("click",async()=>{const t=e.dataset.copyUrl;if(t)try{await navigator.clipboard.writeText(t);const c=e.querySelector(".icon-copy"),l=e.querySelector(".icon-check");c&&l&&(c.style.display="none",l.style.display="block",setTimeout(()=>{c.style.display="block",l.style.display="none"},2e3))}catch{}})})SPF Softfail vs Hardfail: A Data-Backed Decision Guide53.6% of SPF-enabled domains use SPF softfail (~all). 40.2% use hardfail (-all). Google recommends one. Microsoft recommends the other.
…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at DMARCguard.
Discussion
0 commentsMore from DMARCguard
