SPF flattening solves one of the most common SPF problems - exceeding the 10 DNS lookup limit.
The problem
Every include, a, mx, and redirect mechanism in your SPF record costs one DNS lookup. If you use multiple sending services - Google Workspace, Mailchimp, Salesforce, HubSpot, and so on - you can easily exceed the 10-lookup limit.
What happens when you exceed the limit
When a receiver evaluates your SPF record and hits more than 10 DNS lookups, the result is a permerror. This means SPF fails for all emails from your domain, regardless of whether the sender is authorized. It's not a soft failure - it's a hard stop.
How SPF flattening works
Suped resolves all include, a, and mx mechanisms in your SPF record into their underlying IP addresses (ip4 and ip6 entries). Since literal IP addresses don't require DNS lookups, this dramatically reduces your lookup count.
The flattened record is hosted on Suped's infrastructure and automatically refreshed as sender IPs change. You don't need to manually update anything when Google or Mailchimp rotates their IP ranges.
Setup
- Go to Settings > Domains and click your domain
- Navigate to the SPF tab
- Enter your desired SPF record - the one with too many lookups
- Suped generates a flattened version that stays within the 10-lookup limit
- Update your DNS to point to the flattened record (the exact value is shown in the dashboard)
- Suped verifies the record and shows the status
Reverting
If you need to go back to your original SPF record, click Unflatten in the SPF settings. This reverts to your pre-flattened record, and you can update your DNS accordingly.
Automatic updates
Suped periodically re-resolves all the IP addresses behind your includes. If a sending service adds or removes IPs, the flattened record is updated automatically. This means your SPF record stays accurate without any manual intervention.
