Do I need DMARC for transactional emails from a small website, and what are the best low-cost alternatives for sending emails if my IP is blocked?
Michael Ko
Co-founder & CEO, Suped
Published 5 May 2025
Updated 16 Aug 2025
7 min read
For many small website owners, the question of whether DMARC is necessary for transactional emails often comes up. It can feel like an overwhelming technical requirement when you are just trying to ensure your automated emails, like password resets or order confirmations, reliably reach their recipients. While the answer isn't a simple yes or no, understanding the role of DMARC and how it interacts with other email authentication protocols is crucial for your email deliverability.
The challenge often escalates when your website's sending IP address gets blocklisted (or blacklisted), bringing email communication to a halt. This is a common issue, especially for small setups that might be using shared hosting or less reputable IP spaces. Fortunately, there are effective, low-cost alternatives for sending emails that can circumvent these issues and keep your transactional communications flowing smoothly.
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) builds upon SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) to give you greater control over your email sending domain. It tells receiving mail servers how to handle emails that fail SPF or DKIM checks and provides feedback (reports) on authentication results. While it is not strictly mandatory for sending email, its importance has grown significantly, especially with new requirements from major mailbox providers.
Even for a small website sending a couple hundred transactional emails, implementing DMARC is a smart move. It adds a critical layer of security and trust to your email sending, making it much harder for phishers and spammers to spoof your domain. This, in turn, helps protect your domain's reputation and ensures that your legitimate transactional emails are delivered to the inbox, not the spam folder. You can learn more about its benefits in our guide to the benefits of implementing DMARC.
Why DMARC matters for transactional emails
Enhanced security: DMARC prevents unauthorized parties from sending emails using your domain, protecting your users from phishing and spoofing attacks that could compromise their accounts or data. This is particularly important for transactional emails that often contain sensitive information.
Improved deliverability:Mailbox providers like Gmail and Yahoo increasingly prioritize emails from authenticated domains. Having a DMARC record, even with a policy of p=none, signals to receiving servers that you are serious about email security, which can positively influence your inbox placement. More info on DMARC policy for senders is available here.
Visibility and reporting: DMARC provides aggregate and forensic reports that show you who is sending email on behalf of your domain, whether legitimate or not. These reports are invaluable for identifying misconfigurations or malicious activity, even for low email volumes.
While you might think a few hundred emails won't attract much attention, even small senders can face deliverability challenges without proper authentication. Implementing SPF and DKIM is a good start, but DMARC adds a layer of enforcement and crucial feedback that can help proactively prevent issues.
Understanding IP blocklists and their impact
If your website's email sending suddenly stops, and you see errors indicating deferrals or rejections due to unexpected volume or user complaints, it's a strong sign your IP address has been blocklisted (also known as blacklisted). This is a common problem, especially for small websites hosted on shared servers, where one bad actor can taint the reputation of the entire IP range. An IP being blocklisted is like having a bad credit score for your email, making it difficult for your messages to reach their destination.
Many hosting providers, particularly those offering very low-cost VPSs or shared hosting, may have IP ranges with a poor reputation. This is because such providers historically might have had less stringent policies on email sending or lacked effective abuse prevention measures, leading to their IPs being frequently used for spam. As a result, major email providers will often blocklist these IP ranges to protect their users, even if your specific sending volume is low and legitimate. You can use a blocklist checker to see if your IP is listed.
Shared IP addresses
Cost: Often included with standard web hosting plans, making them seemingly free or very low-cost.
Reputation risk: Your sender reputation is tied to the actions of other users on the same IP. If others send spam, your legitimate emails can suffer.
Deliverability: Higher risk of blocklisting and inbox placement issues, even for low-volume, legitimate senders.
Dedicated IP addresses
Cost: Typically comes with a monthly fee from ESPs or hosting providers. For low volume, a dedicated IP might not be necessary. More details on dedicated IPs for low-volume senders.
Reputation control: Your IP reputation is entirely within your control. Good sending practices directly translate to better deliverability.
Deliverability: Potentially higher deliverability and fewer blocklisting incidents if you maintain good sending habits.
If your IP is frequently blocklisted, it means your current sending infrastructure is unreliable. Relying on a shared IP from a host with a poor reputation will continue to cause deliverability problems, regardless of your DMARC setup. You will likely face issues not just with Yahoo, but also with Gmail, Outlook, and other major mailbox providers.
Low-cost alternatives for sending emails
When your IP is blocked, the most effective solution is to stop sending emails directly from your web server's IP and instead route them through a reputable transactional email service provider (ESP). These services specialize in email delivery, manage IP reputations, and handle all the complex authentication requirements on your behalf. For a small website, many offer very affordable, or even free, tiers.
Using an ESP (Email Service Provider) ensures your emails are sent from clean, well-maintained IP addresses with strong reputations. This drastically reduces the chance of your transactional emails being blocklisted or sent to spam. While some ESPs might seem expensive for a hobby project, several offer generous free tiers that are more than sufficient for a low-volume website.
Provider
Free tier / low-cost benefits
Ease of integration
Amazon SES
Free tier: 62,000 emails/month when sent from an EC2 instance, or 2,000 emails/day from any application. Extremely low cost beyond free tier.
Requires some technical setup, good for developers. Integrates well with web applications via SMTP or API.
Postmark
Known for high deliverability of transactional emails. Pricing starts from $15/month for 10,000 emails, which might be overkill for very small sites but ensures reliability.
Excellent documentation and libraries for easy integration, often plug-and-play for common platforms.
Elastic Email
Free tier available for up to 100 emails/day or 3,000/month, then pay-as-you-go. Note: Some reputation issues on their IP space have been observed historically, so monitor deliverability closely.
Offers SMTP and HTTP API for integration, straightforward for most applications.
Best practices for small website email deliverability
Regardless of your website's size, adopting best practices for email deliverability is key to avoiding blocklists and ensuring your messages reach the inbox. This primarily revolves around proper authentication and careful content. You can explore more about what to do when emails are blocked.
Set up SPF and DKIM: These are fundamental. SPF specifies which servers are authorized to send email on your domain's behalf, and DKIM uses cryptographic signatures to verify that the email was not tampered with in transit. Ensure your SPF and DKIM records are correctly configured for your sending service. An example of an SPF record is below.
Implement DMARC: Even if you start with a p=none policy (monitoring only), it provides valuable insight into your email ecosystem and signals trustworthiness to mailbox providers. You can easily generate a DMARC record.
Use an ESP for sending: As discussed, this is the most reliable way to send transactional emails, especially if your current IP is problematic.
Monitor your sending reputation: Keep an eye on your domain and IP reputation using tools like Google Postmaster Tools or blocklist monitoring services. Early detection of issues can prevent major problems.
Example SPF recordDNS
v=spf1 include:_spf.example.com ~all
Views from the trenches
Best practices
Always prioritize setting up SPF and DKIM for your domain.
Use a reputable transactional email service provider, even for low volumes, to manage IP reputation.
Start with a DMARC policy of p=none to monitor authentication issues without blocking emails.
Regularly check your domain and IP reputation using tools like Google Postmaster Tools.
Common pitfalls
Relying solely on shared hosting IPs for email sending without proper ESP integration.
Ignoring DMARC setup, which can lead to lack of visibility into spoofing attempts.
Failing to monitor bounce rates and spam complaints, which are indicators of reputation issues.
Using a personal Gmail account for transactional emails, which can look unprofessional.
Expert tips
A disposable Gmail account can work for very low-volume hobby projects if cost is a primary concern, but it is not ideal for professional use.
For MediaWiki, configuring SMTP to an external service like Amazon SES is a straightforward way to improve deliverability.
OVH's IP space has a historical reputation for high abuse, making it prone to blocklisting by major mailbox providers.
API-based ESPs often have free tiers or very low-cost options suitable for small websites.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says DMARC is not necessary for small websites and could potentially cause problems. It's better to focus on correctly configured SPF and DKIM with proper alignment for the From: header.
2021-10-14 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks says that an IP being temporarily deferred due to unexpected volume or user complaints indicates a general reputational issue with the IP, especially if it's a shared IP with a history of abuse.
2021-10-14 - Email Geeks
Maintaining deliverability for your small website
For a small website sending transactional emails, while DMARC may not be an absolute prerequisite, it is highly recommended for long-term deliverability and brand protection. It works best in conjunction with a solid SPF and DKIM setup.
If your IP address gets blocked, the most reliable and often cost-effective solution is to switch from direct sending to using a reputable transactional email service provider. These services are designed to handle the complexities of email deliverability, ensuring your critical emails consistently reach your users, even on a small budget.
Gmail and 
Yahoo increasingly prioritize emails from authenticated domains. Having a DMARC record, even with a policy of p=none, signals to receiving servers that you are serious about email security, which can positively influence your inbox placement. More info on DMARC policy for senders is available here.
Outlook, and other major mailbox providers.
Amazon SES
Postmark
Elastic Email
Google Postmaster Tools or blocklist monitoring services. Early detection of issues can prevent major problems.
