How to Create an SPF Record for Postmark

Postmark is a transactional email service known for industry-leading delivery speed. Built by ActiveCampaign, Postmark focuses exclusively on getting transactional emails -- password resets, order confirmations, welcome messages, and account notifications -- delivered as fast as possible. If you're sending through Postmark, setting up an SPF record is essential to make sure receiving mail servers trust those messages.

Like ActiveCampaign, Postmark uses an include domain that isn't immediately obvious from the brand name. This guide walks you through the correct setup so your transactional emails pass authentication checks every time.

The SPF Include Value for Postmark

Here's the include you need for Postmark:

include:spf.mtasv.net

A complete SPF record with only Postmark looks like this:

v=spf1 include:spf.mtasv.net -all

Transactional vs. Marketing Streams

Postmark separates email into distinct streams: transactional and broadcast (marketing). This is a deliberate design choice to protect transactional email deliverability from the reputation impact of marketing sends. However, both stream types send from the same infrastructure, so you only need one SPF include -- spf.mtasv.net -- to cover everything.

Step-by-Step: Creating Your Postmark SPF Record

Common SPF Record Combinations With Postmark

Postmark handles transactional email, so you'll almost always pair it with a provider for team email and potentially a separate marketing email service. Here are the most common setups:

Verifying Your Postmark SPF Record

Once DNS changes have propagated, verify that everything is working correctly.

Go to SPF Record Check and enter your domain. The tool will show your published SPF record, validate the syntax, check for duplicate records, and count DNS lookups. Confirm that include:spf.mtasv.net appears in the record and that no errors are flagged.

Postmark also has a built-in DNS verification check. Go back to your domain settings in the Postmark dashboard and click the verify button. Postmark will query your DNS and confirm whether the SPF and DKIM records are correctly published. A green checkmark next to SPF means you're good to go.

For a hands-on test, send a test email through Postmark's API and check the email headers on the receiving end. Look for Authentication-Results: spf=pass. Postmark's activity feed in the dashboard also shows whether each message passed or failed authentication, which makes debugging straightforward.

Common Postmark SPF Mistakes

Using postmarkapp.com Instead of spf.mtasv.net

The correct include is spf.mtasv.net, not postmarkapp.com or postmark.com. This non-obvious domain is the most common source of errors when setting up Postmark's SPF record. If you use the wrong domain, Postmark's sending servers won't be authorized and your transactional emails will fail SPF checks.

Confusing Postmark With ActiveCampaign's SPF

Postmark is owned by ActiveCampaign, but they use different SPF include domains. ActiveCampaign uses emsd1.com while Postmark uses spf.mtasv.net. If you use both services, you need both includes in your SPF record. Don't assume one covers the other.

Creating a Second SPF Record

If you already have an SPF record for another provider, don't create a separate TXT record for Postmark. Two SPF records on the same domain cause a permerror that breaks SPF entirely. Edit your existing record and add include:spf.mtasv.net alongside your other providers.

Overlooking Subdomain Sending

Some teams configure Postmark to send from a subdomain (like notifications.yourdomain.com or mail.yourdomain.com) to separate transactional email reputation from their main domain. If you've set this up, the SPF record needs to go on that specific subdomain -- not on your root domain. Check your Postmark domain settings to confirm which domain your messages are sent from.

Not Separating Transactional and Marketing Streams

Postmark strongly encourages separating transactional and marketing (broadcast) email into different streams. While both use the same SPF include, failing to separate them inside Postmark can impact your transactional email's delivery speed and reputation. This isn't an SPF issue per se, but it's an important configuration detail that affects your overall email deliverability.

Complete Your Email Authentication

SPF tells receiving servers which IP addresses can send email for your domain, but it's only one layer of protection. For full email authentication, you need all three protocols working together:

• DKIM adds a cryptographic signature to each outgoing message. Postmark provides DKIM keys during domain setup that you add as TXT records. Use DKIM Creator to generate your DKIM configuration.
• DMARC ties SPF and DKIM together and tells receiving servers what to do when a message fails authentication. Use DMARC Creator to build your DMARC policy.

Setting up all three protocols is the best way to protect your domain from spoofing and maximize your inbox placement rates. Postmark is particularly strict about authentication -- they won't even let you send until DKIM is configured.