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One-to-one · SPF, DKIM, DMARC and placement checks

SPF, DKIM, DMARC and placement checks

One row, in depth: what each tool does, the verified numbers, and who each suits.

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Closely details read from its pricing page, home page, product and legal pages and help centre on 21 October 2026.

Warmerly

SPF, DKIM, DMARC and MX every six hours with 16 blocklists, and a placement test with limited accuracy.

Closely

Not listed. Its help article points to outside tools for each check.

The short answer

SPF, DKIM, DMARC and placement checks, in one look.

Warmerly checks SPF, DKIM, DMARC and MX every 6 hours with 16 blocklists, and runs a placement test with limited accuracy. Closely lists no authentication or placement checks, and its help article sends you to outside tools for both. Last checked 22 October 2026.

WarmerlyWarmerly ahead on this row

SPF, DKIM, DMARC and MX every six hours with 16 blocklists, and a placement test with limited accuracy.

Closely

Not listed. Its help article points to outside tools for each check.

The picture

Drawn side by side.

How the checks get done

Who runs them

WarmerlyClosely
Warmerly
Records swept every 6 hours16 blocklists checkedA finding with a fixA placement test, limited accuracy
Closely
Read the help articlemail-tester.com for SPFProvider guides for DKIM and DMARCdnschecker.org and a seed list

Closely's article is dated 18 April 2023, so the tools it names may have changed. Warmerly's placement test has no dedicated Gmail or Outlook seed list yet.

In the product

As each describes it

WarmerlyClosely

Checked for you

  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC checks: Every 6 hours, with MX and 16 blocklists
  • Placement test: Up to 4 targets, limited accuracy

Checked by you, elsewhere

  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC checks: Not listed
  • Placement test: Not listed

Closely does offer a custom tracking domain, one CNAME record, which it says should help deliverability.

On screen

What it looks like.

WarmerlySample data
Domains and DNS. Every domain checked, with the exact record to add when one is missing, sample dataDomains and DNS. Every domain checked, with the exact record to add when one is missing, sample data
Domains and DNS. Every domain checked, with the exact record to add when one is missing.Warmerly app, sample data.
How Warmerly does it

Warmerly, in detail.

Records are swept every 6 hours with a written fix, and a placement test scores real results, with a stated limit on accuracy.

01

More than 'does the record exist'

SPF is checked for its ending (-all, ~all, ?all or +all), for the limit of 10 DNS lookups counted through include and redirect, and for broken terms. DKIM is checked for key length (a 1024-bit key or shorter is flagged) and for the t=y test-mode flag. DMARC is checked for p=, sp=, pct= and whether rua= is set. MX is checked for presence.

Warmerly product, checked 21 October 2026

02

Every 6 hours, or on demand

The records sweep runs every 6 hours by default across every mailbox that is not dead or paused. The mailbox's Health tab has a Re-check now option. Blocklist checks run on their own 6-hourly sweep.

Warmerly product, checked 21 October 2026

03

A written finding with a fix

Each finding has a title, an explanation and a fix. For example, SPF needing more than 10 lookups is explained as receivers treating the record as a permanent error. DKIM in test mode says to remove t=y once signing is confirmed. Advisories such as p=none are shown but never red.

Warmerly product, checked 21 October 2026

04

6 domain and 10 IP blocklists

Warmerly queries 6 domain lists (Spamhaus DBL, SURBL, URIBL, NordSpam DBL, Spam Eating Monkey URI, s5h) and 10 IP lists (Spamhaus ZEN, SpamCop, Barracuda, PSBL, Mailspike, NordSpam, Spam Eating Monkey, Lashback UBL, DroneBL, GBUdb Truncate) by plain DNS lookup. A refused query is never reported as a listing, and several well known zones are left out on purpose (SORBS, UCEPROTECT and Invaluement).

Warmerly product, checked 21 October 2026

05

What a test does

It sends one message from the mailbox's own SMTP to up to 4 targets (2 on the same provider, 2 on another). After a wait of 30 seconds on demand, or 90 seconds in the daily sweep, it checks INBOX, Promotions, Spam and Junk over IMAP and scores each result: inbox 100, promotions 60, spam 10, missing 0. The scores are averaged.

Warmerly product, checked 21 October 2026

06

No dedicated seed list yet

Real measurement needs seed mailboxes at Gmail, Outlook or Yahoo in the placement_seeds table. The doc's check on 2026-10-15 found that table has never held a real row in production, so every test falls back to Warmerly's own warmup-pool mailboxes.

Warmerly product, checked 21 October 2026

07

Why a degraded result is not a measurement

Warmerly's own mailboxes accept essentially everything, so a degraded score is about 100 whatever the sender's real performance. In code a degraded run never writes health, is excluded from the spam score and the warmup quota, and the account page shows a Limited accuracy note. A trend is shown only when the two latest tests are the same kind.

Warmerly product, checked 21 October 2026

08

A monthly allowance of placement tests

Each test you start uses one of your monthly placement tests: 3 on Free, 5 on Starter, 25 on Growth and 100 on Agency. They reset on the 1st. A test that fails to run is handed back and does not count, and the automatic background tests Warmerly runs do not use your allowance.

Warmerly product, checked 21 October 2026

09

A tracking domain, checked twice

A custom tracking domain is set per mailbox with one CNAME record. Warmerly verifies the record, then checks that HTTPS works with a valid certificate. A domain that fails either check is not used: the mailbox sends with no tracking and no unsubscribe link until both pass. The launch check shows this as a warning, not a block.

Warmerly product, checked 21 October 2026

10

Plain text mode for placement

A campaign has a Send as plain text only switch that removes the HTML version, the tracking image and the rewritten links. The help page calls it usually the biggest single improvement to inbox placement for cold outreach, at the cost of open and click numbers. Open tracking is off by default for the same reason.

Warmerly product, checked 21 October 2026

11

A score you can read dot by dot

The Inbox placement card shows a score out of 100 and one dot per target mailbox. Promotions is rarely reported for Gmail because Gmail's tabs are not visible to Warmerly, so a missing Promotions count does not mean nothing landed there.

Warmerly product, checked 21 October 2026

12

What to do with a bad result

The help page lists the order: fix failing SPF, DKIM or DMARC, check for a blocklist listing, check the mailbox has warmed up (a mailbox in its first two weeks will not place well), check the copy, then wait a few days with warmup on and test again. One promotions result is described as not an emergency; the same mailbox in spam repeatedly is.

Warmerly product, checked 21 October 2026

How Closely does it

Closely, in detail.

No authentication or placement feature appears on Closely's pricing or product pages. Its help article lists outside tools for each check.

07

Causes it lists

Free accounts such as gmail.com or outlook.com, a domain bought less than a year ago, a sudden jump in volume (its example is 50 emails a day rising to 500 in one day), frequent complaints, links to a third-party domain, links to domains people complain about, trigger words, and missing DMARC, DKIM and SPF. It states these without evidence.

help.closelyhq.com/en/articles/7321531-here-s-why-emails-go-to-spam · read 22 October 2026

08

Fixes it suggests

Adjust DMARC, DKIM and SPF, stop mailings or keep to about 50 messages a day, move part of the sending to an older domain if the domain is under a year old, warm up sending accounts gradually using tools from saleshandy.com, set up a custom tracking domain or turn off open and click tracking, and check the text for trigger words with autoklose.com.

help.closelyhq.com/en/articles/7321531-here-s-why-emails-go-to-spam · read 22 October 2026

10

The tracking domain steps

In Outreach, then Accounts, choose a sending account, open Setup domains, enter your domain, then add a CNAME at your DNS host: host track, pointing to l.onthe.io. It covers the unsubscribe button, open tracking and click tracking, and the article is dated 31 January 2024.

help.closelyhq.com/en/articles/6868740-custom-tracking-domain · read 22 October 2026

11

Timing and what is not said

The tracking article says the change takes up to a few minutes and also that DNS updates may take from a few minutes to 72 hours. It does not say how Closely confirms the domain works or what to do if setup fails. You can keep the default Closely tracking domain instead.

help.closelyhq.com/en/articles/6868740-custom-tracking-domain · read 22 October 2026

What Closely does not say

We looked, and found no statement on these. That is about its published pages only, not about the product.

  • An in-app SPF, DKIM or DMARC check
  • An in-app placement test
  • A blocklist monitor
  • A check of key length, SPF lookup count or DMARC policy
  • A confirmation step after the tracking domain CNAME is added
  • A DMARC report reader
  • A threshold for a high bounce rate

Where the sources disagree

We report each version rather than pick one.

  • Closely's article is dated 18 April 2023, so the tools and steps it names may have changed.
The numbers

Only what we could verify.

SPF, DKIM, DMARC and placement checks: Warmerly and Closely side by side. Warmerly is in the first column.
MeasureWarmerlyClosely
SPF, DKIM, DMARC and placement checksSPF, DKIM, DMARC and MX every six hours with 16 blocklists, and a placement test with limited accuracy.Not listed. Its help article points to outside tools for each check.
SPF, DKIM and DMARC checksEvery 6 hours, with MX and 16 blocklistsNot listed
Placement testUp to 4 targets, limited accuracyNot listed
Custom tracking domainWarned about in the pre-launch checksYes, one CNAME
Placement tests a month3 on Free, 5 on Starter, 25 on Growth, 100 on AgencyNot listed
Blocklist checks16 lists, swept every 6 hoursBy hand with an outside checker, per its article
Tracking domain setupOne CNAME per mailbox, verified, then HTTPS checkedOne CNAME, host track, pointing to l.onthe.io
Dates of the guidanceCurrent docs and codeSpam article 18 April 2023; tracking article 31 January 2024
In practice

What it means for you.

Our reading of the facts above. Not a promise, and not the only reasonable reading.

1

Closely hands you a checklist

You run SPF, DKIM, DMARC, blocklist and seed checks with outside tools.

2

Warmerly runs them for you on a schedule

With a written fix for each finding. Its placement test has no dedicated Gmail or Outlook seed list yet, and says so.

3

How long a broken record can sit unnoticed

Warmerly sweeps records every 6 hours, which is 4 checks a day. If you instead looked by hand once a week, a record that broke just after your check could go unseen for up to 7 days, which is 168 hours, or 28 sweep intervals. That is arithmetic on a habit, not a Closely figure: Closely's article gives no schedule, only tools to run when you suspect a problem.

4

A seed check with a young mailbox

Closely's route is to send a neutral message to the seed addresses at gmass.co/inbox and open each folder. Warmerly's placement test does a similar thing for up to 4 targets, 2 on the same provider and 2 on another, and shows a score. Until it has real Gmail or Outlook seeds the targets are its own warmup mailboxes, so the card says Limited accuracy.

5

Five mailboxes, five tests

A Starter workspace has 5 mailboxes and 5 placement tests a month, so one test each with nothing left over. Growth has 25 mailboxes and 25 tests, Agency 100 and 100. Warmerly's own background tests do not draw on that allowance.

6

The unsubscribe link depends on the tracking domain

On Warmerly, a mailbox without a working tracking domain sends no unsubscribe link and the email ends with a line asking people to reply unsubscribe. Closely's article tells you to add an unsubscribe link and, separately, to set up a custom tracking domain, and says the domain covers the unsubscribe button.

Who it suits

Pick the one that fits.

Warmerly

Warmerly is the better fit if

  • You want records and blocklists checked for you on a schedule
  • You want a placement test inside the tool
  • You want blocklists checked on a schedule rather than when you suspect a problem
  • You want each finding written out with a fix
  • You want the tracking domain verified, including HTTPS, before it is used
Closely

Closely is the better fit if

  • You prefer to run your own checks with outside tools
  • You are happy to follow a help article and run outside tools yourself
  • You want a single CNAME for tracking and nothing else to maintain
Questions
Does Closely check SPF, DKIM and DMARC?

We found no in-app check. Its help article on spam tells you to check SPF with mail-tester.com and links Google and Microsoft guides for DKIM and DMARC.

How accurate is Warmerly's placement test?

Limited. Until real Gmail or Outlook seeds exist, a test measures delivery into Warmerly's own mailboxes, and the account page shows a Limited accuracy note.

Does Closely have an inbox placement test?

We found none. Its spam article suggests sending a neutral test to seed addresses at gmass.co/inbox and checking which folder each message reaches. The article is dated 18 April 2023.

How many placement tests does Warmerly include?

3 a month on Free, 5 on Starter, 25 on Growth and 100 on Agency. They reset on the 1st, and a test that fails to run is not counted.

Do I need a custom tracking domain on Closely?

Its help article calls it not necessary but something that should increase deliverability. It is one CNAME at your DNS host, and it covers unsubscribe, open and click links.

Sources

Closely pages were read on 21 October 2026. Plans and wording change, so check the vendor's own page before you decide. Warmerly details come from the product as it runs today.

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