What is the difference between SPF results and SPF?

SPF Stands for Sender Policy Framework, it assists in adding restrictions on your DNS server and defines who can send email from your domain. Besides, SPF plays a vital role in preventing domain spoofing as it doesn’t allow unauthorized sources to use your domain.

SPF results depend on whether the sending server is authorized in the SPF record.

SPF depends on the policy (relaxed or strict).

In the sources section, you will see that there are two SPF columns, here is a breakdown of what these two columns mean:

SPF domain: This column is the domain specified in your mail header as the return path header, envelope address or bounce address.

From domain: This is the sending email address the recipient will receive email from. It will appear as the from domain in the email header.

SPF results: This column checks if your SPF domain is authorized to use the particular source to send email or not. It will display Pass if the sending server’s IP address is authorized by the SPF record published in the DNS of the SPF domain.

SPF: This column will pass if your From domain and SPF domain are aligned, and if they abide by the set SPF policy. If the return-path domain aligns with the From domain, SPF is considered aligned. Next, it checks if they follow the below SPF policy:

Relaxed policy (alignment):

In this policy SPF domain and From domain must be an exact match or a parent/child match. This policy allows a subdomain to be used and still meet the domain alignment requirement.

SPF domain	From domain	SPF
mail.example.com	example.com	pass
example.mail.com	example.com	fail
example.com	example.com	pass

Strict policy (alignment):

In this policy SPF domain and From domain must be an exact match for the SPF to pass.

SPF domain	From domain	SPF
mail.example.com	example.com	fail
example.mail.com	example.com	fail
example.com	example.com	pass
mail.example.com	mail.example.com	pass

DMARC passes if either SPF or DKIM passes and is aligned with the From domain.