How to use Porkbun email when your DNS is hosted elsewhere

If your website is hosted with a company that requires you to assign their nameservers to your domain, you may wonder if you can still utilize Porkbun's hosted email and email forwarding services.

The answer is yes, provided your web host allows you to make custom DNS entries. Here's how to add the requisite records at a 3rd party host:

1

Determine if your web host allows you to make custom DNS entries, specifically MX records. In most cases, you can. A good way to determine how is to search the knowledge base of your hosting company or contact their support department to ask how to add DNS records.

2

Log into your DNS interface at your web host. If you see any MX records, remove them. If you see a TXT record that begins with "v=spf1", remove it.

3

Add the following MX and TXT records to the domain with your web host:

Type	Host	Value (Answer)	Priority
MX	leave blank, or @ depending on the company	fwd1.porkbun.com	10
MX	leave blank, or @ depending on the company	fwd2.porkbun.com	20
TXT	leave blank, or @ depending on the company	v=spf1 mx include:_spf.porkbun.com ~all

Note

Be sure to remove any existing MX or SPF records other than the ones above, so that only Porkbun's MX/SPF records show for your domain. It may take up to 48 hours for your new records to fully propagate across the internet, although in most cases the change should be immediate.

If you have DMARC/DKIM configured for your Porkbun hosted email

If you have DMARC and DKIM records configured for your Porkbun hosted email, which are additional security measures that help prevent email spoofing, please follow the additional steps below to add the correct records to your 3rd party host:

Locate your domain and click the "Details" button to the right. On the menu that appears, click the edit icon next to "DNS Records".

DNS records option in domain details menu

In your Porkbun DNS menu under "Current Records", locate the TXT records section and copy the Host and Answer/Value for the TXT records that say "default._domainkey" and "_dmarc". Depending on the hosting provider you're using, you may need to copy the whole domain name with the host, or you may just have to copy the part before the domain name, such as _dmarc by itself.

Add the DMARC and DKIM records as "TXT" records with your hosting provider.

That's it! Once you've added all of the appropriate records to your domain on your hosting provider's end (and ensured you've deleted any existing MX/SPF records that could cause conflicts), your email from Porkbun should start working! You can also use a site such as MXToolbox to ensure everything is set up correctly.

Feel free to contact our support team if you have any questions or concerns.