MailAfiniti gives you DNS records to add, but where do they go? Learn how to find who manages your domain's DNS and exactly where to paste your records.

MailAfiniti generates your MX, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records and shows them on the Domains page. The one step MailAfiniti cannot do for you is add them, because your DNS lives with whoever manages your domain, not with us. This guide finds that provider in a couple of minutes and shows you exactly where the records go once you are in.

What you'll do:

Figure out who manages your domain's DNS
Log in to the right place
Find the DNS settings screen
Know what you're looking at when you get there

Why this step exists

Your DNS records are like the forwarding instructions on file at the post office. MailAfiniti prints the instructions for you, but they have to be filed with the office that actually handles your address. That office is your DNS provider. In most cases it is the company you bought the domain from, but not always, so let's confirm it rather than guess.

Step 1: Find out who manages your DNS

There are three common answers, and one quick lookup settles it.

The fast way: a WHOIS or nameserver lookup. Go to a free lookup tool such as who.is, enter your domain, and look for the Name Servers (sometimes shown as NS records). The name servers tell you who actually controls your DNS, which is what matters. A few examples of what you might see:

ns1.godaddy.com → your DNS is at GoDaddy
something.ns.cloudflare.com → your DNS is at Cloudflare
dns1.registrar-servers.com → your DNS is at Namecheap
ns-xxx.awsdns-xx.com → your DNS is on AWS Route 53

The name in the nameserver is almost always the provider you need to log in to.

The common-sense way. If you have not moved anything since buying the domain, your DNS provider is simply the registrar you bought it from. Think back to which site you paid: GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google Domains (now Squarespace), Cloudflare, Hostinger, IONOS, and so on. Check that inbox for a purchase receipt if you cannot remember.

The "my web host manages it" case. If a developer or agency set up your website, your DNS may live with your hosting company (or with the agency's Cloudflare account) rather than your registrar. If the nameservers point somewhere you do not recognise, ask whoever built your site. They will know exactly where to add records, and you can forward them your MailAfiniti records to paste in.

Step 2: Log in to that provider

Once you know the provider, go to its website and sign in to the account that owns the domain. If you have lost access to that account, sort that out first. Nothing else in setup can proceed until you can reach your DNS settings. Most providers have an account-recovery flow, and their support can verify ownership.

Step 3: Find the DNS settings screen

Providers use slightly different names for the same screen. Look for one of these:

DNS, DNS Management, or DNS Settings
Manage DNS or Advanced DNS
Records, Zone File, or DNS Zone
Nameservers / DNS (then choose the "records" or "custom records" tab, not the nameserver tab)

Provider-specific pointers:

GoDaddy: My Products → your domain → DNS → Manage Zones / DNS Records.
Namecheap: Domain List → Manage → Advanced DNS tab.
Cloudflare: select your site → DNS → Records.
Squarespace (formerly Google Domains): Settings → Domains → your domain → DNS Settings → Custom records.
Hostinger: Domains → Manage → DNS / Nameservers.

You are in the right place when you see a table of existing records with columns like Type, Name / Host, and Value / Points to.

Step 4: Know what you're looking at

Every DNS provider shows the same core fields, even if the labels differ slightly:

Type is the kind of record: MX, TXT, or CNAME. (SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are all added as TXT or CNAME records, so do not go looking for a record type literally called "SPF".)
Name or Host is which part of your domain the record applies to. @ means the root domain itself.
Value, Content, or Points to is the actual data you paste from MailAfiniti.
Priority appears only on MX records and is a small number like 10.

MailAfiniti's Domains page lists each record with these exact fields, so it is a copy-across, one row at a time. The next guide covers doing that cleanly, including the one @-symbol mistake almost everyone makes.

Next steps

Copy your records without mistakes is the step right after this one.
Still says "Not Verified"? covers what to do once records are added.
DNS Configuration is the complete technical reference.

Can't find your provider? Send us the domain at support@mailafiniti.io and we'll look it up for you.