Free Tool

Free Email Blacklist Checker

Scan your domain and its sending IP against 65 email blacklists at once. Get the status of each list and the delisting steps that go with it.

This scan checks 65 blacklists and takes 20 to 30 seconds

What Is an Email Blacklist?

An email blacklist (also called a blocklist or DNSBL) is a real-time database of IP addresses and domains that have been flagged for sending spam or suspicious email. When you send an email, the receiving mail server checks one or more blacklists to decide whether your message should be accepted, filtered to spam, or rejected outright.

Getting listed on a blacklist doesn't mean you're a spammer. It means something about your sending behavior or infrastructure triggered a listing, a compromised server, a purchased list with bad addresses, a sudden volume spike, or sharing an IP address with someone who is actually spamming.

The good news: most blacklist listings are temporary, and the delisting process is straightforward once you fix the underlying problem. The bad news: while you're listed, a significant portion of your email may never reach the inbox.

How to check if your email domain is blacklisted

Type the domain you send mail from into the box above, without the https:// or the www. The scan resolves that domain to the IP handling its mail, then queries all 65 lists against the domain and the IP together, because the two carry separate reputations and a clean result on one says nothing about the other.

A domain listing on Spamhaus DBL or SURBL usually means the domain name turned up as a link inside a spam message, sometimes sent by someone with no connection to you. An IP listing means the server sending your mail is the problem, which happens constantly on shared IPs where you inherit the sending history of every other tenant.

Check each sending domain on its own. If you run cold email from secondary domains, those carry reputations of their own, and the domain your website runs on can come back clean while an outbound domain is burned.

Can you check a single email address against a blacklist?

No, and any tool that says it can is checking something else. Blacklists index domains and IP addresses. There is no public list of banned individual mailboxes, so nothing looks up alice@company.com as a unit.

Paste an email address into the box above anyway and the checker takes the part after the @ and scans that domain instead.

When someone says their email address is blacklisted, one of three things is usually going on. The domain is listed, so every mailbox on it is affected. The sending IP is listed, so mail from that server gets filtered no matter which address sent it. Or one recipient's mail server has a local block on that specific address, which is private to that server and invisible to every public checker.

Major Email Blacklists You Should Know

Spamhaus

The most influential blacklist organization. Most major email providers check at least one Spamhaus list.

  • SBL. Verified spam sources. Serious listing.
  • XBL. Botnets, compromised machines, open proxies.
  • PBL. IP ranges that shouldn't send email directly (residential, dynamic IPs).
  • DBL. Domain-based blocklist for domains found in spam.

Impact: Very high. Affects Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and most enterprise servers.

Barracuda (BRBL)

Used heavily by businesses running Barracuda spam filters. If you're sending B2B email and listed on BRBL, your messages won't reach many company inboxes.

Impact: High for B2B senders. Moderate for B2C.

SpamCop

Driven entirely by user spam reports. Listings are usually short-lived (24-48 hours) and expire automatically once reports stop.

Impact: Moderate. Temporary but widely checked.

SORBS & URIBL

SORBS covers spam sources, open relays, and dynamic IPs. URIBL focuses on domains and URLs found in spam message bodies.

Impact: Moderate. URIBL can flag your domain even if someone else put your URLs in spam.

How to Read Your Blacklist Check Results

Clean Results (Not Listed)

You're in good shape. This doesn't guarantee perfect deliverability (there are other factors), but blacklists aren't currently hurting you. Keep monitoring, things can change quickly.

Listed on One or Two Minor Blacklists

Don't panic. Some smaller blacklists are overly aggressive. If you're only listed on obscure lists that major providers don't check, the impact may be minimal. Focus on whether the listing is on Spamhaus, Barracuda, or SpamCop, those are the ones that matter most.

Listed on a Major Blacklist

If you're on Spamhaus SBL, Barracuda, or multiple lists simultaneously, you have a real problem that needs immediate attention. Your deliverability is being significantly affected right now.

Why You Might Be Blacklisted

Sending to Invalid Addresses

High bounce rates signal you're using a purchased or scraped list. Anything above 2-3% bounce rate on a given send is a red flag.

Spam Complaints

When recipients mark your email as spam, that data gets reported back. A complaint rate above 0.1% is enough to cause problems.

Compromised Server

Your server may be sending spam without your knowledge. This is the most common reason for CBL and XBL listings.

Shared IP Problems

If you're on a shared IP, someone else's spam gets the IP blacklisted and everyone sharing it suffers. This is one of the strongest arguments for dedicated IPs.

Volume Spikes

Going from 100 emails a day to 10,000 overnight looks suspicious. Gradually ramping up your sending volume (warming up) is essential.

Hitting Spam Traps

Spam traps are addresses that exist solely to catch spammers. Hitting a pristine trap (never used by a real person) almost guarantees a listing.

How to Get Delisted

Step 1: Fix the Problem First

Before requesting delisting, figure out why you were listed and fix it. Remove invalid addresses from your lists, stop sending to purchased lists, scan your server for malware, fix your SPF, DMARC, and DKIM authentication, and slow down your sending volume.

Step 2: Request Delisting

Each blacklist has its own delisting process:

  • Spamhaus SBL. Manual review at check.spamhaus.org. May ask for details on what you've fixed.
  • Spamhaus XBL/CBL. Self-removal at abuseat.org once the compromised machine is cleaned.
  • Barracuda BRBL. Submit at barracudacentral.org. Typically processes within 12-24 hours.
  • SpamCop. No manual delisting. Listings expire automatically within 24-48 hours if no new reports come in.
  • SORBS. Request removal at sorbs.net. Can be slow to process.

Step 3: Monitor After Delisting

After you're delisted, monitor daily for at least two weeks. If you get re-listed, you haven't fully fixed the underlying issue.

How to Prevent Getting Blacklisted

Keep Your Lists Clean

Never send to purchased, rented, or scraped email lists. Verify every address before sending for cold email. Regularly remove bounced addresses and inactive contacts.

Set Up Authentication

Configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC correctly on every domain you send from. Properly authenticated email is less likely to trigger complaints.

Warm Up New IPs and Domains

Never send high volume from a new IP or domain on day one. Start small and gradually increase over 2-4 weeks to build positive sender reputation.

Monitor Continuously

Don't wait for deliverability problems to check your status. Monitor weekly at minimum and catch listings early before they cause lasting reputation damage.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I check my blacklist status?

At minimum, check weekly. If you're actively sending cold email or running high-volume campaigns, check daily. You want to catch listings early before they cause lasting reputation damage.

Is being on a blacklist permanent?

No. The vast majority of listings are temporary. Most blacklists have a delisting process, and some (like SpamCop) automatically expire within 24-48 hours. Even Spamhaus listings can be removed once you fix the underlying issue. Repeated listings, however, make future delistings harder.

Can I be blacklisted without sending spam?

Absolutely. Shared IP addresses mean someone else's spam can get your IP listed. Hitting recycled spam traps on a legitimately collected but poorly maintained list can trigger listings. Server compromises can send spam without your knowledge.

Do blacklists affect my website or just email?

Primarily email. The real damage is to deliverability. However, URIBL can flag your domain URLs in email body content, which affects emails that link to your website even if you're not the sender.

What's the difference between an IP blacklist and a domain blacklist?

IP blacklists flag the IP address of the sending server. Domain blacklists flag the domain name in headers or body. You can be on one but not the other. Your domain might be clean but the IP your provider assigned you is listed because of a previous user.

Should I use a blacklist removal service?

Be cautious. Many "removal services" charge money to submit the same free delisting requests you can do yourself. No third-party service has special access or influence over blacklist operators. Save your money and submit requests directly.

Next Steps

If your check came back clean, great, keep monitoring. If you found listings, fix the underlying issue and request delisting. For a complete picture of your email health:

Staying off blacklists is an infrastructure problem

ScaledMail provisions and manages the infrastructure layer end to end. Secondary sending domains kept separate from your main business domain, real Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 inboxes, SPF, DKIM and DMARC configured correctly on every domain, IP rotation, and continuous reputation monitoring.

Warmup runs inside your sequencer (Smartlead, Instantly, EmailBison, PlusVibe), where the engagement signals live.

When a listing does land, you get someone who can read the response code and tell you what caused it.

See how ScaledMail works