Forward Email email service provider (ESP)
According to Live Direct Marketing's daily Tranco top-1M scan (September 14, 2026), Forward Email is the email service provider (ESP) for 349 domains — 0.05% of 637,677 SPF-publishing domains. Detection method: include: mechanisms in the SPF record.
Key facts
- 349 domains in the Tranco top-1M use Forward Email (0.05% of SPF-publishing domains).
- Snapshot date: 2026-09-14 — recomputed every day.
- Strongest TLD: .com (51.9% of its domains).
- Region skew: Global / US-skewed.
- Most co-used service: Forward Email.
- Directory category: email forwarding service.
Why Forward Email appears in this category
Forward Email — open-source email forwarding service.
We classify it as a email forwarding service from include: mechanisms in the SPF record matching a maintained provider rule. This is infrastructure attribution from public DNS, not evidence of a direct contract or exclusive use.
Forward Email is an email service provider (ESP) detected across the web through SPF include mechanisms in DNS records. It operates as a multi-tenant email infrastructure provider, appearing primarily in the authentication chains of smaller and mid-market websites rather than in large corporate deployments.
The prevalence of Forward Email in small-business and .com-heavy domains has implications for email deliverability: senders using or targeting Forward Email infrastructure should understand its authentication posture and shared reputation model, whilst email systems receiving mail from Forward Email-backed domains may encounter a more heterogeneous sender population than concentrated enterprise platforms.
Where Forward Email sits in the Tranco ranking
| Tranco rank band | Domains | Share of its base |
|---|---|---|
| Top 1,000 | 2 | 0.6% |
| Top 10,000 | 2 | 0.6% |
| Top 100,000 | 34 | 9.7% |
| Top 1,000,000 | 301 | 86.2% |
| Unranked | 10 | 2.9% |
Top-level domain split
| TLD | Domains | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| .com | 181 | 51.9% | |
| .org | 54 | 15.5% | |
| .net | 34 | 9.7% | |
| .io | 11 | 3.2% | |
| .me | 4 | 1.1% | |
| .nl | 3 | 0.9% | |
| .com.au | 3 | 0.9% | |
| .eu | 3 | 0.9% | |
| .co | 3 | 0.9% | |
| .foundation | 3 | 0.9% |
What Forward Email users also use
Cross-tabulated from the same daily snapshot — the other email services seen on the same 349 domains.
| Type | Service | Domains | Share of Forward Email users |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mailbox | Forward Email | 212 | 60.7% |
| Mailbox | Generic / unmatched (mx*.*) | 108 | 30.9% |
| Mailbox | Google Workspace | 12 | 3.4% |
| Mailbox | Self-Hosted | 5 | 1.4% |
| Mailbox | Microsoft 365 | 3 | 0.9% |
| Mailbox | Yandex 360 | 1 | 0.3% |
| ESP | Freshdesk | 106 | 30.4% |
| ESP | Postmark | 83 | 23.8% |
| ESP | Mailgun | 27 | 7.7% |
| ESP | Amazon SES | 21 | 6.0% |
SPF Authentication and Multi-Tenant Reputation
Forward Email's presence in SPF includes means that its shared infrastructure participates in sender authentication for the domains using it. This multi-tenant model creates a reputation dependency: poor sender practices from one customer can affect deliverability for others on the same IP ranges, making it important for email receivers to evaluate Forward Email-sourced traffic at the sender level rather than by infrastructure alone.
See the full Forward Email data page (KPI cards, trend, sample domains) →
Run a free inbox-placement test across Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo and more — see exactly where your mail lands and why.
Frequently asked questions
What is Forward Email and why does it appear in SPF records?
Forward Email is an email service provider that enables domains to route or manage mail delivery through its infrastructure; it appears in SPF records because the domains using it authorise Forward Email's mail servers to send email on their behalf. For deliverability purposes, this means Forward Email shares reputation across its user base, so sender behaviour on the platform affects inbox placement for all users.
How many domains use Forward Email?
349 domains in the Tranco top-1M use Forward Email as their email service provider (ESP) as of September 14, 2026 (0.05% of SPF-publishing domains), according to Live Direct Marketing's daily DNS scan.
Is Forward Email common enough to affect email deliverability testing?
Forward Email accounts for 0.05% of SPF-publishing domains in the top 1M. Whether you should seed a test mailbox there depends on how much of your audience it represents — the co-usage table above shows the services it appears alongside most.
Which countries or TLDs use Forward Email most?
Forward Email's largest TLD is .com (51.9% of its domains); it appears across 51 TLDs in total.