Zendesk email service provider (ESP)
According to Live Direct Marketing's daily Tranco top-1M scan (September 14, 2026), Zendesk is the email service provider (ESP) for 23,922 domains — 3.75% of 637,677 SPF-publishing domains. Detection method: include: mechanisms in the SPF record.
Key facts
- 23,922 domains in the Tranco top-1M use Zendesk (3.75% of SPF-publishing domains).
- Snapshot date: 2026-09-14 — recomputed every day.
- 30-day share change: -0.02 pp.
- Strongest TLD: .com (58.7% of its domains).
- Most co-used service: Google Workspace.
- Directory category: SaaS sender.
Why Zendesk appears in this category
Enterprise customer support platform.
We classify it as a SaaS sender 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.
Zendesk is a customer-service platform operated by Zendesk, Inc. that manages support ticketing and email-based customer interactions. Organisations deploy Zendesk to handle inbound support requests and send outbound support replies, typically adding Zendesk's SPF include to their DNS records to authorise it as a mail sender from their domain.
In email infrastructure terms, Zendesk's SPF footprint is concentrated in the long tail of smaller and mid-market organisations rather than the largest brands, skews towards the .com domain space, and frequently appears alongside Google Workspace deployments. The platform has been losing market share in recent years relative to competing support platforms.
Where Zendesk sits in the Tranco ranking
| Tranco rank band | Domains | Share of its base |
|---|---|---|
| Top 1,000 | 114 | 0.5% |
| Top 10,000 | 645 | 2.7% |
| Top 100,000 | 4,393 | 18.4% |
| Top 1,000,000 | 18,673 | 78.1% |
| Unranked | 97 | 0.4% |
Top-level domain split
| TLD | Domains | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| .com | 14,053 | 58.7% | |
| .de | 771 | 3.2% | |
| .co.uk | 579 | 2.4% | |
| .com.br | 545 | 2.3% | |
| .org | 544 | 2.3% | |
| .io | 442 | 1.8% | |
| .fr | 432 | 1.8% | |
| .com.au | 418 | 1.7% | |
| .net | 387 | 1.6% | |
| .nl | 380 | 1.6% |
What Zendesk users also use
Cross-tabulated from the same daily snapshot — the other email services seen on the same 23,922 domains.
| Type | Service | Domains | Share of Zendesk users |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mailbox | Google Workspace | 11,152 | 46.6% |
| Mailbox | Microsoft 365 | 6,991 | 29.2% |
| Mailbox | Unknown / Other | 826 | 3.5% |
| Mailbox | Self-Hosted | 776 | 3.2% |
| Mailbox | Mimecast | 753 | 3.1% |
| Mailbox | Proofpoint | 746 | 3.1% |
| ESP | Amazon SES | 4,423 | 18.5% |
| ESP | SendGrid (Twilio) | 3,922 | 16.4% |
| ESP | HubSpot | 3,265 | 13.6% |
| ESP | Mandrill | 3,017 | 12.6% |
Support email as a separate authorisation vector
Zendesk's SPF include represents authorisation for support email sent through the platform using the organisation's own domain. Support ESPs like Zendesk serve transactional mail with different authentication and reputation requirements from marketing ESPs, making them a distinct authorisation vector in an organisation's mail infrastructure.
See the full Zendesk data page (KPI cards, trend, sample domains) →
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Frequently asked questions
Why does Zendesk appear in my SPF record?
Zendesk is listed in your SPF record when your organisation sends customer-support replies and notifications through Zendesk using your own domain. The SPF include authorises Zendesk to send mail on your behalf from your domain.
How many domains use Zendesk?
23,922 domains in the Tranco top-1M use Zendesk as their email service provider (ESP) as of September 14, 2026 (3.75% of SPF-publishing domains), according to Live Direct Marketing's daily DNS scan.
Is Zendesk common enough to affect email deliverability testing?
Zendesk accounts for 3.75% 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.
Is Zendesk growing or declining?
Zendesk is declining — its share moved -0.02 pp over the last 30 days (as of September 14, 2026).
Which countries or TLDs use Zendesk most?
Zendesk's largest TLD is .com (58.7% of its domains); it appears across 340 TLDs in total.