Self-Hosted mailbox provider
According to Live Direct Marketing's daily Tranco top-1M scan (September 14, 2026), Self-Hosted is the mailbox provider for 151,494 domains — 22.46% of 674,487 domains with MX records. Detection method: primary MX record (lowest preference).
Key facts
- 151,494 domains in the Tranco top-1M use Self-Hosted (22.46% of domains with MX records).
- Snapshot date: 2026-09-14 — recomputed every day.
- 30-day share change: -0.17 pp.
- Strongest TLD: .com (36.3% of its domains).
- Region skew: Global / US-skewed.
- Most co-used service: Amazon SES.
- Directory category: self-hosted mail.
Why Self-Hosted appears in this category
Domains running their own mail server (MX target on the same apex). Spans hobbyists, ISPs, and large enterprises with private infrastructure.
We classify it as a self-hosted mail from primary MX record (lowest preference) matching a maintained provider rule. This is infrastructure attribution from public DNS, not evidence of a direct contract or exclusive use.
Self-Hosted refers to organisations that operate their own email infrastructure rather than using a third-party mailbox provider. There is no single operator; instead, each self-hosted mail server is independently run by its owner.
The footprint pattern shows self-hosting concentrated in smaller, regionally specific, and niche sites rather than at consumer or enterprise scale. For anyone sending to these addresses, this distribution means encountering highly variable reputation scores, filtering policies, and infrastructure maintenance standards across distinct mail servers.
Where Self-Hosted sits in the Tranco ranking
| Tranco rank band | Domains | Share of its base |
|---|---|---|
| Top 1,000 | 85 | 0.1% |
| Top 10,000 | 968 | 0.6% |
| Top 100,000 | 11,340 | 7.5% |
| Top 1,000,000 | 136,735 | 90.3% |
| Unranked | 2,366 | 1.6% |
Top-level domain split
| TLD | Domains | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| .com | 55,016 | 36.3% | |
| .net | 10,857 | 7.2% | |
| .ru | 10,606 | 7.0% | |
| .de | 5,019 | 3.3% | |
| .org | 4,675 | 3.1% | |
| .pl | 2,946 | 1.9% | |
| .jp | 2,886 | 1.9% | |
| .it | 2,713 | 1.8% | |
| .com.br | 2,526 | 1.7% | |
| .ir | 2,051 | 1.4% |
What Self-Hosted users also use
Cross-tabulated from the same daily snapshot — the other email services seen on the same 151,494 domains.
| Type | Service | Domains | Share of Self-Hosted users |
|---|---|---|---|
| ESP | Amazon SES | 2,862 | 1.9% |
| ESP | MailChannels | 2,489 | 1.6% |
| ESP | Mailgun | 1,542 | 1.0% |
| ESP | SendGrid (Twilio) | 1,445 | 1.0% |
| ESP | Mailchimp | 1,373 | 0.9% |
| ESP | Mailjet (Sinch) | 1,255 | 0.8% |
| ESP | Mandrill | 1,163 | 0.8% |
| ESP | Brevo (ex-Sendinblue) | 1,083 | 0.7% |
| ESP | MailerLite | 1,032 | 0.7% |
| ESP | Unisender (RU) | 1,009 | 0.7% |
Reputation and Filtering Variability Across Self-Hosted Instances
Each self-hosted mail server operates independently, which creates significant variability in how it evaluates sender reputation and applies filtering rules. Unlike centralised providers, which maintain unified threat detection and abuse-handling policies, self-hosted systems may run different software stacks, apply custom rules, or lack resources for frequent security updates. This means a sender's deliverability to one self-hosted domain cannot reliably predict outcomes at another, even when both are configured correctly for SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
See the full Self-Hosted data page (KPI cards, trend, sample domains) →
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Frequently asked questions
What does Self-Hosted mean in email deliverability?
Self-Hosted refers to mail servers run directly by the organisation or individual who owns the domain, rather than by a third-party email provider. This matters for deliverability because each self-hosted server has its own reputation profile, filtering rules, and maintenance practices, so delivery outcomes can vary significantly between them.
How many domains use Self-Hosted?
151,494 domains in the Tranco top-1M use Self-Hosted as their mailbox provider as of September 14, 2026 (22.46% of domains with MX records), according to Live Direct Marketing's daily DNS scan.
Is Self-Hosted common enough to affect email deliverability testing?
Self-Hosted accounts for 22.46% of domains with MX records 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 Self-Hosted growing or declining?
Self-Hosted is declining — its share moved -0.17 pp over the last 30 days (as of September 14, 2026).
Which countries or TLDs use Self-Hosted most?
Self-Hosted's largest TLD is .com (36.3% of its domains); it appears across 636 TLDs in total.