Email routing and MX records in cPanel

Email Routing tells cPanel whether mail for your domain should be delivered locally on the hosting server or sent to an external mail provider. MX records tell the internet which mail servers receive mail for your domain. Both must agree.

Email routing modes

1. Open Email and choose Email Routing.
2. Select the domain.
3. Choose the correct routing mode.
4. Click Change.

Edit MX records

MX records must point to hostnames, not raw IP addresses. You can edit them from Zone Editor or the cPanel email routing/MX interface when available.

1. Open Domains and choose Zone Editor.
2. Click Manage beside the domain.
3. Filter by MX.
4. Add, edit, or remove MX records according to your mail provider's instructions.

Using external mail providers

If you use Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Proton Mail, Zoho, or another provider:

• Set the provider's MX records exactly as instructed.
• Set cPanel Email Routing to Remote Mail Exchanger.
• Do not create local cPanel mailboxes expecting them to receive mail.
• Update SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for the external provider.

Troubleshooting

• Local mailboxes do not receive mail: make sure routing is Local if MX points to this server.
• Google/Microsoft mail not receiving: routing should be Remote and MX records should match the provider.
• Mail goes to old server: DNS propagation or stale MX records may still be in effect.
• Unsure: use an external MX lookup and compare it with the DNS zone in cPanel.

Related: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC in cPanel-email authentication | Managing DNS records with cPanel Zone Editor | How to configure DNS for your domain | DNS record types explained-A, CNAME, MX, TXT, and more

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