Free Tool

Email Header Analyzer

When a specific email lands in spam and you need to know exactly why, the headers are the evidence. Paste your raw email headers to trace the message route, check authentication, and see where delivery failed.

How to get email headers
Gmail: Open email → Three dots → "Show original"
Outlook: Open email → Three dots → "View message source"
Apple Mail: View → Message → All Headers
Yahoo: Three dots → "View raw message"

Understanding Email Headers

What are email headers?

Email headers are metadata attached to every email containing routing information, authentication results, timestamps, and server details. They're like a postal tracking slip showing every server that handled your email.

What do the authentication results mean?

SPF verifies the sending server is authorized. DKIM verifies the message wasn't altered in transit. DMARC aligns SPF and DKIM with the visible From address. All three passing means maximum trust.

Why are there delays between hops?

Each Received header represents a server that processed the email. Delays can indicate spam filtering, greylisting, server load, or network issues. Large delays (>30 seconds) may affect time-sensitive emails.

What is the Return-Path?

The Return-Path (also called envelope sender or bounce address) is where bounce notifications are sent. It's different from the visible From address and is used in SPF evaluation.

Why We Built This Tool

When a specific email fails, the headers hold the evidence — but raw headers are cryptic. Sent/received timestamps are jumbled, SPF results are buried in authentication headers, and server delays are invisible. This tool normalizes headers so you can trace the route and see exactly where delivery failed: SPF, DKIM, greylisting, or reputation blocking.

What Goes Wrong Without This

Header debugging is manual and slow. Teams copy-paste raw headers into notepad, squint at timestamps, and guess which hop failed. A 2-hour delay between hop 3 and hop 4 might indicate greylisting or ISP filtering, but without the tool, teams don't see it. Parsing headers manually wastes time; visual analysis prevents diagnostic dead ends.

Who This Tool Is For

E-commerce & DTC Brands

Marketing and technical teams debugging why specific campaigns landed in spam — tracing headers to pinpoint authentication, reputation, or server-side failures.

Email Marketing Agencies

Technical support teams auditing client header data to diagnose delivery failures and train clients on reading authentication results for self-service troubleshooting.

B2B SaaS & Outbound Teams

Developers and DevOps engineers investigating transactional mail failures, SPF/DKIM alignment issues, and message routing problems for notification systems.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are email headers?
Email headers are metadata attached to every email containing routing information, authentication results, timestamps, and server details. They're like a postal tracking slip showing every server (hop) that handled your email on its way to the recipient.
What do SPF, DKIM, and DMARC mean in headers?
SPF verifies the sending server is authorized to send from your domain. DKIM verifies the message wasn't altered in transit using cryptographic signatures. DMARC aligns SPF and DKIM with the visible From address. All three passing = maximum trust to ISPs.
What do delays between hops mean?
Each Received header represents a server that processed the email. Delays between hops can indicate spam filtering, greylisting, server load, or network issues. Delays >30 seconds may affect time-sensitive emails and can be a sign of reputation problems.
Do I need an InboxEagle account to use this tool?
No. This tool is completely free and requires no account or sign-up. InboxEagle provides it as a standalone resource for email marketers, developers, and agencies.

Manual Analysis Shows One Email. InboxEagle Shows Every Email.

Stop running manual checks. InboxEagle monitors your sender reputation, authentication, and blacklist status 24/7 — and alerts you the moment something breaks.

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