Last updated: July 2026

In short: DKIM allows Hostinger to attach a digital cryptographic signature to your outgoing emails. Configuration is handled easily via CNAME delegation inside hPanel under Domains in the DNS Zone, letting Hostinger securely rotate the keys.

Prerequisites

  • A Hostinger hosting or email account with an associated domain
  • Access to your Hostinger dashboard and hPanel (https://hpanel.hostinger.com)
  • A terminal or the free MXAudit scanner for verification

What is DKIM?

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is an email authentication system based on cryptographic signatures. When your mail server dispatches an outgoing message, it inserts an invisible digital signature into the email header. Receiving servers query your domain’s DNS records for the corresponding public key to confirm that the message is genuine and has not been tampered with in transit.

As Hostinger’s support documentation clearly explains: These allow Hostinger sign outgoing emails to prove they are legitimate. Without a valid DKIM setup, major mail providers (including Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail) frequently flag messages as unverified or route them straight to spam.

Used alongside SPF and DMARC, DKIM forms the backbone of modern email sender reputation.

The starting point at Hostinger

If your domain is managed directly inside Hostinger or points to Hostinger’s nameservers, configuring DKIM is straightforward through your web interface. To locate the DNS settings, follow the instructions from support: Go to Domains in hPanel. Select your domain and open DNS Zone.

Instead of requiring you to paste a massive raw TXT record containing public key strings, Hostinger uses a CNAME delegation architecture. Your domain points to Hostinger’s dedicated CNAME endpoints such as hostingermail-a.dkim.mail.hostinger.com. This setup allows Hostinger’s infrastructure to rotate keys automatically without requiring manual DNS updates on your part.

Step-by-step guide

1. Check whether DKIM CNAME records are already active

Before making adjustments, open your terminal to check if the required CNAME records are already resolving properly:

dig CNAME hostingermail-a._domainkey.example.com +short

If the terminal returns the target hostingermail-a.dkim.mail.hostinger.com, DKIM delegation is already active on your domain.

2. Open your DNS Zone in hPanel

Log in to your Hostinger account and navigate to hPanel (Go to Domains in hPanel. Select your domain and open DNS Zone.). Click on your target domain and select DNS Zone from the management menu.

3. Add or verify the DKIM CNAME records

Within your DNS management table (These allow Hostinger sign outgoing emails to prove they are legitimate.):

  1. Click to add a new record and select CNAME as the type.
  2. In the Name (or Host) field, enter your selector (for example, hostingermail-a._domainkey).
  3. In the Target (or Points to) field, paste the exact value: hostingermail-a.dkim.mail.hostinger.com.
  4. Save the record and repeat for any second selector (hostingermail-b._domainkey) shown in your Hostinger email setup dashboard.

The components of DKIM delegation

ComponentMeaning
Selector (hostingermail-a._domainkey)The dedicated DNS namespace where receiving mail servers look up the public key
CNAME Target (hostingermail-a.dkim.mail.hostinger.com)Hostinger’s canonical endpoint hosting the actual public key string
Private keyThe secret cryptographic key securely stored on Hostinger’s mail servers to sign messages

Verification

Once you have saved the CNAME entries inside your Hostinger hPanel DNS Zone, immediately test your setup using the free MXAudit scanner — the tool checks whether your CNAME delegation is properly established and your public keys are resolving correctly.

You can also confirm via terminal that your nameservers are returning the exact delegation target:

dig CNAME hostingermail-a._domainkey.example.com +short

The output should show exactly hostingermail-a.dkim.mail.hostinger.com.

Common mistakes

  • Selecting TXT instead of CNAME: If you create a TXT record pointing to the target string instead of a CNAME record, receiving servers cannot follow the delegation chain and DKIM verification will fail.
  • Truncating the selector hostname: If you enter only hostingermail-a and omit the mandatory ._domainkey suffix when using an external DNS provider, querying servers will not find the key (These allow Hostinger sign outgoing emails to prove they are legitimate.).
  • Updating hPanel while using external nameservers: If your domain uses Cloudflare or third-party nameservers, making modifications inside hPanel (Go to Domains in hPanel. Select your domain and open DNS Zone.) will have zero effect. You must create the CNAME records directly with your active DNS provider.

Further reading