How to Fix Hostinger Email Delivery Problems (2026 Guide)

Are your Hostinger emails not reaching recipients, getting stuck in the outbox, or landing in spam? Email delivery problems can happen because of incorrect DNS records, disabled mail services, authentication failures, or email application settings.

The good news is that many of these problems can be diagnosed without advanced technical knowledge. You just need to identify whether the issue affects sending, receiving, or both, and then check the settings responsible for that function.

1. Identify the Hostinger Email Delivery Problem

Before changing DNS records or email settings, identify exactly what is happening. Different email problems have different causes, so applying the wrong fix can create additional issues.

For example, if you can send messages but cannot receive them, focus on MX records and receiving settings first. There is no need to change your outgoing SMTP configuration unless you also have sending problems.

2. Perform Basic Checks Before Changing Settings

Start with a few simple checks. They can help you rule out common problems before you make changes to your domain or mailbox.

• Check the recipient address: Make sure the email address is spelled correctly and contains no typing mistakes.
• Check your internet connection: Confirm that your browser or email application can connect to the internet.
• Check the Outbox: Look for messages that are still waiting to be sent.
• Check the Spam folder: The recipient may have received your message but their email provider placed it in spam.
• Test a simple message: Send a plain-text email without attachments to another email address you can access.
• Check the bounce message: If an email fails, read the returned error. It may identify an invalid recipient, blocked sender, or authentication problem.

Test your mailbox through Hostinger Webmail

One of the most useful tests is to send an email directly through Webmail instead of Outlook, Gmail, or another email application.

1. Open Hostinger Webmail.
2. Log in using your complete business email address and password.
3. Send a test message to another email address.
4. Ask the recipient to confirm whether it arrived in their inbox or spam folder.
5. Try sending a reply to your business email address to test incoming delivery.

3. Check Your Hostinger Email Account Status

Your email account may stop sending or receiving messages if the email service is disabled, suspended, or affected by a service issue. Your domain or hosting plan may also have an inactive status.

How to check your email service

1. Log in to your Hostinger hPanel.
2. Open the Emails section.
3. Find the email plan associated with your domain.
4. Open the mailbox management section.
5. Find the affected email address and open its settings using the options menu.
6. Review the available service settings and check whether sending or receiving has been suspended.

Hostinger provides separate controls for different mailbox functions. For example, a mailbox can have sending suspended while receiving remains active, or receiving can be suspended while sending still works.

If the relevant setting is suspended, review why it was disabled before changing it. In particular, do not simply reactivate an account that was suspended because of suspicious activity without addressing the cause.

Official guide: What to do if your Hostinger Email mailbox is suspended.

4. Verify Your Hostinger Email MX Records

MX records, or Mail Exchange records, tell other email servers where to deliver messages for your domain. If they are missing or point to the wrong provider, incoming emails may not reach your Hostinger mailbox.

This is especially important if you recently connected your domain to Hostinger, changed nameservers, transferred your domain, or moved email services from another provider.

Standard Hostinger Email MX records

For the standard Hostinger Email configuration, the records commonly used are:

These are standard Hostinger Email values, not universal settings for every email product. If you use Titan Email, Google Workspace, or another provider, the required MX records will be different. Always use the values displayed in your own Hostinger email setup.

How to check and correct MX records

1. Log in to hPanel and open the email setup or domain connection section.
2. Find the DNS records required for your email service.
3. Open the DNS zone where your domain's active nameservers are managed.
4. Review the existing MX records.
5. Compare the record names, priorities, and destinations with Hostinger's required values.
6. If they are incorrect, update them carefully and save the changes.

You can also use a DNS lookup tool such as DNSChecker. Enter your domain, select the MX record type, and check whether the expected mail servers are appearing.

DNS changes can take up to 24 hours to propagate. During this period, different email servers may temporarily see different DNS results.

5. Check SPF, DKIM, and DMARC Records

If your emails are being rejected or regularly landing in spam, domain authentication is one of the first things to investigate.

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC help receiving email providers verify that messages are authorized and genuinely associated with your domain.

What do these records do?

Check your SPF record

SPF is a TXT record in your domain's DNS zone. For standard Hostinger Email, the commonly used SPF value is:

v=spf1 include:_spf.mail.hostinger.com ~all

Check whether the record exists and matches the value shown in your Hostinger email setup.

A common mistake is creating multiple SPF records for the same domain. A domain should have one SPF record that combines the authorized sending services. If you also use another email marketing or sending provider, follow its instructions to combine the required mechanisms into a single SPF record.

Check your DKIM records

DKIM uses DNS records to allow receiving servers to verify the digital signature attached to your outgoing messages.

For the standard Hostinger Email setup, DKIM is configured using CNAME records. Hostinger may display three DKIM records in the domain connection section.

• Check that every required DKIM record has been added.
• Confirm that each record uses the correct CNAME type.
• Compare the hostnames and destination values with hPanel.
• Check for spelling mistakes or duplicate records.

Do not copy DKIM values from another domain or email provider. Use the exact values provided for your own email service.

Check your DMARC record

DMARC is another TXT record, usually created with the host name _dmarc. It tells receiving servers how to handle messages that fail SPF or DKIM alignment checks.

A commonly used monitoring example is:

v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:[email protected]

Replace the example reporting address with a real mailbox configured to receive DMARC reports. The p=none policy is useful for monitoring because it does not ask receiving servers to quarantine or reject messages based on DMARC failure.

For a detailed walkthrough of all three records, read our guide: How to Set Up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC on Hostinger.

6. Fix SMTP and Email Application Settings

If your Hostinger mailbox works through Webmail but fails in Outlook or another email application, the problem may be related to the application's configuration.

SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It is used to send outgoing messages from an email client to the mail server.

Check your outgoing SMTP configuration

Open your email application's account settings and review the outgoing mail server configuration.

Verify the following details against the settings provided by your specific Hostinger email service:

• SMTP hostname: The outgoing mail server address.
• Port: The port specified for your email service.
• Encryption: The required SSL/TLS or STARTTLS setting.
• Username: Usually your complete email address.
• Password: The current mailbox password or required app-specific credential.
• Authentication: Make sure outgoing server authentication is enabled when required.

Do not guess the SMTP hostname or encryption settings. Hostinger provides configuration details based on the email product you use.

Check incoming IMAP settings too

IMAP allows an email application to access and synchronize messages stored on the mail server. If incoming messages do not appear in Outlook or another client, check the incoming server configuration as well.

• Confirm that the incoming server hostname is correct.
• Check the required IMAP port and encryption method.
• Use the correct complete email address as the username when required.
• Update any saved password if you recently changed it.

You can find the current configuration instructions in Hostinger's Email Help Center.

7. Prevent Hostinger Emails From Going to Spam

Sometimes your email is successfully delivered, but the recipient's email provider places it in the spam or junk folder. This is different from a message that is rejected or never delivered.

Email providers consider several signals when deciding where to place a message. These can include authentication results, sender reputation, message content, and recipient behavior.

Improve your email deliverability

1. Authenticate your domain: Make sure SPF and DKIM are configured correctly and add a suitable DMARC policy.
2. Use a consistent sender address: Send business messages from an address associated with your domain.
3. Avoid misleading subject lines: Write clear and relevant subject lines that accurately describe the message.
4. Do not send unsolicited bulk emails: Send messages to people who have a legitimate reason to receive them.
5. Keep your mailing list clean: Remove invalid addresses and handle repeated delivery failures.
6. Use secure email connections: Follow your provider's recommended SMTP and encryption settings.
7. Ask recipients to mark legitimate messages as Not spam: This can help correct spam classification for those recipients.

Also avoid repeatedly sending the same message to recipients who are not responding or sending large volumes of nearly identical messages in a short period.

Read Hostinger's official guide: What to do if emails go to spam.

8. Fix WordPress and Website Contact Form Emails

If normal emails work but messages from your website's contact form are not arriving, the issue may be with the website's email-sending configuration rather than your Hostinger mailbox.

For example, a visitor may submit a contact form successfully, but the website may fail to send the notification to your business email address.

Why website emails may fail

• The website is using an incorrect mail configuration.
• The hosting environment's PHP mail functionality is not configured as expected.
• The SMTP plugin has incorrect server credentials.
• The website is using an inactive or incorrect sender address.
• The message is being rejected or filtered by the receiving provider.

How to troubleshoot WordPress email delivery

1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
2. Check which contact form plugin is responsible for sending notifications.
3. Review the notification recipient and sender email addresses.
4. Configure a reputable SMTP plugin if your website needs authenticated SMTP delivery.
5. Enter the SMTP details provided by your email service.
6. Save the configuration and use the plugin's test email feature, if available.
7. Submit your contact form using a test message and check the destination inbox and spam folder.

If the test email fails, review the SMTP error message and the plugin's available logs. Do not assume that changing MX records will fix a website contact form problem if your normal mailbox already sends and receives emails correctly.

9. Find Missing or Disappearing Emails

If messages arrive but later disappear from your inbox, check your mailbox organization settings before changing DNS records.

Check email forwarders

An email forwarder can automatically send incoming messages to another address. Depending on its configuration, messages may be forwarded without keeping a copy in the original mailbox.

Review your forwarding settings in hPanel and confirm whether the option to keep a copy of forwarded messages is available and enabled where needed.

Check POP3 configuration

Some email applications use POP3 to download messages from the mail server. Depending on the application's settings, downloaded messages may be removed from the server.

If you want messages to remain synchronized across multiple devices, consider using IMAP and review the settings of any existing POP3 connections.

Check filters and folders

• Look in Spam, Trash, Archive, and other folders.
• Review automatic filters and rules.
• Check whether another device or application is moving messages.
• Review forwarding settings and connected email clients.

10. Common Hostinger Email Errors and Solutions

Use this table to identify the next step based on the problem you are experiencing.

11. When Should You Contact Hostinger Support?

If you have checked your mailbox, DNS records, and email application but messages still fail, contacting Hostinger support is the next sensible step.

Contact support if:

• Your email account is suspended and you cannot reactivate it.
• Your mailbox is active, but sending or receiving still fails.
• You receive repeated server-side errors that you cannot resolve.
• Your domain's email records appear correct, but delivery remains unsuccessful.
• You suspect unauthorized access or suspicious outgoing messages.

Before contacting support, collect the following information:

• Your affected domain and mailbox address.
• Whether sending, receiving, or both are affected.
• The approximate time the problem started.
• The exact error or bounce message, if available.
• Any recent DNS, hosting, or email configuration changes.
• Whether the same message works through Hostinger Webmail.

Visit the Hostinger Help Center to find troubleshooting instructions or contact the support team through your account.

12. Frequently Asked Questions

Editorial note: Email settings and dashboard labels can vary depending on the Hostinger email product and account configuration. Always verify the exact server and DNS values shown in your own Hostinger dashboard before changing records.