What do I do if I'm added to a deny list?
Ending up on a deny list can sometimes be detrimental to your domain’s email deliverability. The best way to determine if a deny list is affecting your deliverability is to analyze your block reasons. These days, there are hundreds, maybe thousands of deny lists out there. Some, like the Spamhaus SBL, can have a great impact on your email deliverability, while others may not have much effect. Many of the world's largest inbox providers use deny lists to help them make inboxing and filtering decisions. Others rely only on their own internal metrics.
If you find that your IP address has been added to a deny list by a legitimate entity and is affecting your email deliverability in the form of significant blocked messages, then taking appropriate action may be recommended. No action should be taken with listing entities requesting a fee for delisting or stating they do not accept requests to delist.
Depending on your plan, you should approach being added to a deny list in one of 2 ways:
Shared IP Plans (Free and Essentials)
Spamhaus deny list
If you are on one of our shared IP plans and you notice a block message from Spamhaus based on one of our IP addresses, please know that we are already working with Spamhaus directly to address the issue. There is no need to make an additional request through our support team. Please also note that SendGrid is unable to move your account to a new IP pool because one or more IPs in a shared IP pool is on a deny list.
Other deny lists
SendGrid closely monitors the health of our shared IP pools. This includes monitoring for shared IPs that are added to reputable deny lists. When we detect that a shared IP has been added to a deny list, we will analyze that IP address and determine if the listing is causing measurable deliverability issues. If we detect issues, we will mitigate the listing.
It is important to note that shared IP addresses, like dedicated IP addresses, will frequently get listed and then delisted by a number of deny lists. Even senders with impeccable sending practices will find themselves on a deny list at some point. The reality is that whether you use shared IP addresses or dedicated IP addresses, deny lists are simply a cost of doing business over email, and it is common that not all listings will be able to be remediated, especially those with minimal impact.
Please also be advised that SendGrid is unable to move your account to a new IP pool because one or more IPs in a shared IP pool is on a deny list
Dedicated IP Plans (Pro and Premier)
We ask that our dedicated IP plan users make the initial delisting request in the event that they discover their SendGrid IP is on a deny list. These IP addresses are only assigned to one account at a time, so we expect those users to take responsibility for all of the mail that is sent through their account. SendGrid will still be happy to step in and assist with these delisting requests if the listing service requires the IP administrator to take action, or if the delisting form is too complicated.
In the event that a sending domain (and not the IP address) is added to a deny list, the domain’s controller will be responsible for handling the delisting request.
Checking Your IP Address
Here are 2 aggregation websites that anyone can use to check on the status of their IP:
Delisting Request Forms
Below are links to the delisting forms used by the more popular external deny listing services:
If you request a delisting from a deny listing service, and don't do anything to change the behavior that caused the listing in the first place, it is likely to occur again. Depending on the list, it can be progressively harder to get delisted after the second or third listing.
Don't delist from major deny lists without a plan in place to address the issue that caused the listing! Learn more about how to avoid and mitigate risk of being added to a deny list here.
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