Free tool
Find out if a domain is burnt before you buy it
Sellers cannot tell you what a domain did before they listed it. Public records can. Check whether it has already sent cold email, carried a tracking hostname, or picked up a blocklist listing.
Enter the domain you are about to buy or launch on. Example: tryacme-mail.com. No account, no DNS access, and it works on domains you do not own yet.
Runs live in your browser against public sources. Nothing is stored.
Why aged and fresh domains both carry risk
Aged infrastructure is sold on the promise that the domain has history on its side. Often the history is the problem. A domain can be registered years ago, sit parked, get bought for one outbound run, burn, and get dropped back onto the market. The registration date looks reassuring and tells you nothing about the campaign that ended it.
Fresh registrations are not automatically safe either. Short, keyword-shaped outbound domains get recycled constantly. A domain registered last month may have run campaigns under a previous owner two years ago and been released when it stopped performing.
Neither case is visible from a registrar listing. Both leave public traces.
How to read the verdict
Clean
No tracking hostname, no sending platform in SPF, no current listing. Public evidence does not show prior outbound use. Safe to proceed with normal warmup.
Previously sent
The domain was configured to send at some point, but nothing is listed against it. Not damaged, not fresh. Warm for the full window and do not put a first client launch on it.
Burnt
Prior sending plus active damage, or the shape of a spent single-run domain. Pick another one. A different domain costs less than a failed client launch.
Unknown
Public sources did not return reliable evidence. We say so instead of calling it clean, because a false clean is the expensive mistake.
What this check reads
What this check does not catch
Public evidence describes how a domain was configured and whether receivers have already acted against it. It does not expose private reputation held by mailbox providers, and it cannot predict placement.
Buying a batch of domains?
Checking one domain is free. OutboundQA runs the same history check across every sending domain, inbox, and tracking domain in a client workspace, then keeps watching the ones that pass.
Related guides
Other free tools
Questions
How can you tell whether a domain has sent cold email before?
Public evidence. Certificate Transparency logs record every hostname a certificate was ever issued for, so a tracking hostname such as track.example.com or link.example.com stays visible long after the campaign ends. Registry records show the registration date and renewal term. Live DNS shows current mail configuration and whether SPF authorises a bulk sending platform. Together those describe how the domain was used.
Why does a tracking hostname matter so much?
Normal websites do not need one. A hostname like track, link, click, or go exists to record opens and clicks on outbound campaigns. When it appears in the certificate history of a domain being sold as fresh or aged inventory, that domain has already run outbound.
Does a burnt verdict mean the domain can never be used?
It means the domain carries risk that warmup does not remove. Receivers already hold history against it. For a client launch the cost of being wrong is far higher than the cost of a different domain, so treat a burnt result as a reason to pick another one.
Why do some domains come back unknown?
Certificate Transparency and registry coverage are not complete, and public sources sometimes rate limit. Unknown means we did not get reliable evidence. We report that rather than assuming the domain is clean, because a false clean is the expensive mistake here.
Can this prove my emails will reach the inbox?
No. This describes how a domain was configured and whether it carries public reputation damage. Inbox placement also depends on list quality, message copy, volume, warmup, and mailbox provider behaviour that no public source exposes.