42%of the blocklists this industry checks publish no test entry.
21 of 50 zones answer nothing at all. A dead zone returns NXDOMAIN, and so does a healthy one saying you are clean, so every checker that asks those 21 is printing a green tick for silence.
50 zones probedRFC 5782 control entrytwo independent resolversno competitor named
A checker can advertise sixty lists and quietly ask a dozen zones that answer nothing, and every one of those silences arrives as a green tick. This is the same question put to every zone at the same moment, using the entry each one is required by RFC 5782 to publish.
2552%
answering today
24%
refusing automated queriers
2144%
publish no test entry
Nothing to say about anyone. Counted as a pass by every checker that asks them.
A zone that publishes no test entry is not reporting you clean. It is not reporting anything, and NXDOMAIN from an abandoned zone is indistinguishable from NXDOMAIN from a healthy one. That is why our own check asks fewer lists than it could and names every one it could not reach.
The 24 we query
Each one answered an entry it must publish, and one it must not, before we believed anything it said about anybody.
- answering
SpamCopbl.spamcop.net
Addresses that sent mail reported by SpamCop users. Entries expire on their own once the reports stop.
- answering
PSBLpsbl.surriel.com
Addresses observed sending to spam traps, submitted passively. Removal is self-service and immediate.
- answering
Mailspikebl.mailspike.net
Addresses Mailspike scores as sending abuse, from its own live traffic sampling.
- answering
Spam Eating Monkeybl.spameatingmonkey.net
Addresses seen sending spam to Spam Eating Monkey's own systems.
- answering
blocklist.debl.blocklist.de
Addresses reported by participating servers for attacks and abuse, mail included. Entries age out.
- answering
0SPAMbl.0spam.org
Addresses caught by 0SPAM's trap network.
- answering
InterServerrbl.interserver.net
Addresses InterServer observes sending spam into its own hosting network.
- answering
SPFBLdnsbl.spfbl.net
Addresses with poor reputation in SPFBL's distributed reputation system.
- answering
GBUdb Truncatetruncate.gbudb.net
Addresses GBUdb has only ever seen sending spam, with no legitimate traffic recorded.
- answering
s5h.netall.s5h.net
Addresses s5h.net records as sources of spam and abuse.
- answering
ZapBLdnsbl.zapbl.net
Addresses ZapBL's operators have chosen to list for spam or abuse.
- answering
SWINOGdnsrbl.swinog.ch
Addresses caught by the Swiss Network Operators Group trap network.
- answering
Kemptdnsbl.kempt.net
Addresses Kempt.net records as spam sources.
- answering
Anonmailsspam.dnsbl.anonmails.de
Addresses caught by the Anonmails trap network.
- answering
Fabelspamsources.fabel.dk
Addresses Fabel has recorded sending spam.
- answering
NoSolicitadobl.nosolicitado.org
Addresses caught by the NoSolicitado trap network.
- answering
Schulterbl.schulte.org
Addresses Schulte's operators list for spam and abuse.
- answering
JIPPGmail-abuse.blacklist.jippg.org
Addresses reported for mail abuse to the Japan IP Providers Protection Group.
- answering
UCEPROTECT Level 1dnsbl-1.uceprotect.net
Single addresses UCEPROTECT observed sending to its traps. Level 1 is the only one of the three that is about one address.
- answering
UCEPROTECT Level 2dnsbl-2.uceprotect.net
Whole address ranges, listed when UCEPROTECT sees repeated Level 1 entries inside them. Your address can appear here having done nothing.
- answering
UCEPROTECT Level 3dnsbl-3.uceprotect.net
Entire autonomous systems — every address a provider announces. An entry here is a statement about your provider, not about you.
- answering
Backscattererips.backscatterer.org
Addresses that sent misdirected bounces or auto-replies. Its operators state plainly that this is not a spam list and should never be used to reject normal mail.
- answering
SEM Backscatterbackscatter.spameatingmonkey.net
Addresses seen sending backscatter — bounces to forged senders. A different failure from sending spam.
- answering
URIBLmulti.uribl.com
Domains appearing in the body of spam — the brand and link domains, not the sending address.
The 26 we do not
The list we refuse to query is the only evidence that the list we query means something. Every reason here is a fact about the zone or about its own published terms.
- silent
HILhil.habeas.com
No nameserver answers for the zone.
- silent
MSRBL Spamspam.rbl.msrbl.net
No nameserver answers for the zone.
- silent
MSRBL Phishingphishing.rbl.msrbl.net
No nameserver answers for the zone.
- silent
SERVICESNETblacklist.sci.kun.nl
No nameserver answers for the zone.
- silent
NETHERUNSUREunsure.nether.net
No nameserver answers for the zone.
- silent
DRMXbl.drmx.org
The zone resolves but publishes no RFC 5782 test entry.
- silent
SORBSdnsbl.sorbs.net
Shut down in June 2024. The zone has no nameserver.
- silent
SORBS Spamspam.dnsbl.sorbs.net
Shut down in June 2024. The zone has no nameserver.
- silent
LASHBACKubl.unsubscore.com
No nameserver answers for the zone.
- silent
RBL JPall.rbl.jp
No nameserver answers for the zone.
- silent
Konstantbl.konstant.no
No nameserver answers for the zone.
- silent
TRIUMFrbl.triumf.ca
No nameserver answers for the zone.
- silent
NETHERRELAYSrelays.nether.net
No nameserver answers for the zone.
- silent
Woodys SMTPblacklist.woody.ch
The zone resolves but publishes no RFC 5782 test entry.
- silent
CALIVENTdnsbl.calivent.com.pe
The zone resolves but publishes no RFC 5782 test entry.
- silent
ICMFORBIDDENforbidden.icm.edu.pl
The zone resolves but publishes no RFC 5782 test entry.
- silent
IMP SPAMspamrbl.imp.ch
The zone resolves but publishes no RFC 5782 test entry.
- silent
IMP WORMwormrbl.imp.ch
The zone resolves but publishes no RFC 5782 test entry.
- silent
RATS Spamspam.spamrats.com
Neither resolver received an answer for the test entry.
- silent
RATS Dynadyna.spamrats.com
Neither resolver received an answer for the test entry.
- silent
RATS NoPtrnoptr.spamrats.com
Neither resolver received an answer for the test entry.
- refuses
Sender Scorebl.score.senderscore.com
Answers 127.255.255.255 — it refuses queries from shared resolvers.
- refuses
Spamhaus ZEN (free zone)zen.spamhaus.org
Refuses shared resolvers, and answers inconsistently through them. Queried instead through the keyed Data Query Service.
- answering
Barracudab.barracudacentral.org
Requires registering the addresses that will query it, and a serverless function has no fixed address to register.
- silent
Hostkarmahostkarma.junkemailfilter.com
Returns 127.0.0.1 to mean whitelisted. Until that table is decoded, a hit here would be reported as the opposite of what it says.
- silent
CYMRU BOGONSbogons.cymru.com
Lists unroutable space only. A real sending address can never appear, so a hit could only ever be our own bug.
1 zone we do not query answered today. That is a decision to revisit rather than a result to hide: b.barracudacentral.org. Some are excluded on their own terms of use rather than on whether they reply.
Run it yourself
Nothing here needs our word for it. Ask any zone for the entry the standard requires, from two resolvers you do not control:
dig +short @8.8.8.8 2.0.0.127.bl.spamcop.net # → 127.0.0.2 answering dig +short @1.1.1.1 2.0.0.127.bl.spamcop.net # → 127.0.0.2 agrees dig +short @8.8.8.8 2.0.0.127.ubl.unsubscore.com # → nothing dig +short @1.1.1.1 2.0.0.127.ubl.unsubscore.com # → nothing
A reply of 127.0.0.2 is the list confirming it is alive. Nothing back, from both, is a zone that cannot tell you anything about anyone. How we choose them.
The record · kept daily
45 days on record, since 4 Aug 2026.
The reading above is taken every morning and kept. That turns “this list is dead” — which is an opinion — into a date, which is not.
Changed since 16 Sep 2026
- Sender Scorebl.score.senderscore.comdecliningansweringThis is a zone we do not query. It has started answering again, which means our own roster is out of date — in public, where you can hold us to it.
Dark the longest
Zones not answering, and the last date on our record that they did. Several of these are still recommended by tools in daily use.
- CALIVENTdnsbl.calivent.com.pesilent for 45 days · never, on our record
- CYMRU BOGONSbogons.cymru.comanswering everything for 45 days · never, on our record
- DRMXbl.drmx.orgsilent for 45 days · never, on our record
- HILhil.habeas.comsilent for 45 days · never, on our record
- Hostkarmahostkarma.junkemailfilter.comanswering everything for 45 days · never, on our record
- ICMFORBIDDENforbidden.icm.edu.plsilent for 45 days · never, on our record