BIMI checker: your logo in the inbox
Enter a domain. We check where mailbox providers check: the DMARC gate, the record at default._bimi, the l= logo against SVG Tiny PS, then the a= mark certificate. A certificate displays nothing without the policy underneath it.
Four setups with no inbox logo
BIMI fails silently by design: no provider tells you why your logo isn't showing. These four setups look correct from the outside and still show nothing.
The logo before the policy
VMC purchased, record published, logo pixel-perfect — and DMARC still says p=none. Every provider checks the gate before the paint, and stops there. Money parked.
gate: closedThe design-tool export
A normal SVG 1.1 file: no tiny-ps profile, no <title>, an external font import. Listing-only checkers say "SVG found ✓". Gmail says nothing, forever.
not Tiny PSThe silent VMC expiry
Mark certificates last a year. When one lapses, the logo quietly reverts to initials — and nobody audits their own avatar in other people's inboxes. Renewal is a calendar problem.
expired = invisibleExpecting it in Outlook
BIMI displays at Gmail, Yahoo, Apple Mail and a handful of others — not Outlook. If your stakeholders live in Microsoft-land, set that expectation before anyone buys a certificate.
coverage ≠ everywhereSix BIMI states, decoded
Providers evaluate one prerequisite, one record, one file and one certificate in a fixed order. Where they stop decides what your recipients see.
The full stack: DMARC enforced, profile-clean logo, valid mark certificate. Displays at Gmail (with the verified tick), Yahoo, Apple Mail.
Providers stop at the gate. Record, logo and certificate are never even fetched. The only fix lives entirely outside BIMI: the DMARC ladder.
Almost. Gmail requires enforcement covering all mail — a rollout dial at pct=60 or an sp=none escape hatch keeps the gate shut.
Scripts, external references, missing <title>, no tiny-ps profile, non-square canvas, oversized file — any one clause fails the whole logo at parse time.
"Self-asserted" BIMI. Yahoo may display it for senders with strong reputation; Gmail and Apple require a VMC or CMC. Free to try, limited where it counts.
The certificate embeds the exact SVG it was issued for. Redesign the logo, forget to re-issue, and the two files no longer match — verification fails quietly.
The BIMI pipeline, in provider order
BIMI is a chain of five checks, evaluated strictly in sequence. One red light anywhere and the logo simply doesn't appear — no error, no report, no explanation to anyone:
- 1 · The DMARC gate. Policy at quarantine or reject, effectively at 100%, no sp=none back door. A provider that finds the gate shut never consults BIMI at all.
- 2 · The record. One TXT at default._bimi, v=BIMI1 first, l= pointing at HTTPS.
- 3 + 4 · The logo, twice. Fetched — then parsed against SVG Tiny PS. The parse is the killer: a file that renders perfectly in every browser can still fail every clause.
- 5 · The evidence. The a= certificate chain, validity, and the embedded logo matching the served one byte for byte.
VMC · CMC · nothing
the a= evidence, with price tagsWhat you can check by hand
The record and the files are fetchable by hand. The Tiny PS lint and the cert-to-logo match are the parts worth automating.
Common BIMI questions
Type your domain above. We evaluate exactly what a mailbox provider evaluates, in the same order: your DMARC policy (must be quarantine or reject, effectively at 100%), the TXT record at default._bimi.yourdomain, the l= logo linted against 6 SVG Tiny PS clauses, and the a= mark certificate — issuer, validity, and whether the embedded logo matches the served one. Free, no signup.
Start with DMARC. If the policy isn't at enforcement (p=none, quarantine with pct<100, or an sp=none escape) no BIMI-side change can fix it. Next: the SVG isn't Tiny PS profile-clean, there's no VMC or CMC (Gmail requires one), or the certificate expired or no longer matches a redesigned logo. Reputation counts too. Gmail applies BIMI to senders it already trusts, so a brand-new domain waits even with perfect records. Run the check above and we show you which step the pipeline stops at.
For Gmail and Apple Mail — yes, a VMC or CMC. For Yahoo — sometimes not: self-asserted BIMI (record + SVG, no a=) can display there for senders with good reputation. The CMC lowered the barrier: no registered trademark required, just documented prior use of the logo, at a lower price than a VMC. If the trademark paperwork was what stopped you, it no longer has to.
A locked-down SVG profile ("Tiny Portable/Secure") designed so mail clients can render third-party vector files safely. The headline clauses: baseProfile="tiny-ps" declared, a <title> element present, no scripts, no animation, no external references of any kind (fonts, images, CSS imports), a square viewBox, and a small file — keep it under 32 KB. The catch: ordinary design-tool exports satisfy none of this by default, while rendering identically in a browser. That's why "the SVG opens fine" and "the SVG passes" are different claims — we lint 6 of these clauses separately.
Directly — no. BIMI is a display standard: it changes how your mail looks once it has already arrived, not whether it arrives. The real value is indirect: BIMI forces you to DMARC enforcement (a genuine security and deliverability win), the logo can lift open rates (your mail is recognizable in a crowded inbox), and the Gmail verified tick adds a phishing-resistance signal your recipients can see. But anyone selling BIMI as an inbox-placement trick is overclaiming.
Gmail (logo + verified tick with a VMC), Yahoo/AOL, Apple Mail (iOS 16+/macOS Ventura+, certified marks required), Fastmail, La Poste and a growing tail of smaller providers. The notable absence is Microsoft: Outlook and Microsoft 365 don't render BIMI. Plan the business case on Gmail + Apple + Yahoo coverage of your own list. Count the recipient domains you actually send to rather than an industry average.
A selector, exactly like DKIM's. default is what providers look up unless the message carries a BIMI-Selector header naming another — which lets one domain publish multiple marks (a seasonal logo, a sub-brand) and choose per message. Unless you're doing that deliberately, publish at default and forget the header exists. This tool checks the default selector, which is what nearly all mail uses.
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