What your mail server actually says when something connects to it

MailProbe opens a real SMTP connection to any mail server, reads the greeting banner, asks what it supports, and reports what it found — the check an admin would do by hand with a terminal, without needing a terminal.

What MailProbe tells you

Every probe returns exactly what a mail server advertises to an incoming client — nothing more, nothing less.

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Server banner

The full SMTP greeting line the server sends when a client connects — typically the software name and version the server runs.

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STARTTLS support

Whether the server offers TLS upgrade on plain-text connections. A missing STARTTLS advertisement means unencrypted email transit.

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Auth mechanisms

Which authentication methods the server accepts (PLAIN, LOGIN, CRAM-MD5, etc.) — useful for diagnosing client authentication failures.

Capability list

All EHLO keywords the server advertises: PIPELINING, 8BITMIME, SMTPUTF8, CHUNKING, DSN, ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES, BINARYMIME, and maximum message size.

Handshake timing

The elapsed time from TCP connect to EHLO response completion, measured in milliseconds. Helps distinguish slow servers from unreachable ones.

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Raw exchange log

The full bidirectional SMTP conversation, line by line with direction arrows and timestamps — every byte the server sent and every command MailProbe issued.

How it works

A real TCP connection, a real protocol exchange, a real answer.

1

Enter a hostname

Type the mail server hostname (e.g. mx.example.com) and select a port — 25 (SMTP), 465 (SMTPS), or 587 (Submission).

2

MailProbe connects

Our backend opens a raw TCP socket (TLS for port 465) to the server you specified, reads the 220 greeting, and sends EHLO mailprobe.

3

Results returned

MailProbe collects the server's multi-line EHLO response, parses every advertised capability, and displays them alongside timing and raw exchange data.

Diagnose a mail server now

No signup, no credentials, no stored data. Just a real SMTP probe against the server you specify.

Open MailProbe