BIMI Record Generator

Generate the BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) TXT record that tells email clients where to find your brand logo. BIMI requires a DMARC policy at enforcement level (quarantine or reject) as a prerequisite — it is the reward for doing email authentication properly. Fill in your domain, SVG logo URL, and optionally your Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) to get the exact DNS host and record value to publish.

How to use the BIMI Record Generator

Fill in your domain, leave the selector as default unless your provider requires a different value, paste the HTTPS URL to your SVG Tiny Portable/Secure logo, and optionally paste the URL to your VMC PEM file.

Click Generate Record. The output shows two lines:

  • DNS Host — the TXT record name (e.g. default._bimi.example.com). Add this as a TXT record in your DNS zone.
  • TXT Value — the record content to paste into the TXT record value field.

Before publishing, make sure your domain has a valid DMARC policy at p=quarantine or p=reject with pct=100. Without enforcement-level DMARC, email clients will not display the BIMI logo even if the DNS record is present.

After publishing the DNS record, allow up to 24–48 hours for propagation. Gmail typically picks up BIMI within a few days after the first email is sent from the domain.

What is BIMI and why does it need a VMC?

BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) is an email specification that lets domain owners publish a brand logo in DNS, which email clients then display next to messages that pass authentication. The goal is to give recipients visual confirmation that an email is from a verified sender, building trust and improving click-through rates. BIMI is supported by Gmail, Apple Mail, Yahoo Mail, Fastmail, and a growing list of corporate mail clients.

The technical prerequisite for BIMI is a DMARC record at enforcement level — p=quarantine or p=reject with pct=100. This ensures that only authenticated senders can benefit from logo display; a weak DMARC policy would allow spoofed mail to show a brand logo, defeating the purpose. BIMI also requires the logo to be in SVG Tiny Portable/Secure (SVG Tiny PS) format, a strict SVG subset that disables scripting, animations, and external references for security. Regular SVG or raster images (PNG, JPEG) are not accepted.

A Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) is a digital certificate issued by a Certificate Authority (currently DigiCert and Entrust) that cryptographically ties your brand logo to your domain. It requires you to have a registered trademark for the logo in a supported jurisdiction. Gmail, Apple Mail, and Yahoo require a VMC to actually display the logo in the inbox — without it the BIMI record is technically valid but the logo will not appear in those clients. Some smaller clients may display the logo from the l= tag without a VMC, but the major clients all require it. VMCs are annual subscriptions costing approximately $1,500–$2,000 USD per year.

Common use cases

  • Brand recognition in inbox — display your trademark logo next to every email you send in Gmail, Apple Mail, and Yahoo, making your messages stand out in crowded inboxes.
  • Anti-phishing signal — the blue checkmark or logo shown next to BIMI-verified senders is a visible trust signal that trains recipients to distinguish authentic brand email from spoofed messages.
  • Email marketing performance — brands that have deployed BIMI report open-rate lifts of 10–20% due to increased visual trust in the inbox preview.
  • Reward for authentication investment — BIMI is only available to domains with DMARC at enforcement, giving teams a business-visible goal to complete SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configuration.
  • Multiple selectors — large organisations can publish multiple BIMI selectors for different business units, each pointing to a different logo, by adding additional <selector>._bimi records.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a VMC to use BIMI?
For Gmail, Apple Mail, and Yahoo Mail — yes. These clients require a VMC (Verified Mark Certificate) before displaying the BIMI logo. Without a VMC, your BIMI record is valid DNS but those clients will not show the logo. Some smaller or self-hosted clients may display the logo from the l= URL alone without a VMC.

What trademark is needed to get a VMC?
You need a registered trademark for the specific logo (not just the brand name) in one of the jurisdictions accepted by DigiCert or Entrust — these include the US, EU, UK, Canada, Australia, and several others. The trademark must be active and in good standing. The VMC CA will verify the trademark during issuance.

My logo is an SVG — why does it get rejected?
BIMI requires SVG Tiny PS (Portable/Secure), a strict subset of SVG that prohibits scripts, animations, filters, external references, and many other features. A standard SVG produced in Illustrator or Figma will usually fail validation. You need to use a BIMI-certified SVG converter or work with a designer to produce a compliant file. Several online BIMI SVG validators can check compliance.

How long does it take for Gmail to show the logo?
After publishing the DNS record and sending email from the domain, Gmail typically processes BIMI within a few days, though it can take up to two weeks. Gmail also caches BIMI data, so changes to your record may take several days to take effect.

Can BIMI be used on subdomains?
Yes. BIMI records are looked up at <selector>._bimi.<domain> where domain is the From: header domain. If your email is from mail.example.com, you would publish the BIMI record at default._bimi.mail.example.com (or the subdomain falls back to the organisational domain based on client implementation).