What is Email Routing in cPanel? #

Email routing is a cPanel feature that lets you choose how email for your domain is processed by mail servers. It decides whether incoming mail is delivered
to mailboxes hosted on your cPanel server (Hosticko email hosting) or delivered to a remote provider based on your domain’s MX records.

The important part: this setting must match where your email is actually hosted. If you use Hosticko mailboxes, your routing should usually be Local.
If you use Google Workspace/Microsoft 365/Zoho, your routing should usually be Remote.

Mail Exchanger options explained (Local, Remote, Backup, Auto) #

Automatically Detect Configuration #

This option attempts to select Local/Remote/Backup automatically based on the MX information your server can see. It can be convenient,
but if your DNS is hosted elsewhere or your zone data is out-of-sync, “Auto” can behave inconsistently.
For best reliability, it’s usually smarter to select the correct option explicitly.

Local Mail Exchanger #

Choose Local when your email mailboxes are hosted on the same server as your cPanel account. The server accepts mail for the domain
and delivers messages to local inboxes (for example, info@yourdomain.com created in cPanel).

Remote Mail Exchanger #

Choose Remote when email is hosted at an external provider. With Remote selected, the server will not accept mail locally and will send
mail to the mail server defined by your MX records (for example, Google Workspace or Microsoft 365).

Backup Mail Exchanger #

Choose Backup only if you intentionally want this server to store mail temporarily when the primary (remote) mail server is unavailable.
This is a special setup and is not common for normal business email.

How to configure Email Routing in cPanel #

1. Log in to your cPanel.
2. Go to the Email section and click Email Routing.
3. Select the domain you want to configure (if you have multiple domains).
4. Under Configure Email Routing, choose one:
   • Local Mail Exchanger
   • Remote Mail Exchanger
   • Backup Mail Exchanger
   • Automatically Detect Configuration
5. Click Change to apply the setting.

Which option should I choose? #

If your mailboxes are created in cPanel (Hosticko email hosting) #

Choose: Local Mail Exchanger

Typical signs Local is correct:

• You log into Webmail (Roundcube) to read your email.
• Your mailboxes exist in cPanel under Email Accounts.
• Your MX records point to your hosting server / “mail.yourdomain.com”.

If you use Google Workspace / Gmail for business #

Choose: Remote Mail Exchanger

Why: your MX records should point to Google’s mail servers, so cPanel must not try to deliver locally. If it does, mail can disappear into local inboxes you never check.

If you use Microsoft 365 / Outlook mail hosting #

Choose: Remote Mail Exchanger

Why: your MX records should point to Microsoft 365 mail delivery. If cPanel is set to Local, incoming mail can route incorrectly.

If you have a special failover email design #

Choose: Backup Mail Exchanger (only if you fully understand the setup)

Backup routing is typically used when you want this server to queue mail if your primary mail provider is down. Most businesses do not need this.

Verify your MX records (highly recommended) #

Email Routing in cPanel must match your domain’s MX records. Before (or after) you switch routing, verify your MX records are correct:

• If you want Hosticko mailboxes: MX should point to your hosting mail server (often mail.yourdomain.com or the server hostname).
• If you want Google Workspace: MX must point to Google’s MX destination(s).
• If you want Microsoft 365: MX must point to the Microsoft 365-provided MX destination.

In cPanel, you can usually check MX records via Zone Editor. If your DNS is managed outside Hosticko (Cloudflare, registrar, etc.),
check MX records there as well.

Helpful references:
cPanel Email Routing documentation
|
Google Workspace: Set up MX records
|
Microsoft 365: Add DNS records for your domain

Common problems when routing is incorrect #

Problem: Emails aren’t arriving (or arrive somewhere else) #

• Cause: Remote provider is in use, but cPanel is set to Local.
• Fix: Set Email Routing to Remote Mail Exchanger, and confirm MX points to the provider.

Problem: Some emails arrive locally, some arrive remotely #

• Cause: Mixed/incorrect MX records, or Auto detection is using stale/incorrect zone data.
• Fix: Clean up MX records so they point to the correct provider only, then explicitly set Local/Remote.

Problem: You changed MX records but routing didn’t “follow” #

• Cause: cPanel doesn’t always automatically switch your Email Routing after DNS changes.
• Fix: Set Email Routing manually to match your current MX goal.

FAQs #

Should I use “Automatically Detect Configuration”? #

It can work, but if you want consistent behavior, it’s usually better to explicitly select Local or Remote based on where your mailboxes live.

What’s the fastest safe option if I’m not sure? #

Don’t guess. Check your MX records first, then match Email Routing to them. Or open a Hosticko ticket and we’ll confirm it for you.

I use Google/Microsoft for email but still want to send from my website on Hosticko. Is that okay? #

Yes. Email Routing controls incoming mail delivery. Website sending should be configured separately (best practice: authenticated SMTP),
so you don’t break deliverability.