In this guide · 8 sections
- 01Nameservers vs DNS records in plain English
- 02Why changing nameservers breaks email
- 03Email stopped after a nameserver change: what to do now
- 04Fix forward or switch nameservers back?
- 05The DNSSEC trap when moving nameservers
- 06Before you change nameservers: export checklist
- 07Do it yourself or get help?
- 08Frequently asked questions
Short answer
Changing nameservers moves all your DNS to a new provider. If your email records (MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC) were not recreated there, mail breaks. The fastest fix is usually to add the missing records at the new DNS host, not to switch the nameservers back.
Nameservers vs DNS records in plain English
Think of your domain as a company with a phone directory. The registrar is where you bought the domain and pay the yearly renewal. The nameservers say which company keeps the directory. The DNS records are the entries in it. Often all three are the same company, which is why people mix them up.
| Term | What it is | Example | What changing it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registrar | Where the domain is registered and renewed | A .sg registrar, GoDaddy, Namecheap | Moves billing and ownership admin |
| Nameservers | Which DNS host answers for the domain | ns1.yourhost.com, xxx.ns.cloudflare.com | Swaps your entire set of DNS records |
| DNS records | Individual answers (A, CNAME, MX, TXT) | MX pointing to Microsoft 365 or Google | Changes only that one service |
The key point: DNS records live at whoever the nameservers point to. Change the nameservers to a new host and the internet starts reading the new host's records instead. Anything not recreated there effectively disappears. For what each record type does, see our guide to DNS records: A, CNAME, MX and TXT.
Why changing nameservers breaks email
Email depends on several records that a website builder or new host does not know about:
- MX records tell other servers where to deliver your mail. Missing MX means incoming mail bounces or never arrives.
- SPF (TXT) lists who may send as your domain. Missing SPF sends your outgoing mail to spam.
- DKIM (TXT or CNAME) carries your signing key, often with an unusual name such as selector1._domainkey.
- DMARC (TXT) at _dmarc tells receivers what to do with failing mail.
- Verification and autodiscover records for Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and other services.
Common triggers are a website builder asking you to "point your nameservers to us", a developer moving the domain to Cloudflare, or a new hosting plan that defaults to its own nameservers. Usually you can connect a website by changing only the A and CNAME records instead; our guide to connecting a domain without breaking email shows how.
Email stopped after a nameserver change: what to do now
Do not panic-revert. Work out where the nameservers point now, then fix the records there.
Check which nameservers are live
Look up your domain's NS records with an online DNS lookup tool. That company is your DNS host now, whatever the registrar's dashboard says.
Find your old records
Log in to the previous DNS host. Most keep the old zone for a while even when it is no longer used. Export or copy every record. If it is gone, get the required values from Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace admin (they list the exact MX, SPF, DKIM and verification records).
Recreate the email records at the new host
Add MX first, then SPF, DKIM, DMARC, autodiscover and any verification TXT records. Copy values exactly, including priorities and trailing dots where the host expects them.
Turn off proxying for mail records
On Cloudflare, any A or CNAME record used for mail must be set to DNS only (grey cloud), not proxied.
Test delivery both ways
Send to and from an external Gmail or Outlook address. Check message headers show SPF, DKIM and DMARC as pass.
Ask senders to resend
Mail that hard-bounced while MX was missing will not come back by itself. Tell key clients and suppliers what window was affected.
Most senders retry for a while when a server is unreachable, but a missing MX record often causes immediate bounces, so act quickly.
Fix forward or switch nameservers back?
Switching back sounds safest, but it is slower than it looks. Resolvers cache the nameserver information from the domain's parent zone. When we queried the registry servers in October 2026, .com domains carried a 172,800-second (48-hour) nameserver TTL, while .sg and .com.sg used 3,600 seconds (one hour). So a .com rollback can take up to two days to reach everyone, and during that time some people see the old host and some the new one.
Fix records at the new host if
- You know or can get the correct email records
- The new host is where you want to stay
- The domain is a .com with a long nameserver TTL
- Only email is affected and the website works
Switch nameservers back if
- The new host has no access you control
- Many unknown records are missing and the old zone is intact
- The change was made by mistake and nothing depends on it yet
- DNSSEC was left on and the domain no longer resolves at all
If you do roll back, the old provider's zone must still exist with all records. Our explainer on how long DNS propagation takes covers TTLs and caching in more detail.
The DNSSEC trap when moving nameservers
DNSSEC adds signatures to your DNS so answers cannot be forged. It also ties the domain to keys held by the current DNS host. Cloudflare's setup guide says that if DNSSEC is active, you must turn it off at your registrar before replacing nameservers, because changing nameservers while DNSSEC is active can make the domain unreachable (Cloudflare: full setup).
When that happens, the website and email both fail, not just email. The fix is to remove the DS record at the registrar (or add the new host's DS record), then wait for caches to expire. Re-enable DNSSEC at the new host once the domain is active there.
Before you change nameservers: export checklist
Five minutes of preparation prevents most outages. Do this before any nameserver change, whoever asks for it.
Nameserver change checklist
If you only want to move email, not the website, you do not need to touch nameservers at all. Our guide to changing MX records without downtime covers that case.
Do it yourself or get help?
If you can log in to both the old and new DNS host and compare records carefully, you can do this yourself. The common mistakes are missing DKIM records, proxying mail records on Cloudflare, and leaving DNSSEC on.
If email is down now, our Quick Fix (1 hour) (S$119) covers restoring missing records and testing delivery. For a planned move to Cloudflare or a new host, Domain & DNS Setup (S$99) exports your current zone, recreates every record and checks email and website before and after the switch.
Frequently asked questions
Nameservers say which company holds your domain's DNS. DNS records are the individual entries held there, such as the A record for your website and MX records for email. Changing a DNS record affects one service. Changing nameservers moves your whole set of records to a different provider, so anything not copied across stops working.
Your new DNS host does not have your email records. MX records tell senders where to deliver mail, and SPF, DKIM and DMARC records prove your outgoing mail is genuine. If these were not recreated at the new host before the switch, incoming mail bounces and outgoing mail may go to spam.
Usually it is faster to add the missing records at the new host. Nameserver changes are cached from the parent zone, and when we checked in October 2026, .com domains used a 48-hour nameserver TTL, so a rollback can take up to two days. For .sg domains the TTL was one hour, so rollback is quicker.
Cloudflare runs a quick scan when you add a domain, but its documentation says the scan is not guaranteed to find all records and will likely miss custom names, such as unusual DKIM selectors. Always compare the imported records with your old provider line by line and add anything missing before changing nameservers.
Usually not. Most website builders and hosts, including Shopify and Wix, let you connect a domain by changing only the A record and the www CNAME at your current DNS host. That leaves your email records untouched. Change nameservers only when you deliberately want to move all DNS management to a new provider.