How to Set Up BIMI: Free vs VMC & CMC Logos

BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) puts your logo next to your messages in the inbox, in place of a grey initial. It is a TXT record at default._bimi.example.com that points to an SVG of your logo, and, for Gmail and Apple Mail, to a certificate proving the logo is yours.

You can get a logo showing for free in some inboxes, or pay for a certificate to reach the rest. This guide covers both routes, what each costs and which inboxes each one reaches.

What every BIMI setup needs

Free or paid, inboxes check the same things before they show a logo:

• DMARC at enforcement. Your policy must be p=quarantine or p=reject, applied to all mail (no pct= below 100), and the subdomain policy sp= must not be none. A logo on mail that anyone could spoof would be worse than no logo. If you are still at p=none, follow the safe DMARC rollout plan first.
• Mail that passes DMARC. Each message must pass SPF or DKIM in alignment with the From domain. SPF, DKIM and DMARC explained covers what alignment means.
• A logo in SVG Tiny Portable/Secure (SVG Tiny PS). A restricted SVG profile: square, solid background, no scripts, no external links or images, a <title> element and baseProfile="tiny-ps" on the root. Keep the file under 32 KB.
• The logo served over HTTPS, directly, with no redirect.
• Enough sending volume and reputation. Inboxes can choose not to show logos for small or new senders, even when everything else is right.

Which inboxes show your logo: free vs paid

The short version: free BIMI reaches Yahoo and AOL. Gmail needs a certificate, and the blue checkmark needs a VMC specifically. Inbox support changes, so check the BIMI Group's support table before buying.

The free route: BIMI without a certificate

1. Get DMARC to enforcement

Run the SPF, DKIM and DMARC checker. It shows your current policy and flags anything that stops a BIMI logo, such as pct=50 or sp=none. A record ready for BIMI looks like:

_dmarc.example.com  TXT  "v=DMARC1; p=reject; rua=mailto:[email protected]"

2. Convert your logo to SVG Tiny PS

Ordinary SVG exports fail. Start from a square version of your logo with a solid background colour (inboxes crop it to a circle or rounded square, so keep important detail away from the corners). Then convert it with a BIMI SVG converter, or in Adobe Illustrator save as SVG Tiny 1.2 and edit the root element by hand:

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.2" baseProfile="tiny-ps" viewBox="0 0 512 512">
  <title>Example Inc</title>
  …
</svg>

Remove any x=, y= attributes on the root, scripts, animations, embedded bitmaps and links to external files.

3. Host it over HTTPS

Upload the file somewhere stable, for example https://example.com/bimi/logo.svg. It must return the SVG directly with HTTP 200, not a redirect or a login page.

4. Publish the BIMI record

default._bimi.example.com  TXT  "v=BIMI1; l=https://example.com/bimi/logo.svg; a=;"

The empty a= says you have no certificate. In most DNS panels, enter just default._bimi as the name. Logos usually start appearing in Yahoo within a few days of mail flowing.

Other free ways to show a logo

• Apple Branded Mail. Separate from BIMI, Apple Business Connect lets a verified business show its logo in Apple Mail at no cost. It needs company verification, a domain-verification TXT record, DKIM-signed mail and DMARC at quarantine or reject. It only affects Apple Mail.
• Google account profile photo. If you send from Google Workspace, a profile photo on the sending account shows to Gmail recipients. It works per mailbox, not per domain, and doesn't cover mail sent through other services.

The paid route: VMC or CMC

To get your logo into Gmail and, with a VMC, Apple Mail, you need a mark certificate. It is a certificate, issued by a certificate authority such as DigiCert, Sectigo, GlobalSign or SSL.com, that ties your logo to your organisation. There are two kinds:

Getting a VMC

1. Register the logo as a trademark with an office the certificate authorities accept, such as the USPTO, EUIPO, UK IPO, CIPO, IP Australia, JPO or India's trademark registry. The trademark must be registered, not just applied for, and it must match the logo you publish. If you don't have one already, this is the slow and expensive part: months, and filing fees on top of the certificate.
2. Order the VMC from a certificate authority or reseller. Prices vary a lot between resellers and multi-year terms, so compare quotes.
3. Pass validation. The authority verifies your organisation (much like an Extended Validation SSL certificate), checks the trademark, and usually confirms a representative's identity on a video call.
4. Host the certificate. You receive a .pem file that embeds your SVG logo. Upload it over HTTPS next to the logo.
5. Update the record to point at both:

   default._bimi.example.com  TXT  "v=BIMI1; l=https://example.com/bimi/logo.svg; a=https://example.com/bimi/vmc.pem"

A CMC follows the same steps without the trademark: the authority instead checks that the logo has appeared on your domain for a year.

Mark certificates expire, usually yearly. When one lapses, Gmail and Apple Mail drop your logo, so put the renewal date in a calendar.

Is a VMC worth paying for?

• Start free if you are not sure. Free BIMI forces the useful groundwork (DMARC enforcement and a clean logo), and Yahoo starts showing it at no cost.
• Buy a CMC if most of your recipients use Gmail and you have no registered trademark.
• Buy a VMC if you already own the trademark, send at volume to consumers, or are a frequent target for phishing. The blue checkmark is the visible difference.

BIMI does not improve inbox placement by itself. It rewards mail that already authenticates, so fix why emails go to spam first.

Why your BIMI logo isn't showing

• DMARC is not at enforcement, or pct= is below 100, or sp=none.
• The SVG is not Tiny PS. A normal SVG export, a missing <title> or a missing baseProfile="tiny-ps" is the most common failure.
• The logo URL redirects, returns an error, or is served over plain HTTP.
• No certificate for Gmail. Without a= pointing to a valid VMC or CMC, Gmail shows nothing.
• The certificate logo and the l= logo differ. They must be the same file.
• Low volume or a new domain. Inboxes can hold back logos until a sender builds a reputation.
• Caching. Inboxes cache logos and BIMI lookups, so changes can take a few days to show.

The email checker reads your BIMI record, fetches the logo, checks that it is SVG Tiny PS and under 32 KB, and confirms DMARC is at enforcement, so you can see which of these is stopping your logo.