Workarounds for maximum DNS-Interactive terms limit exceeded in SPF record?

1. Mostly already answered, please do note including Google this way is wrong - you want to use _spf.google.com or incur a penalty for the redirect:

    ○ → host -t txt aspmx.googlemail.com
    aspmx.googlemail.com descriptive text "v=spf1 redirect=_spf.google.com"
   
    ○ → host -t txt _spf.google.com
    _spf.google.com descriptive text "v=spf1 include:_netblocks.google.com include:_netblocks2.google.com include:_netblocks3.google.com ~all"
   

That lookup will consume 5/10 all on its own - 4/10 still sucks but 20% less.

2. It will stop processing and return a permanent error - it's up to the engine using the SPF to decide how it wants to treat a permanent error.

3. Yes - without the processing limits SPF mechanisms could be used as a DoS amplifier against a third party or second party.

As a workaround, emails can come from a subdomain of the main property - community.largecorporation.com for instance.

1. Assuming that redundancies (like multiple references to _spf.google.com and the records it refers to) are only counted once, I count 17 lookups from the point where you've already looked up the initial record. (See below.)

2. It refuses to look up all the records necessary to evaluate your SPF record because it would be "too much work". Presumably this means it will treat your domain as if it had no SPF record (or possibly reject it). The spec says that this results in permerror, which leaves it fairly open for the recipient to decide what to do.

3. I think abuse has been going up rather than down, generally. This limit appears to be meant to thwart abusive sender domains that may otherwise be able to overwhelm the recipient with enormous chains of SPF, potentially leading to DoS.

I think that while outsourcing email is common, it's not actually that common to outsource email to six different providers. You'll have to optimize the SPF record somehow.
(For one thing, the reference to aspmx.googlemail.com seems wasteful as that immediately just redirects to a different name.)

<lookup of example.com A>                   #1
$ dig aspmx.googlemail.com TXT +short       #2
"v=spf1 redirect=_spf.google.com"
$ dig _spf.google.com TXT +short            #3
"v=spf1 include:_netblocks.google.com include:_netblocks2.google.com include:_netblocks3.google.com ~all"
$ dig _netblocks.google.com TXT +short      #4
"v=spf1 ip4:64.18.0.0/20 ip4:64.233.160.0/19 ip4:66.102.0.0/20 ip4:66.249.80.0/20 ip4:72.14.192.0/18 ip4:74.125.0.0/16 ip4:173.194.0.0/16 ip4:207.126.144.0/20 ip4:209.85.128.0/17 ip4:216.58.192.0/19 ip4:216.239.32.0/19 ~all"
$ dig _netblocks2.google.com TXT +short     #5
"v=spf1 ip6:2001:4860:4000::/36 ip6:2404:6800:4000::/36 ip6:2607:f8b0:4000::/36 ip6:2800:3f0:4000::/36 ip6:2a00:1450:4000::/36 ip6:2c0f:fb50:4000::/36 ~all"
$ dig _netblocks3.google.com TXT +short     #6
"v=spf1 ~all"
$ dig campaignmonitor.com TXT +short        #7
"google-site-verification=HcHoB67Mph6vl5_x4gK5MN9YwN5gMgfZYdNmsP07tIg"
"v=spf1 mx ptr ip4:23.253.29.45/29 ip4:203.65.192.250 include:cmail1.com include:_spf.google.com include:stspg-customer.com ~all"
$ dig cmail1.com TXT +short                 #8
"google-site-verification=HSJ8sL4AxQo0YHHNk9RwDqs0p3lJPGmc1nCrSsmous8"
"mailru-verification: 95d4c6eb0645b43c"
"v=spf1 ip4:103.28.42.0/24 ip4:146.88.28.0/24 ip4:163.47.180.0/22 ip4:203.55.21.0/24 ip4:204.75.142.0/24 ~all"
$ dig stspg-customer.com TXT +short         #9
"v=spf1 ip4:166.78.68.221 ip4:166.78.69.146 ip4:23.253.182.103 ip4:192.237.159.42 ip4:192.237.159.43 ip4:167.89.46.159 ip4:167.89.64.9 ip4:167.89.65.0 ip4:167.89.65.100 ip4:167.89.65.53 -all"
$ dig authsmtp.com TXT +short               #10
"v=spf1 include:spf-a.authsmtp.com include:spf-b.authsmtp.com ~all"
"google-site-verification=skc1TleK4GylDiNZUayfvWWgqZIxmmiRj4KgXlCgB8E"
$ dig spf-a.authsmtp.com TXT +short         #11
"v=spf1 ip4:62.13.128.0/24 ip4:62.13.129.128/25 ip4:62.13.136.0/22 ip4:62.13.140.0/22 ip4:62.13.144.0/22 ip4:62.13.148.0/23 ip4:62.13.150.0/23 ip4:62.13.152.0/23 ~all"
$ dig spf-b.authsmtp.com TXT +short         #12
"v=spf1 ip4:72.52.72.32/28 ip4:64.49.192.16/29 ip4:209.61.188.242 ip4:64.49.192.24 ip4:64.49.192.25 ip4:64.49.210.64/29 ip4:64.49.210.72/30 ip4:64.49.210.76 ip4:64.49.210.77 ip4:64.49.210.78 ~all"
$ dig mail.zendesk.com TXT +short           #13
"v=spf1 ip4:192.161.144.0/20 ip4:185.12.80.0/22 ip4:96.46.150.192/27 ip4:174.137.46.0/24 ~all"
$ dig salesforce.com TXT +short             #14
"adobe-idp-site-verification=898b7dda-16a9-41b7-9b84-22350b35b562"
"MS=749862C9F42827A017A6EA2D147C7E96B3006061"
"MS=ms68630177"
"v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:_spfblock.salesforce.com include:_qa.salesforce.com ip4:136.146.208.16/28 ip4:136.146.210.16/28 ip4:136.146.208.240/28 ip4:136.146.210.240/28 ip4:85.222.130.224/28 ip4:136.147.62.224/28 ip4:136.147.46.224/28 mx ~all"
$ dig _spfblock.salesforce.com TXT +short   #15
"v=spf1 ip4:96.43.144.0/20 ip4:182.50.76.0/22 ip4:202.129.242.0/23 ip4:204.14.232.0/21 ip4:62.17.146.128/26 ip4:64.18.0.0/20 ip4:207.126.144.0/20 ip4:68.232.207.20 ip4:207.67.38.45 ip4:198.245.81.1 ip4:198.245.95.4/30 ip4:136.146.128.64/27  ~all"
$ dig _qa.salesforce.com TXT +short         #16
"v=spf1 ip4:199.122.122.176/28 ip4:199.122.121.112/28 ip4:199.122.122.240/28 ip4:66.231.95.0/29 ~all"
$ dig _hostedspf.discourse.org TXT +short   #17
"v=spf1 ip4:64.71.148.0/29 ip6:2001:470:1:3c2::/64 -all"