How mature is Cloudflare's DMARC offering?

Cloudflare's DMARC Management is currently in beta. This means it's still evolving, and while it provides core DMARC functionality, it may not be as feature-rich or refined as dedicated DMARC solutions that have been on the market for longer. Its integration within the broader Cloudflare security suite is a key aspect of its design.

Is Mail Tower suitable for small businesses?

Yes, Mail Tower is particularly well-suited for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) due to its focused approach to DMARC. Its dedicated interface and emphasis on simplifying email authentication can make it easier for businesses with fewer resources to manage their DMARC policies effectively without being overwhelmed by extraneous features.

Do these tools help with email deliverability beyond DMARC?

Both platforms primarily focus on DMARC, which is a critical component of email deliverability. By helping you enforce DMARC, they prevent unauthorized email (spoofing) and improve your domain's reputation, leading to better inbox placement. Cloudflare, as a broader security platform, offers other features that indirectly contribute to overall web security, which can have secondary benefits for your domain's reputation and trust.

Can I migrate DMARC data between these platforms?

Migrating DMARC data involves changing your DMARC record in your DNS to point to the new provider. While the historical aggregate reports (RUA data) might not be directly transferable to a new platform's interface, the enforcement of your DMARC policy (p=quarantine or p=reject) remains tied to your DNS record. Both platforms should provide the necessary DNS records to set up or migrate your DMARC monitoring.

What happens if my domain is on a blocklist (or blacklist)?

If your domain ends up on a blocklist or blacklist, it means email providers may reject or quarantine emails from your domain, severely impacting deliverability. While DMARC helps prevent your domain from being used for spam, direct blocklisting often indicates other sending issues. Both Cloudflare (with its security features) and Mail Tower (through DMARC monitoring) provide tools to monitor your domain's reputation and help identify the sources of problematic email, which is the first step in remediation.

Cloudflare vs Mail Tower

Choose Cloudflare for robust web security with DMARC, or Mail Tower for a dedicated, focused DMARC solution.

4.5 / 5(561)

Compare to Suped

0 / 5(0)

Compare to Suped

Compare product functionality

Feature set

Cloudflare's DMARC Management is a newer addition to their extensive suite of internet security and performance tools. It integrates DMARC reporting and enforcement directly within their existing dashboard, which can be convenient if you're already a Cloudflare user. The service focuses on giving you visibility into your email ecosystem to help prevent spoofing and improve email deliverability.

As part of a broader security platform, Cloudflare leverages its global network intelligence to enhance DMARC insights. While we found it capable for core DMARC needs, the feature set is still evolving, especially when compared to tools solely dedicated to DMARC. It provides a foundational layer for DMARC, allowing you to monitor and manage your email authentication policies.

Mail Tower is built specifically for DMARC reporting and monitoring, offering a focused and dedicated approach to email authentication. Its features are designed from the ground up to provide granular insights into your DMARC, SPF, and DKIM records, helping you understand and enforce your policies effectively. We found its dashboard intuitive for navigating DMARC-specific data.

The platform emphasizes detailed report analysis, identifying legitimate senders, detecting email spoofing attempts, and guiding you towards DMARC enforcement. Mail Tower's concentrated focus often means a deeper dive into DMARC-related diagnostics and user flows optimized for email deliverability professionals. They aim to simplify the complex world of email authentication.

How easy is each product to use

User experience

Cloudflare's user experience is generally well-regarded for its primary services, offering a comprehensive dashboard for managing domains, DNS, and various security features. However, integrating DMARC into this expansive ecosystem means that DMARC-specific functionalities might not always be front and center. For users already familiar with Cloudflare, navigating to DMARC settings is straightforward, but for new users, the sheer breadth of options can be overwhelming.

We've observed that while the basic DMARC setup is relatively easy, delving into advanced configurations or troubleshooting often requires a deeper understanding of Cloudflare's broader platform architecture. The interface is powerful, but its design caters to a wide array of web services, which can sometimes make DMARC management feel like a smaller component within a much larger system.

Mail Tower provides a user experience designed specifically for DMARC. This singular focus generally translates to a cleaner, more direct interface for DMARC reporting and analysis. We found that the onboarding process and daily use for monitoring DMARC reports are intuitive, allowing users to quickly grasp the status of their email authentication.

The dashboards and reporting are tailored to display DMARC-relevant metrics prominently, making it easier to identify trends, detect spoofing attempts, and track the progress toward enforcement. For anyone whose primary concern is DMARC, Mail Tower's focused UX significantly reduces the learning curve, allowing for quicker insights and action without being distracted by unrelated features.

Which product has the best support

Support

Cloudflare offers a multi-tiered support system, with dedicated support typically reserved for higher-tier or enterprise plans. Free and lower-tier users often rely on extensive documentation, community forums, and a ticket-based system. Our experience, consistent with many user reviews, indicates that response times and the depth of support can vary significantly depending on your plan level.

While there's a wealth of information available, getting direct, immediate technical assistance for specific DMARC issues can be challenging for those not on a premium plan. Users often report that support tickets can sometimes be met with canned responses or require multiple exchanges to reach a resolution, which can be frustrating when dealing with urgent email deliverability concerns.

As a dedicated DMARC service, Mail Tower typically provides support focused on email authentication challenges. While we don't have extensive public reviews to draw upon for specific support experiences, dedicated DMARC providers often offer more specialized assistance given their niche. This usually means support staff are highly knowledgeable about DMARC, SPF, and DKIM protocols.

Smaller, specialized platforms can sometimes offer a more personalized support experience, directly addressing DMARC configuration, troubleshooting, and enforcement strategies. Without specific data, we anticipate a support model that is responsive and expert in DMARC, which is crucial for managing the intricacies of email security and deliverability effectively.

Who should use each product

Suitability

Cloudflare's DMARC solution is particularly well-suited for organizations that are already deeply integrated into the Cloudflare ecosystem for their web security, CDN, or DNS needs. It's a natural fit for enterprises and mid-market companies seeking to consolidate their security vendors and prefer a unified platform for both web and email security. For these users, the DMARC features extend their existing security posture.

While SMBs can certainly use Cloudflare, the DMARC component, as part of a larger suite, might be more comprehensive than what a small business strictly needs, potentially leading to increased complexity. MSPs might find it useful for clients who are already Cloudflare users, allowing for a more integrated management approach, though it might not be a standalone DMARC solution for all clients.

Mail Tower is an excellent choice for businesses primarily focused on DMARC implementation and monitoring, without necessarily needing a broader web security suite. It appeals to small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and organizations that prioritize a dedicated, easy-to-use DMARC solution. Its focused nature means less overhead and a clearer path to DMARC enforcement.

MSPs would find Mail Tower highly suitable for managing DMARC for multiple clients, offering multi-tenancy capabilities and a specialized dashboard for overseeing various domains' email authentication. Enterprises might also consider Mail Tower if they seek a best-of-breed DMARC solution that can integrate alongside their existing security infrastructure, providing specialized DMARC expertise.

How does Cloudflare compare with Mail Tower?

DMARC report analysis

Aggregates and visualizes DMARC reports (RUA and RUF)

Source detection

Identifies legitimate and illegitimate sending sources

Forward detection

Detects and accounts for email forwarding behavior

Spoof detection

Identifies and categorizes email spoofing attempts

Notifications and alerts

Provides real-time alerts for policy changes or suspicious activity

Reporting

Offers customizable reports and data export options

API

Application Programming Interface for integration with other systems

Multi-tenancy

Manages multiple domains or client accounts from a single interface

SPF flattening

Simplifies complex SPF records to stay within DNS lookup limits

Hosted DMARC

Manages DMARC records and policy on behalf of the user

BIMI

Brand Indicators for Message Identification support

MTA-STS/TLS-RPT

Supports SMTP MTA Strict Transport Security and TLS Reporting

Blocklists and reputation

Checks domain or IP against public blocklists and monitors reputation

As part of their broader security suite

Focuses on DMARC-related reputation

AI copilot

Utilizes AI for guided DMARC policy adjustments or insights

Not explicitly for DMARC management

DNS monitoring

Monitors DNS records for changes or misconfigurations

Core Cloudflare service

Focus on email-related DNS records

Self hostable

Option to host the software on your own servers

Free trial/free tier

Offers a free period or perpetually free plan

Free beta available

Drawbacks and what to watch out for

When considering Cloudflare, some drawbacks include its support, which can be inconsistent for non-enterprise users, and the complexity that comes with its vast feature set, potentially making DMARC management feel less focused. For Mail Tower, the primary drawback we've noted is the lack of public reviews, which makes it harder to assess user experiences and long-term satisfaction compared to more established platforms with transparent feedback.

We have pulled the average ratings from G2 for each product, and also included the most recent negative reviews for each product in full. Positive reviews tend to have less detail and have a higher chance of being fraudulent, so negative reviews are a better signal for your decision.

4.5 / 5(561)

0 / 5(0)

Horrible Support and Billing - They run with your money and don't care to get billing correct

0.0 / 5

What do you like best about Cloudflare Application Security and Performance? Ease of deployment, dashboard and configurations for the WAF, Cache, and other features are top tier with ease, settings, and logging. Just don't have an issue with them or you're on your own. Also, don't keep a credit card on file or they'll bill you for their mistakes. What do you dislike about Cloudflare Application Security and Performance? Customer support and billing. Their support does not read what you have to say but rather comes in with their own interpretation of what has happened and forces their views on your issue rather than trying to understand exactly what is happening. On two occassions in the last few months I have had this happen when I encountered an issue with the core product and their billing. The billing should be detailed further as it is sketchy business practices. Back in April they changed their billing software and charged me incorrectly for a month as it included the previous month as well (which I already paid). I brought this to their attention and the billing support assured me that it was not a problem. Come last week, they limited my account as I "had unpaid biling" so I contacted them again and brought attention to this wrong invoice that they never corrected. Come yesterday, they just charged my credit card on file without my authorization or explanination of what is going on. I've replied to the open ticket and created a new ticket and no one is answering. I don't want to be a drama case but this is ridiculous to have been charged something from months ago and not be given an explanation. What problems is Cloudflare Application Security and Performance solving and how is that benefiting you? Improve the security and performance of our websites/applications. Their configurable/customizable WAF, CDN/Caching, bot mitigation, and DDoS protection accomplish this for our websites/applications.

Jim M.

Owner Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

No G2 reviews

G2 is the most popular review platform for DMARC products, so this is a strong signal that this product is not popular.

Support very unresponsive. Not understanding P1 urgency. Delayed project 3 whole days.

0.0 / 5

What do you like best about Cloudflare Application Security and Performance? The website is intuitive, implementation steps are straightforward. It has numerous features, and they are indeed needed by a web app. What do you dislike about Cloudflare Application Security and Performance? If your implementation goes well, it's fine. However, if you are in trouble, the support doc is useless. You pay for the pro plan to try to get some technician support. No one cares about your business or service, even if you identify it as a P1 urgency. My project was down and could not get anyone to help me when I identified it as a high-impact ticket. What problems is Cloudflare Application Security and Performance solving and how is that benefiting you? The ticket support system is horrible. No technicians provide you with timely manner answers and support. Not worth the price.

Andrew Z.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

WAF is good, but so many half baked side features

2.5 / 5

What do you like best about Cloudflare Application Security and Performance? The WAF is pretty industry standard. Its not too slow, gets regular updates, easy to deploy and cheap What do you dislike about Cloudflare Application Security and Performance? The side features are just trash. Its clear they have been shipped and dropped. Cloudflare Bot Detection should not exist. Its not even funny how easy it is to bypass. Page Shield is a joke, their API security is a joke. What problems is Cloudflare Application Security and Performance solving and how is that benefiting you? OWASP top 10

Verified User in Computer Software

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

Love the product- support could use some work

2.5 / 5

What do you like best about Cloudflare Application Security and Performance? Super easy to use. Very developer friendly. Tons of value for price. Undoubtedly #1 in WAF. What do you dislike about Cloudflare Application Security and Performance? Could use some better support. No direct channels for tech questions. What problems is Cloudflare Application Security and Performance solving and how is that benefiting you? It's providing great security for our web app.

Verified User in Computer Software

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

Don't Pay for Support

2.5 / 5

What do you like best about Cloudflare Application Security and Performance? In general, cloudflare is really easy to navigate, especially for simple DNS and domain management. Unless you have a complicated setup, I find it easy enough to move a domain or simply manage DNS for most sites. What do you dislike about Cloudflare Application Security and Performance? Their support is terrible. Had an issue with a client's DNS and the person I was talking to clearly didn't have a clue what they were talking about. They took so long between answers, it seemed like they were just asking someone else. Ultimately, they were of no help and we were out the money we paid to have live support. What problems is Cloudflare Application Security and Performance solving and how is that benefiting you? Makes DNS and Security easy for most websites and domains.

Verified User in Marketing and Advertising

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

Pricing

Cloudflare offers a free beta for DMARC Management before moving to a contact-for-pricing model, whereas Mail Tower uses an annual tiered pricing structure but requires contacting sales for specifics, making direct cost comparison challenging without a quote.

Small

Up to 10k emails / month

Free beta

Contact for pricing

Medium

Up to 100k emails / month

Contact for pricing

Large

Up to 1 million emails / month

Contact for pricing

Enterprise

Over 1 million emails / month