Does Cloudflare offer a free DMARC service?

Yes, Cloudflare's DMARC Management is currently available in a free beta. This allows users to access basic DMARC reporting and management features without a direct cost, though it's part of their broader platform.

Is MailHardener better for DMARC than Cloudflare?

MailHardener is a specialized DMARC platform, offering more in-depth features and a focused user experience for email authentication. Cloudflare provides DMARC as part of a larger security suite. For dedicated, granular DMARC management, MailHardener often has an edge, while Cloudflare is better for those seeking an integrated solution.

Does MailHardener support MSPs?

Yes, MailHardener explicitly offers a specialized plan for Managed Service Providers (MSPs). This indicates that it provides features and capabilities, such as multi-tenancy, tailored for MSPs to manage DMARC for multiple clients efficiently.

What is SPF flattening and do these products offer it?

SPF flattening is a technique to consolidate multiple SPF records into a single one, preventing your domain from exceeding the 10-lookup limit imposed by DNS. MailHardener explicitly offers SPF flattening, which is a significant advantage for complex email setups. Cloudflare does not prominently advertise this specific feature within its DMARC offering.

Cloudflare vs MailHardener

Choose Cloudflare if you need a broad security suite, choose MailHardener if you need dedicated DMARC management.

4.5 / 5(561)

Compare to Suped

0 / 5(0)

Compare to Suped

Compare product functionality

Feature set

Cloudflare's DMARC Management is an addition to their extensive suite of internet security and performance services. It integrates into their broader ecosystem, offering DMARC reporting and enforcement alongside CDN, WAF, and DNS solutions. We found its DMARC features to be functional, providing the necessary insights into email authentication results.

However, while Cloudflare provides DMARC, it is one among many services. The DMARC reporting itself is somewhat basic compared to dedicated tools, focusing on aggregation and high-level views rather than deep-dive forensic analysis or granular threat intelligence specifically tailored for email. It's built for those already deeply embedded in the Cloudflare ecosystem.

MailHardener is purpose-built for email security and DMARC. Its feature set is highly focused on DMARC, SPF, and DKIM management, offering detailed reporting, forensic analysis, and guided enforcement. We observed it provides a comprehensive overview of email flows, source detection, and the ability to identify potential spoofing attempts effectively.

Beyond core DMARC, MailHardener also includes features like SPF flattening, hosted DMARC, BIMI, and MTA-STS/TLS-RPT, showing its dedication to all aspects of email authentication. Its detailed dashboards allow for precise policy adjustments and offer strong visibility into legitimate and illegitimate email sources, making DMARC enforcement a more manageable task.

How easy is each product to use

User experience

Cloudflare's dashboard is generally well-designed and intuitive for its vast array of services. For users already familiar with Cloudflare's platform, adding DMARC Management is a natural extension. The DMARC section itself presents data clearly, allowing for easy monitoring of authentication trends and policy compliance.

However, for those new to Cloudflare or solely interested in DMARC, the sheer breadth of features can be overwhelming. Navigating to the specific DMARC settings and understanding its nuances within the broader security context requires some effort. The focus isn't exclusively on DMARC, so it's less streamlined for that single purpose.

MailHardener's user experience is tailored specifically for email authentication. We found its dashboard to be clean, logical, and easy to navigate for anyone managing DMARC. The platform guides users through the setup process and clearly presents complex email authentication data in an understandable format, reducing the learning curve.

The focused nature of MailHardener means there's less clutter, allowing users to quickly access the information and tools they need for DMARC, SPF, and DKIM. Its specialized interface makes it very efficient for managing email deliverability and security, without the distractions of unrelated services.

Which product has the best support

Support

Cloudflare offers tiered support, with faster response times and more dedicated assistance available on higher-tier plans. For free or lower-tier users, support primarily relies on extensive documentation and community forums. When we needed help, we found that complex issues could sometimes take longer to resolve due to the broad scope of their services.

While their documentation is vast and covers many scenarios, direct technical support for DMARC-specific issues on non-enterprise plans might require patience. This can be a point of frustration for users who need quick, expert guidance on critical email deliverability problems.

MailHardener, being a specialized platform, typically offers more focused support for email authentication challenges. While specific tiers of support would depend on the plan, we'd expect expertise in DMARC, SPF, and DKIM to be readily available. Their support team would likely possess deep knowledge in these specific areas.

The advantage of a specialized provider is that their support staff are likely experts in their niche, leading to more accurate and efficient problem resolution for DMARC-related queries. This dedicated approach can be invaluable when facing complex email deliverability issues that impact business communications.

Who should use each product

Suitability

Cloudflare's DMARC Management is best suited for organizations already leveraging Cloudflare's broader security and performance platform. It's a natural fit for enterprises and large SMBs that need a unified solution for web and email security. It provides an integrated approach, reducing vendor sprawl.

For Managed Service Providers (MSPs), Cloudflare offers a comprehensive ecosystem that can cover many client needs beyond just DMARC. However, its DMARC reporting alone might not satisfy MSPs looking for highly specialized email authentication management for a diverse client base, especially if deep multi-tenancy for DMARC specific features is a primary requirement.

MailHardener is ideal for organizations of all sizes, from SMBs to enterprises, that prioritize dedicated and in-depth DMARC, SPF, and DKIM management. It's particularly strong for businesses where email deliverability and brand protection are paramount and require specialized attention.

It is also very well-suited for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) thanks to its specialized MSP plan, indicating robust multi-tenancy capabilities. MSPs can efficiently manage DMARC for multiple clients from a single platform, offering expert-level email authentication services without the overhead of a general security suite.

How does Cloudflare compare with MailHardener?

DMARC report analysis

Ability to parse and present DMARC aggregate and forensic reports.

Source detection

Identifies email sending sources from DMARC reports.

Forward detection

Detects email forwarding chains impacting DMARC results.

Spoof detection

Identifies unauthorized email sending (spoofing) attempts.

Notifications and alerts

Sends alerts for DMARC policy changes or suspicious activity.

Reporting

Provides various reports on DMARC compliance and email traffic.

API

Offers an API for programmatic access and integration.

Multi-tenancy

Supports managing multiple domains or clients under one account.

SPF flattening

Simplifies SPF records to avoid exceeding the 10-lookup limit.

Not a primary DMARC-specific feature

Hosted DMARC

Provides DMARC record hosting and management.

BIMI

Supports Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI).

MTA-STS/TLS-RPT

Supports Mail Transfer Agent Strict Transport Security and TLS Reporting.

Blocklists and reputation

Monitors email-related blocklists (blacklists) and sender reputation.

More focused on web traffic reputation

AI copilot

Offers AI-powered assistance for DMARC analysis or recommendations.

DNS monitoring

Monitors health and changes of critical DNS records.

Self hostable

Option to host the software on your own infrastructure.

Free trial/free tier

Availability of a free plan or trial period.

Drawbacks and what to watch out for

When examining potential drawbacks, Cloudflare users frequently report several challenges: - unresponsive customer support, - billing inaccuracies, and - a perceived lack of dedication to smaller clients. MailHardener, while highly specialized, has a much smaller user base and thus less public feedback, making it harder to identify common issues. Our own experience suggests that specialized tools sometimes lack the broad integration capabilities of larger platforms, which might be a drawback for those seeking a one-stop shop.

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 DMARC Management beta for free, with paid plans for their broader suite, while MailHardener provides a free tier and various paid plans for dedicated email security.

Small

Up to 10k emails / month

Free (beta)

Free tier available

Medium

Up to 100k emails / month

Contact for pricing

Contact for pricing (Standard plan)

Large

Up to 1 million emails / month

Contact for pricing

Contact for pricing (Large plan)