Cloudflare's DMARC Management is a new addition to their comprehensive suite of internet security and performance products. It integrates DMARC reporting and enforcement alongside their core offerings like CDN, WAF, and DDoS protection, leveraging their vast global network. This means DMARC becomes another layer in an already robust security stack, rather than a standalone tool.
We found that Cloudflare's approach aims for a holistic security posture, where DMARC insights can be correlated with other threat intelligence data. While the DMARC component is still in beta, it promises to provide detailed visibility into email authentication results, helping organizations achieve DMARC enforcement to protect against email spoofing and brand impersonation. It focuses on integrating DMARC into a broader security ecosystem.
spfXio is specifically designed as a managed service for SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Its feature set is narrowly focused on providing robust tools and support for email authentication. We experienced spfXio offering capabilities for managing SPF records to avoid the 10-lookup limit, handling DKIM keys, and, crucially, analyzing DMARC reports to identify email senders and authentication failures.
The platform emphasizes proactive management and remediation of email deliverability issues, particularly those stemming from misconfigured or non-compliant SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. Its feature set is built around making email authentication as straightforward and effective as possible, with a strong focus on reporting history and dedicated account management for ongoing support.
How easy is each product to use
User experience
Cloudflare's user experience is generally praised for its intuitive dashboard and ease of integrating its core services. For DMARC, we found that those already familiar with the Cloudflare ecosystem will likely find the DMARC Management a natural extension. The setup involves integrating DNS records, which is a core function Cloudflare excels at.
However, for users new to Cloudflare or those solely seeking a DMARC solution, the sheer breadth of Cloudflare's offerings can be overwhelming. While the DMARC interface itself aims to be straightforward, navigating the larger Cloudflare console to find specific DMARC settings might present a learning curve for some. Its strength lies in being part of a unified security platform.
spfXio offers a more specialized user experience, geared specifically towards email authentication management. We found the platform's focus to be on simplifying the complexities of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. The dashboards are designed to quickly highlight issues and provide actionable insights into DMARC reports, making it easier for users to understand authentication failures and legitimate sources.
Since spfXio is a managed service, a significant part of the user experience involves working with dedicated account managers. This human-centric approach simplifies the technical aspects, as experts guide users through the setup and ongoing optimization. This can be particularly beneficial for organizations that prefer hands-on assistance rather than self-service configurations.
Which product has the best support
Support
Cloudflare's support can be a mixed bag, depending on your plan. We observed that free and lower-tier users often rely on extensive documentation and community forums. Higher-tier plans (Pro, Business, Enterprise) offer more direct and faster support channels, including email and sometimes phone support. However, some G2 reviews indicate frustration with support responsiveness, particularly for critical issues.
While Cloudflare provides a vast knowledge base, the DMARC Management feature is still in beta, which means support resources might still be evolving. For enterprise customers, the dedicated account management and more responsive channels are certainly an advantage, but for smaller operations, it can feel like a search party rather than a rescue mission when issues arise.
spfXio places a strong emphasis on personalized support through its managed service model. Each plan includes a dedicated account manager and regular report reviews, which we found to be a significant benefit. This hands-on approach ensures that customers receive tailored assistance with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configurations and ongoing monitoring.
For organizations that value direct access to expertise and a proactive support model, spfXio's offerings are highly appealing. The dedicated account manager acts as a primary point of contact, streamlining communication and ensuring that specific email authentication challenges are addressed efficiently. This personalized support contrasts with more self-service oriented platforms.
Who should use each product
Suitability
Cloudflare is an excellent choice for organizations already utilizing their broad range of internet security and performance services. It's particularly suitable for mid-market and enterprise companies looking to integrate DMARC into a unified security stack, leveraging Cloudflare's existing infrastructure. SMBs can also benefit from Cloudflare's free tiers for basic web protection, although DMARC management is currently in beta with specific pricing still emerging.
For MSPs, Cloudflare offers extensive API access and multi-account management capabilities, allowing them to manage DMARC alongside other client services efficiently. Organizations prioritizing a comprehensive, all-in-one approach to web and email security will find Cloudflare a compelling option. Its suitability for enterprise is very high, for mid-market high, and for SMB medium.
spfXio is best suited for organizations that prioritize a dedicated, managed approach to email authentication and deliverability. This includes businesses of all sizes, from SMBs to enterprises, who may not have in-house DMARC expertise or prefer a hands-off approach to its complexities. The managed service model makes it particularly attractive to those seeking expert guidance and ongoing support.
MSPs can also benefit from spfXio's offerings for their clients, as the dedicated account management can offload the burden of DMARC implementation and monitoring. It's ideal for companies where email deliverability is critical and they want to ensure strict DMARC enforcement without navigating technical intricacies themselves. Its suitability for SMB is high, for mid-market high, and for enterprise high. For MSPs, it offers a strong managed service model.
How does Cloudflare compare with spfXio?
DMARC report analysis
Analysis of DMARC aggregate and forensic reports.
Provides detailed insights into DMARC authentication results.
Comprehensive analysis of aggregate reports with actionable data.
Source detection
Ability to identify legitimate and unauthorized email sending sources.
Identifies email sources across its platform and DMARC reports.
Focuses on accurate sender identification from DMARC data.
Forward detection
Detecting email forwarding that might affect DMARC alignment.
Helps discern forwarding chains in DMARC data.
Assists in understanding forwarding impacts on DMARC.
Spoof detection
Identifying attempts to impersonate your domain.
Integral to DMARC and broader security offerings.
Core functionality to combat email impersonation.
Notifications and alerts
Alerts for DMARC policy changes, new sources, or increased failures.
Configurable alerts for DMARC events.
Proactive alerts as part of managed service.
Reporting
Customizable reports on DMARC compliance and email authentication.
Integrates DMARC reporting within its security dashboard.
Dedicated DMARC reports, including history (90-180 days).
API
Programmatic access to DMARC data and configurations.
Extensive API for all services, including DMARC.
API access not explicitly advertised as a core feature.
Multi-tenancy
Ability to manage multiple domains or client accounts.
Built for managing numerous domains and organizations.
Plans support multiple domains and users for multi-tenancy.
SPF flattening
Managing SPF record lookups to stay within the 10-DNS lookup limit.
Offers solutions to manage SPF records efficiently.
Explicitly offers SPF record management and flattening.
Hosted DMARC
Hosting your DMARC record to simplify management.
Manages DMARC records as part of DNS services.
Provides DMARC record management as a managed service.
BIMI
Support for Brand Indicators for Message Identification.
Facilitates BIMI implementation alongside DMARC.
Supports BIMI as part of DMARC management.
MTA-STS/TLS-RPT
Support for Mail Transfer Agent Strict Transport Security and TLS Reporting.
Offers MTA-STS and general email security features.
Focuses on SPF, DKIM, DMARC primarily.
Blocklists and reputation
Monitoring email blocklists (or blacklists) and domain reputation.
Part of its extensive threat intelligence and security suite.
Not a primary advertised feature for email reputation monitoring.
AI copilot
AI-powered assistance for DMARC configuration and analysis.
Not explicitly advertised for DMARC, though AI is used in other features.
Not an advertised feature.
DNS monitoring
Monitoring of DNS records for changes or issues.
Comprehensive DNS management and monitoring services.
Monitors SPF, DKIM, DMARC DNS records.
Self hostable
Option to host the DMARC solution on your own infrastructure.
A cloud-based SaaS platform.
A managed cloud-based SaaS platform.
Free trial/free tier
Availability of a free trial or a permanently free service tier.
DMARC Management beta waitlist is free; general free plans.
Offers a 30-day free trial for its managed service.
Drawbacks and what to watch out for
Cloudflare, despite its extensive security offerings, often faces criticism regarding its customer support, particularly for non-enterprise users. Billing issues and unresponsive support for critical incidents are common complaints. While its WAF and CDN are strong, some side features are perceived as half-baked. spfXio, on the other hand, lacks the broader security ecosystem of Cloudflare. Without explicit reviews, we infer potential drawbacks such as a narrower focus that might not cover all aspects of email security, and a dependency on its managed service model, which might not appeal to organizations seeking full control or a purely self-service option.
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 cheapWhat 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's DMARC offering is currently in beta with a free waitlist, while spfXio provides tiered managed services starting at $299 per month for its Quartz MS plan.
4.5 / 5(561)
