MailHardener provides a comprehensive suite of DMARC reporting and management tools. We found its platform exceptionally well-equipped for granular analysis of email authentication data, making it straightforward to identify legitimate sending sources and spot unauthorized use of your domain.
Beyond core DMARC, MailHardener also extends its functionality to include SPF flattening, a critical feature for domains with complex SPF records, ensuring deliverability while maintaining compliance. Its focus is on providing a complete DMARC ecosystem for informed decision-making.
Agari Brand Protection (now part of Fortra DMARC Protection) offers an enterprise-grade solution that goes beyond basic DMARC monitoring. Its feature set is designed for large organizations that require advanced threat detection and a holistic approach to email security and brand defense.
The platform leverages sophisticated analytics, including AI-driven insights, to identify nuanced patterns of abuse, phishing, and impersonation attempts. While it provides excellent DMARC enforcement, its strength lies in integrating DMARC with broader threat intelligence and response capabilities.
How easy is each product to use
User experience
From our experience, MailHardener offers a clean and functional user interface. It is designed with DMARC specialists and technically adept users in mind, making navigation and data interpretation quite intuitive for those familiar with email authentication protocols. The dashboards present key metrics clearly, allowing for quick assessment of domain health.
However, while straightforward for experts, new users just starting their DMARC journey might find some of the detailed configurations and data presentations to have a slight learning curve. We appreciate its directness, prioritizing functionality over excessive visual flair.
Agari Brand Protection, being an enterprise solution, presents a robust but potentially complex user experience. It's built for security operations teams and demands a certain level of expertise to fully leverage its advanced features. The platform is powerful, offering deep insights and extensive customization, which can be overwhelming for less experienced users.
We found that while it delivers comprehensive data, the interface can feel less immediately intuitive compared to more streamlined tools. It often integrates into a broader security ecosystem, meaning its standalone UX might not be its primary design focus, but rather its utility within a larger security framework.
Which product has the best support
Support
Our interactions with MailHardener's support team have been positive. They are generally responsive and knowledgeable, especially concerning specific DMARC implementation challenges and best practices. We found their support to be helpful for both technical queries and general guidance on their platform's features.
The support model appears to be geared towards efficient problem-solving for users who are already somewhat familiar with the technical aspects of email deliverability. For organizations looking for hands-on, expert advice without a hefty premium, MailHardener provides solid assistance.
Agari Brand Protection, as an enterprise solution, typically offers a higher-touch support model, often including dedicated account managers and specialized security analysts. This level of support is crucial for complex deployments and large-scale incident response, which we found to be a significant advantage for large organizations.
While the support is comprehensive, it can sometimes be slower for routine inquiries, as the focus is often on critical security incidents and strategic guidance. For an enterprise, the breadth of expertise available for complex threats makes their support invaluable, though it comes with the expected enterprise service costs.
Who should use each product
Suitability
MailHardener is exceptionally well-suited for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and, notably, for Managed Service Providers (MSPs). Its comprehensive feature set for DMARC, combined with its multi-tenancy capabilities and a pricing model that often includes a free tier, makes it an attractive option for organizations looking for robust DMARC management without the enterprise price tag.
We recommend MailHardener for entities prioritizing a focused, powerful, and cost-effective DMARC solution. It is also suitable for organizations that have an in-house team with some DMARC expertise but might not have the budget for a full-scale brand protection suite.
Agari Brand Protection is designed for large enterprises and organizations that face significant brand impersonation risks and require a comprehensive, advanced email security solution. Its suitability extends to sectors like finance, government, and large-scale e-commerce, where the stakes of email compromise are extremely high.
We find it less suitable for SMBs or MSPs that need a straightforward, budget-friendly DMARC tool. Its enterprise-level pricing and feature complexity are tailored for organizations with dedicated security teams and a mandate for extensive brand defense beyond just DMARC enforcement.
How does MailHardener compare with Agari Brand Protection?
DMARC report analysis
Analyzes DMARC aggregate and forensic reports.
Detailed aggregate and forensic reports.
Comprehensive DMARC reporting with forensic data.
Source detection
Identifies all sending sources using your domain.
Identifies legitimate and malicious sending sources.
Detects all email sending sources across the enterprise.
Forward detection
Helps in understanding and managing email forwarding.
Helps identify email forwarding issues.
Analyzes forwarding paths for compliance and security.
Spoof detection
Detects and alerts on email spoofing attempts.
Robust detection of brand impersonation.
Advanced AI-driven spoofing and impersonation detection.
Notifications and alerts
Provides alerts for DMARC policy violations and threats.
Configurable alerts for DMARC compliance issues.
Real-time alerts for policy violations and threats.
Reporting
Offers customizable reports on DMARC data.
Customizable reports for DMARC aggregate data.
Granular reporting with executive summaries.
API
Provides an API for integration with other systems.
Available for integration and automation.
RESTful API for integration with security tools.
Multi-tenancy
Supports managing multiple clients or domains from a single interface.
Designed for MSPs with multi-client management.
Supports multi-domain and large organizational structures.
SPF flattening
Feature to optimize complex SPF records.
Automated SPF record optimization.
Focuses on DMARC, not direct SPF flattening.
Hosted DMARC
Ability to host and manage DMARC records.
Manages DMARC records.
Manages DMARC policies and records.
BIMI
Support for Brand Indicators for Message Identification.
Supports BIMI implementation.
Offers BIMI implementation assistance.
MTA-STS/TLS-RPT
Features for secure email transport policies.
Provides support for secure transport policies.
Monitors and enforces secure email transport.
Blocklists and reputation
Monitors domain reputation and presence on blocklists (or blacklists).
Monitors domains against major blocklists.
Integrates reputation data for threat intelligence.
AI copilot
Assisted threat analysis or configuration with AI.
Not a core feature.
Leverages AI for threat detection, not an AI copilot interface.
DNS monitoring
Monitoring of various DNS records beyond DMARC.
Comprehensive DNS health checks.
Primarily DMARC-focused DNS monitoring.
Self hostable
Option to host the software on your own infrastructure.
Cloud-based solution.
SaaS platform.
Free trial/free tier
Availability of a free version or trial period.
Generous free tier available.
Contact sales for a demo.
Drawbacks and what to watch out for
MailHardener, while feature-rich and developer-friendly, might present a slightly less polished user experience compared to some enterprise-grade competitors. Its deep focus on DMARC might mean less emphasis on broader, advanced threat intelligence features outside of DMARC's direct scope, which could be a drawback for very large, complex organizations with expansive security needs. Agari Brand Protection's primary drawback is often its enterprise-level pricing, which can be prohibitive for smaller businesses. The complexity of its feature set and integration with broader security ecosystems might also present a steeper learning curve for teams without dedicated security experts.
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.
0 / 5(0)
4 / 5(1)
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.
Descent Email Security
4.0 / 5
What do you like best about Fortra DMARC Protection?
I am a new user of cloud email protection and I am extremely fond of the added security layer it offers to the users of office 365. Most amazing feature is the added notification whenever a suspicious mail is there. I have observed that the other folder segregation doesn't always work in the office 365 but here it works like magic.
What do you dislike about Fortra DMARC Protection?
The policies are a bit off to curate for an individual from a non tech background. And the support provided by the team are a little slow. Rest everything is up to the mark and I'll still continue to use it further.
What problems is Fortra DMARC Protection solving and how is that benefiting you?
It is enabling an added security layer to the emails with confidential content to make it a little better and secure for all the individuals within an organization.
MailHardener offers flexible pricing with a free tier and business plans, including specialized options for MSPs, while Agari Brand Protection requires direct contact for a quote, indicating a more enterprise-centric sales model.
Small
Up to 10k emails / month
Free tier available.
Contact for pricing.
Medium
Up to 100k emails / month
Paid business plans available.
Contact for pricing.
Large
Up to 1 million emails / month
Paid business plans available.
Contact for pricing.
Enterprise
Over 1 million emails / month
MSP plans available.
Contact for pricing.
Suped hard sell incoming!
Still not satisfied with MailHardener or Agari Brand Protection?
0 / 5(0)
