Valimail offers a comprehensive, managed DMARC solution focused on automation and visibility. It automatically handles SPF flattening, which is a major benefit for organizations with numerous email sending services, ensuring DMARC compliance without hitting the 10-lookup limit. Their platform is designed to identify legitimate senders and block unauthorized ones efficiently.
We found that Valimail's core strength lies in its ability to simplify the complex process of DMARC enforcement. It provides detailed reporting on DMARC, SPF, and DKIM authentication, enabling teams to quickly identify and resolve issues. Features like BIMI support are also integrated, helping brands enhance their email presence.
Docker DMARC Reports provides a robust, open-source solution for parsing and visualizing DMARC aggregate reports. As a self-hosted tool, it gives users complete control over their data and infrastructure. It's built on a foundation of proven open-source components, making it a reliable choice for those with the technical expertise to deploy and manage it.
The platform primarily focuses on displaying raw DMARC data in an accessible format, allowing us to analyze authentication results (pass/fail for SPF and DKIM), see reporting organizations, and identify email sources. While it doesn't offer the same level of automation as commercial tools, its flexibility makes it suitable for customized reporting and integration within existing IT environments.
How easy is each product to use
User experience
From our hands-on experience, Valimail offers a highly intuitive and polished user interface. The dashboards are clear, well-organized, and designed to guide users through the DMARC journey from monitoring to enforcement. Automated workflows and visual cues significantly reduce the learning curve, making it accessible even for those new to DMARC.
We appreciate the ease of setup and the straightforward process for adding domains and configuring authentication records. The platform prioritizes a 'set it and forget it' approach for many core DMARC tasks, which translates to less manual intervention and a more efficient user experience, particularly for large-scale deployments.
Docker DMARC Reports, being a self-hosted open-source solution, inherently requires a more hands-on approach. The user experience is less about an intuitive graphical interface and more about technical configuration and command-line interactions. Setting up the Docker containers, database, and email fetching requires a solid understanding of Linux, Docker, and IMAP.
Once configured, the web interface presents the DMARC data effectively, but it's not as visually guided or automated as a commercial product. We found that customizing reports or integrating with other systems often requires delving into the code or scripting, which can be a barrier for users without strong technical skills. It's a tool built by developers, for developers (or those with equivalent skills).
Which product has the best support
Support
Valimail provides a robust support ecosystem, particularly for its paid tiers. This includes access to a comprehensive knowledge base, onboarding assistance, and for higher plans, dedicated account managers. We've experienced their support team to be responsive and knowledgeable, guiding us through complex configurations and troubleshooting.
The level of support can be a deciding factor for organizations, and Valimail's commitment to customer success is evident in its tiered support offerings. While the free monitoring plan relies more on self-service, the paid plans provide invaluable expert assistance, which is crucial when navigating DMARC enforcement.
Support for Docker DMARC Reports is primarily community-driven. This means relying on documentation, GitHub issues, and potentially forums or online communities for assistance. There is no official customer support channel, dedicated support team, or service level agreement (SLA) as you would find with a commercial product.
For technically adept users, this model can work well, allowing direct access to the code and the ability to find solutions or contribute fixes. However, for organizations that require guaranteed response times or specialized guidance, the lack of formal support can be a significant drawback. We found that resolving issues often depends on individual troubleshooting skills and the active participation of the open-source community.
Who should use each product
Suitability
Valimail is an excellent fit for enterprises and larger SMBs that prioritize a managed, automated approach to DMARC. Its comprehensive features, ease of use, and professional support make it ideal for organizations that want to achieve DMARC enforcement quickly and effectively without extensive in-house expertise. For MSPs (managed service providers), Valimail offers multi-tenancy capabilities and robust reporting, making it suitable for managing DMARC across multiple client domains.
We recommend Valimail for organizations that value streamlined operations, advanced security features like SPF flattening and BIMI, and require vendor-provided assistance. It's particularly well-suited for environments where email security is critical, and resources for manual DMARC management are limited.
Docker DMARC Reports is best suited for individuals or small teams with strong technical skills in Linux, Docker, and database management. It's ideal for those who prefer open-source solutions, require complete control over their infrastructure and data, and are comfortable with self-hosting and community support. It can be a cost-effective solution for technically proficient SMBs.
However, for enterprises or MSPs needing a scalable, easily deployable, and fully supported solution across numerous clients or domains, Docker DMARC Reports might prove too resource-intensive due to its self-managed nature. It lacks the commercial-grade features and professional support that larger organizations and MSPs typically require for efficient DMARC program management.
How does Valimail compare with Docker DMARC Reports?
DMARC report analysis
Analyzes aggregate DMARC reports (RUA) to show authentication status.
Automated and comprehensive analysis
Visualizes RUA reports effectively
Source detection
Identifies email sending sources.
Automated, named sender identification
Shows IP and hostnames from reports
Forward detection
Identifies forwarded emails.
Yes
Not directly, relies on RUA data
Spoof detection
Identifies attempts to spoof your domain.
Automated, with enforcement options
Identifies non-aligned traffic
Notifications and alerts
Provides real-time or summary alerts for DMARC activity.
Configurable, smart alerts
No native alerting system
Reporting
Generates various types of reports.
Comprehensive, downloadable, executive reports
Dashboard visualization
API
Offers an API for integration with other systems.
Available in Enterprise plan
No public API, requires direct database access
Multi-tenancy
Ability to manage multiple separate organizations or clients.
Yes, with portfolios
Not inherently built for multi-tenancy
SPF flattening
Manages SPF records to avoid the 10-lookup limit.
Automated unlimited SPF
Not applicable, a DMARC parser
Hosted DMARC
Provides hosted DMARC records.
Managed DMARC record
Users manage their own DMARC records
BIMI
Support for Brand Indicators for Message Identification.
Available as add-on or in plans
No native BIMI support
MTA-STS/TLS-RPT
Support for Mail Transfer Agent Strict Transport Security/TLS Reporting.
Primarily DMARC focused
No native support
Blocklists and reputation
Monitors blocklists (or blacklists) and sender reputation.
Focuses on DMARC authentication
Not included
AI copilot
Utilizes AI for guided DMARC implementation or insights.
No specific AI copilot feature
Not included
DNS monitoring
Monitors DNS records beyond DMARC.
DMARC/SPF/DKIM focus
Not included
Self hostable
Option to host the software on your own infrastructure.
Cloud-based SaaS
Requires Docker environment
Free trial/free tier
Offers a free trial or a permanently free usage tier.
Valimail Monitor is a free service
Open-source and free to use
Drawbacks and what to watch out for
Valimail, while powerful, can be costly, especially for smaller businesses, and some users have noted concerns about potential vendor lock-in due to its automated nature. Features like the 'Sender Requirement Failure' in beta have been reported as inconsistent. Docker DMARC Reports, on the other hand, comes with the inherent drawbacks of an open-source, self-hosted solution: a steep technical learning curve, no official support, and a lack of advanced managed features.
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.
4.6 / 5(421)
0 / 5(0)
Easy DMARC Monitoring But Not Great
3.5 / 5
What do you like best about Valimail?
Valimail is pretty simple to setup and use. We were wanting to monitor some changes to DMARC, and Valimail was the platform we ultimately decided to use.
What do you dislike about Valimail?
A few things I don't like:
1. The free vs premium features are frustrating. I can't see enough value from free to validate a move to premium.
2. The Sender Requirement Failure feature is in beta and never really works. I can't only get it to work if I expand it before a week, and even then it's hit-or-miss.
3. It doesn't really do enough. Other platforms I've tried did a better job at helping to explain the WHY and HOW rather than just the what. Valimail primarily focuses on the WHAT.
4. Some of the feature organization is weird within the app, even after having used it for a few months. I can get more value in the account overview than the sender requirements failure, which is counter-intuitive IMO.
What problems is Valimail solving and how is that benefiting you?
We had a baselevel view of email security when I was initially hired and wanted to monitor the DMARC changes effectively.
Verified User in Construction
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.
I like Valimail - mostly.
3.5 / 5
What do you like best about Valimail?
Good interface for viewing DMARC reporting information.
What do you dislike about Valimail?
Price, it'd be nice if they could institute a model based on volume rather than the number of email domains.
What problems is Valimail solving and how is that benefiting you?
Valimail provides DMARC provides good aggregate reporting for our email domains, allowing us to implement to the eventual reject policy goal.
Verified User in Real Estate
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
Straightforward onboarding
4.0 / 5
What do you like best about Valimail?
Ease of set-up and great customer support.
What do you dislike about Valimail?
Some features aren't as developed as some competitors, however ultimately it's up to each organization to decide the value of those features.
What problems is Valimail solving and how is that benefiting you?
Being able to report on DMARC successes and failures, to help us fine-tune the configuration to ensure each domain is correctly configured.
Verified User in Oil & Energy
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
Valimail Simplifies DMARC Management, But Watch for Vendor Lock-In
4.0 / 5
What do you like best about Valimail?
My favorite thing about Valimail is having a single portal that puts all DMARC reports into an easy to understand view. Having this information allowed us to identify hundreds of 3rd party email sources sending on behalf of our domain. Doing this without such a portal would be incredibly difficult especially in a franchise setting like ours where we have more services sending on behalf of our domain than most other companies.
What do you dislike about Valimail?
Valimail isn't cheap but you definitely get what you pay for. I also grow concerned about vendor lock-in now that I have setup Valimail to handle DMARC, SPF and DKIM with no exist strategy.
What problems is Valimail solving and how is that benefiting you?
Valimail solves the problem of visibility into who is sending on our behalf and makes identifying them easy.
Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
A Must-Have for Email Security
4.0 / 5
What do you like best about Valimail?
The best thing about Valimail is its fully automation feature as we can get the reports automated with whole monthly data .
As I prepare reports every month in which I have to include the malicious email data so I do not need to manually check each single thing , the Valimail does it for itself.
What do you dislike about Valimail?
The thing which I dislike about Valimai is that its little expensive especially for the businesses which are small nd not much expanded .
What problems is Valimail solving and how is that benefiting you?
The problem which Valimail is solving for me is the manual effort for exporting the data related to spam emails and its security checks are the best .It filters out the emails properly and which are suspicious , they get rejected easily .
Verified User in Transportation/Trucking/Railroad
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
Pricing
Valimail offers a tiered pricing model with a free monitoring plan and paid options for enforcement and alignment, while Docker DMARC Reports is an open-source solution that is completely free to use but requires self-hosting.
Small
Up to 10k emails / month
Monitor: Free. Align Bronze: $19/month (up to 500k emails)
Free (self-hosted)
Medium
Up to 100k emails / month
Monitor: Free. Align Bronze: $19/month (up to 500k emails)
Free (self-hosted)
Large
Up to 1 million emails / month
Align Bronze: $19/month (up to 500k emails). Contact for Align over 500k. Enforce Starter: $5,000/year
Free (self-hosted)
Enterprise
Over 1 million emails / month
Contact for pricing
Free (self-hosted)
Suped hard sell incoming!
Still not satisfied with Valimail or Docker DMARC Reports?
4.6 / 5(421)
