What deliverability monitoring platforms are recommended for startups?
Matthew Whittaker
Co-founder & CTO, Suped
Published 11 Jun 2025
Updated 19 Aug 2025
9 min read
For startups, ensuring your emails reach the inbox, rather than the spam folder, is critical for customer engagement, retention, and ultimately, growth. Initial email campaigns often use basic monitoring tools like Google Postmaster Tools and SNDS. While these free tools offer foundational data on your sender reputation with Google and Outlook, they provide a limited view of your overall email deliverability landscape, especially across diverse mailbox providers and business domains.
Relying solely on these free tools means you're missing crucial insights. They primarily report on free consumer domains like Gmail and Outlook.com, not necessarily on enterprise-level email systems like G Suite (now Google Workspace) or Microsoft 365, nor do they offer detailed inbox placement across a broad spectrum of internet service providers (ISPs). This limited visibility can lead to undetected deliverability issues, hurting your ability to reach your target audience and grow your business.
Understanding what deliverability monitoring platforms are recommended for startups means looking beyond the basics. It requires considering tools that provide a more comprehensive view, offering insights into where your emails are truly landing, whether in the inbox, spam, or not at all. This guide will explore why startups need more advanced solutions, the key features to prioritize, and how to choose a platform that aligns with your specific needs.
Why free tools fall short
As your startup grows and your email volume increases, the complexity of deliverability grows with it. While free tools offer a starting point, they don't provide the granular data or comprehensive coverage necessary to diagnose and resolve subtle deliverability challenges. Think of them as a basic health check, rather than a full diagnostic workup.
A key limitation is their inability to show inbox placement across the entire ecosystem of mailbox providers. They report on your reputation with their specific services, but they don't tell you how your emails fare with, for instance, smaller ISPs or corporate firewalls. This means a significant portion of your audience might not be receiving your messages, and you wouldn't even know it from the free tools alone. This wider picture is crucial for understanding your true email deliverability rate.
Furthermore, free tools offer limited insights into the underlying reasons for deliverability issues. They might indicate a reputation problem, but they don't pinpoint whether it's due to content, list hygiene, or technical misconfigurations. This lack of detail makes it difficult to implement targeted fixes, leading to prolonged deliverability challenges and wasted marketing efforts.
Key features to look for
When evaluating deliverability monitoring platforms for your startup, several key features should be at the top of your list. These features collectively provide the depth of insight needed to proactively manage and improve your email performance.
Inbox placement testing: This is fundamental. The platform should simulate sending emails to a diverse set of seed accounts across various ISPs to determine if your emails are landing in the inbox, spam folder, or being blocked. Look for tools that offer testing against a wide array of providers, not just the largest ones.
Blocklist monitoring: Automated monitoring of major email blocklists (or blacklists) is crucial. Being listed can severely impact your deliverability. A good platform will notify you immediately if your IP or domain appears on a blocklist, allowing for quick remediation. You can learn more about how to check if your domain is on a blacklist.
DMARC reporting and analysis:DMARC reports provide invaluable insights into email authentication (SPF and DKIM) and where your emails are going. A platform that can parse and visualize these complex XML reports into actionable dashboards is highly beneficial for startups. This helps ensure DMARC compliance and identify potential spoofing attempts.
Email authentication checks: Tools that verify your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are correctly configured are essential. Misconfigurations in these areas are common causes of deliverability issues. You can use a free DMARC record generator to get started.
Content and spam filter testing: Some platforms analyze your email content for potential spam triggers and offer suggestions for improvement, helping you avoid filters. You can run a free online email test to quickly check your email health.
For startups, balancing cost with comprehensive features is key. While many advanced features are available, prioritize those that offer the most impact for your specific sending volume and audience. If you're a startup using a platform like Braze and sending 2-4 campaigns a week to 80-100k addresses, you'll need robust monitoring capabilities.
Considering specific platforms
While specific recommendations often depend on your exact needs and budget, several platforms consistently deliver strong performance for startups. These tools move beyond the basic insights of free postmaster tools to provide a more holistic view of your deliverability. However, remember that no tool can give you a perfect, 100% accurate picture, as much of email filtering happens at the individual recipient's mailbox level.
Some of the notable platforms for startups include those that offer a good balance of features and cost-effectiveness. The choice often comes down to the depth of reporting you need and your price sensitivity. Many deliverability tools share similar underlying functionalities, so user interface and reporting style can become deciding factors.
Regardless of the tool you choose, the key is to understand that these platforms serve as indicators, like a canary in a coal mine. They provide an early warning of potential issues, but you'll also need to integrate their findings with your own internal data, such as open rates by domain, to get a complete picture. A significant drop in open rates for a specific domain, for example, could signal a spam folder placement even if your monitoring tool shows positive results.
Integrating monitoring into your strategy
Beyond simply purchasing a deliverability monitoring platform, startups should integrate monitoring into a broader email strategy. The tools are only as effective as the actions you take based on their insights. This includes consistent list hygiene, responsible sending practices, and a deep understanding of email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
Ensuring your email authentication records are correctly set up and maintained is a foundational step. Even with a good platform, misconfigured DMARC, SPF, or DKIM records can severely hinder your deliverability. Regularly auditing these, perhaps with a dedicated third-party tool, can prevent many common issues.
For startups with limited resources, a multi-faceted approach is often the most effective. This involves leveraging free tools for their specific data points, investing in a mid-tier paid platform for broader insights, and constantly monitoring your own engagement metrics. This combination provides a more robust understanding of your email performance without requiring an exorbitant budget.
Views from the trenches
Best practices
Always maintain a clean email list by regularly removing inactive or invalid addresses, reducing bounce rates.
Implement double opt-in for new subscribers to ensure high engagement and strong sending reputation.
Segment your email lists and tailor content to improve relevance and reduce spam complaints.
Gradually increase sending volumes for new IPs or domains to build a positive sender reputation.
Monitor open rates by domain within your ESP to identify hidden deliverability issues.
Common pitfalls
Relying solely on free tools like Postmaster Tools and SNDS, which offer a limited view of deliverability.
Failing to implement or properly configure email authentication protocols such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
Sending emails to purchased or old lists, leading to high bounce rates and spam trap hits.
Ignoring early warning signs from deliverability tools, causing minor issues to escalate into major problems.
Overlooking subscriber engagement metrics, which are crucial indicators of inbox placement.
Expert tips
Invest in a paid deliverability monitoring platform for a comprehensive view of inbox placement across all major ISPs.
Combine insights from third-party tools with your ESP’s internal data for a more accurate deliverability assessment.
Regularly test your email content against spam filters to identify and resolve potential triggers before sending.
Engage with the email community to stay updated on best practices and emerging deliverability challenges.
Consider professional deliverability consulting if issues persist or scale becomes unmanageable.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks says that Google Postmaster Tools and SNDS only reflect deliverability for Gmail and Outlook/Hotmail/Microsoft's free domains, not other email providers or G Suite/Microsoft 365 addresses.
February 4, 2022 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks says that third-party deliverability monitoring platforms are limited because they send to non-human addresses (seed lists) and do not account for individual user-level filters at mailbox providers.
February 4, 2022 - Email Geeks
Elevating your deliverability strategy
For startups, selecting the right deliverability monitoring platform is a strategic decision that directly impacts your ability to communicate with customers and drive business outcomes. While free tools like Google Postmaster Tools and SNDS provide foundational insights, they are insufficient for comprehensive monitoring, especially as your email program scales.
Investing in a dedicated platform that offers inbox placement testing, blocklist (or blacklist) monitoring, DMARC reporting, and content analysis provides a much clearer picture of your email health. This allows for proactive problem-solving and optimization, ensuring your messages consistently reach the inbox. Remember that these tools serve as vital indicators, and their insights should be combined with your own internal data for the most accurate assessment of your deliverability performance.
Ultimately, a robust deliverability strategy for a startup involves not just the right tools, but also diligent attention to list hygiene, email authentication, and continuous monitoring. By taking a proactive approach, you can safeguard your sender reputation and maximize the effectiveness of your email campaigns, paving the way for sustainable growth.
G Suite (now 
Google Workspace) or 
Microsoft 365, nor do they offer detailed inbox placement across a broad spectrum of internet service providers (ISPs). This limited visibility can lead to undetected deliverability issues, hurting your ability to reach your target audience and grow your business.
