MailSentinel vs SendGrid: DMARC Monitoring Comparison
Compare MailSentinel and SendGrid for DMARC monitoring. See why you need dedicated DMARC monitoring alongside your email delivery service.
MailSentinel
Starting at $14/month
- Modern, intuitive dashboard
- Real-time alerts
- Transparent pricing
- Self-service signup
SendGrid
$0-$100+/month (email delivery)
- Excellent email delivery API
- Built-in basic authentication
- Scalable infrastructure
- Not a DMARC monitoring tool
- Basic authentication reporting
- No aggregate report parsing
Feature Comparison
| Feature | MailSentinel | SendGrid |
|---|---|---|
| Email Delivery | ||
| DMARC Report Parsing | ||
| SPF Monitoring | ||
| DKIM Monitoring | ||
| Real-time DMARC Alerts | ||
| Aggregate Report Analysis | ||
| DNS Monitoring | ||
| Authentication Dashboard | ||
| SMTP Relay | ||
| Email API |
Why SendGrid Users Need MailSentinel
SendGrid is an excellent email delivery platform—one of the best for transactional and marketing email. But SendGrid is designed to send email, not monitor DMARC authentication across your entire domain.
Different Tools, Different Jobs
| Purpose | SendGrid | MailSentinel |
|---|---|---|
| Send transactional email | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Send marketing campaigns | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Parse DMARC reports | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Monitor all sending sources | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Alert on auth failures | ⚠️ Limited | ✅ Yes |
| Track DMARC compliance | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
Why You Need Both
SendGrid Handles Email Delivery
SendGrid excels at:
- High-volume email delivery
- Transactional email API
- Marketing campaign sends
- Basic DKIM signing
- Delivery analytics
MailSentinel Handles DMARC Monitoring
MailSentinel provides:
- Aggregate report parsing from ALL sources
- Forensic report analysis
- Real-time authentication alerts
- DNS record monitoring
- Compliance tracking
- Source discovery (find all your senders)
The Gap SendGrid Doesn't Fill
Even with perfect SendGrid configuration, you need DMARC monitoring because:
- Other services send email too - Your CRM, helpdesk, marketing tools
- DMARC reports come from receivers - Not SendGrid
- You need visibility across ALL sources - Not just SendGrid
- Attackers may spoof your domain - SendGrid can't detect this
Setting Up SendGrid + MailSentinel
Step 1: Configure SendGrid Authentication
In SendGrid dashboard:
- Verify your sending domain
- Set up DKIM signing
- Configure SPF
Step 2: Add MailSentinel for DMARC
- Sign up for MailSentinel
- Add your DMARC record:
v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:your-id@reports.mailsentinel.io- Start receiving reports
Step 3: Monitor Everything
MailSentinel will show you:
- SendGrid authentication status ✅
- Other services' authentication status
- Any spoofing attempts
- Authentication trends over time
Cost Analysis
Combined Solution:
- SendGrid: $15-100+/month (based on volume)
- MailSentinel: $14-49/month
- Total: $29-150/month for complete email delivery + DMARC monitoring
Value:
- SendGrid handles delivery reliability
- MailSentinel ensures authentication visibility
- Complete coverage at reasonable cost
Common Questions
"Doesn't SendGrid handle DMARC?"
SendGrid helps you pass DMARC by providing DKIM signing. But it doesn't:
- Receive or parse DMARC reports
- Monitor other sending sources
- Alert you to failures across your domain
"Can I just use SendGrid's analytics?"
SendGrid analytics show:
- Delivery rates
- Open/click rates
- Bounce rates
But NOT:
- DMARC pass/fail across all sources
- Authentication trends
- Spoofing attempts
- DNS configuration status
"Do I really need both?"
If you care about:
- Complete email authentication visibility ✅
- Knowing ALL sources sending as your domain ✅
- Meeting Google/Yahoo/Microsoft requirements ✅
- Detecting spoofing attempts ✅
Then yes, you need dedicated DMARC monitoring alongside SendGrid.
The Bottom Line
SendGrid = Email delivery MailSentinel = DMARC monitoring
They're complementary tools for a complete email infrastructure.