- You need pre-send spam testing or seed-list inbox placement. Kickbox shut both down on 15 January 2024 and now offers verification plus consulting only.
- You want client previews, AI eye-tracking heatmaps and an AI assistant alongside spam scoring, in one plan from $5/mo with a 14-day refund.
- You want SPF, DKIM and DMARC checked with every test. Kickbox dropped its self-serve auth checker in January 2024.
- You prefer a free tier that resets monthly (5 spam tests, 3 inbox placements, 3 device previews, 5 screenshots and 5 heatmaps, no card) over a one-time credit grant.
A Kickbox alternative that tests inbox placement once your list is verified
Kickbox is a pay-as-you-go email verification service; it discontinued its deliverability suite (spam testing, inbox placement, blocklist and DMARC tools) in January 2024. Unspam keeps those in one plan: spam testing, inbox placement, client previews and AI heatmaps, with a free tier and paid from $5/mo.
Compared from public pricing and product pages, September 2026.
Which one fits you?
- Your main job is verifying email addresses at volume: real-time API for signup forms, bulk list cleaning and the Sendex quality score are Kickbox's core product, with 18 native in-app integrations like HubSpot, Mailchimp and Klaviyo, and 30+ counting partner and automation routes.
- You want pay-as-you-go credits with no subscription: from $5 one-time for 500 verifications, 100 free verifications to start, and auto-refunds on 'unknown' results.
- You need self-serve API access. Unspam's API is only available on the Custom plan, with no self-serve trial.
Why teams move from Kickbox to Unspam.
Kickbox exited deliverability testing
On 15 January 2024, Kickbox discontinued Inbox Placement, Precheck spam testing, Reputation, Blocklist Monitoring and its DMARC tools. It is now a verification-only product. Unspam still runs spam tests, seed-list placement across 7 providers and blacklist checks across 20+ blocklists. Results in about 30 seconds.
Credits expire, free tiers shouldn't
Kickbox credits expire 12 months after purchase, with no refund for unused credits, and the free 100 verifications are a one-off. Unspam's free plan resets every month with no card required, and paid from $5/mo carry a 14-day no-questions-asked refund.
Previews and heatmaps on the free tier
Kickbox has no client previews and no heatmaps. Unspam includes device previews, AI eye-tracking heatmaps and an AI assistant on every plan. The free tier gets 3 device previews, 5 screenshots and 5 heatmaps a month.
Unspam vs Kickbox, feature by feature.
Based on public product pages and documentation. Spotted something outdated? Tell us in the chat and we'll fix it.
Feature
Unspam
Kickbox
Free plan or trial
Free plan, no card
100 free verifications
First paid plan
$5/mo minimum, usage-priced
$5 one-time · 500 credits
Spam score testing
Yes
—Nodiscontinued Jan 2024
Inbox placement tests
Yes
—Nodiscontinued Jan 2024
Client previews & screenshots
Yes50+ clients, light & dark
—No
AI attention heatmap
Yes
—No
Blacklist monitoring
Partialon-demand checker
—Nodiscontinued Jan 2024
SPF / DKIM / DMARC checks
Yes
Partialvia paid consulting
AI fix recommendations
Yes
—No
Scheduled automatic tests
Yesplacement + spam score
—Nodiscontinued Jan 2024
Scheduled spam score tests
Yesdaily, weekly, or monthly
—No
Sender accounts
YesUnlimited
—No
API access
YesCustom plan
Yes
MCP server
YesCustom plan
—No
Email verification
Yes
Yes
Automated inbox warmup
—No
—No
DMARC report monitoring
YesCustom plan, first domain free
—Nodiscontinued Jan 2024
Deliverability consulting
Yesseparate service
Yescustom-priced
Comparison based on publicly available information as of September 2026. Features and pricing change frequently, so please verify current details on each provider's website.
What each one costs.
Kickbox sells pay-as-you-go verification credits, with no subscription and 12 paid volume tiers from 500 to 1,000,000. Its spam testing and placement suite has been discontinued. These are list prices. Credits expire 12 months after purchase and unused credits are non-refundable.
- Free $0
5 spam tests, 3 inbox placements, 3 device previews, 5 screenshots, 5 heatmaps per month. AI assistant included.
- Custom $5/mo
Pay per test: spam tests $0.18, inbox placements $0.50, device previews $0.75, screenshots $0.20, heatmaps $0.30. Volume discounts to 30%, 15% off annual, $5 monthly minimum. API, MCP and three years of history included. DMARC monitoring is $6 per domain per month, first domain free.
- 500 credits $5 one-time
500 verifications ($0.010/email)
- 10,000 credits $70 one-time
10,000 verifications ($0.007/email)
- 100,000 credits $500 one-time
100,000 verifications ($0.005/email)
- 1,000,000 credits $2,999 one-time
1,000,000 verifications ($0.003/email)
- Enterprise Custom quote
Volumes above 1M verifications
Kickbox pricing and feature information was collected from publicly available sources in September 2026 and may have changed since; it is provided for general comparison only and is not guaranteed to reflect current offers. Confirm current pricing on the vendor's website. Kickbox is a trademark of its respective owner. Unspam is not affiliated with or endorsed by Kickbox.
Unspam vs Kickbox, answered.
Is Unspam a full replacement for Kickbox?
For deliverability testing, yes: Kickbox no longer offers spam testing or inbox placement at all, while Unspam covers spam testing and inbox placement on every plan. For verification, partly: Unspam includes an email checker, but Kickbox's real-time verification API and 25+ native integrations remain stronger for high-volume list cleaning, and Unspam's API is on the Custom plan only.
How do Kickbox and Unspam prices compare?
Different models. Kickbox sells prepaid credits, listed at $5 one-time for 500 verifications ($0.010/email) as of mid-2026, with credits expiring after 12 months; reviewers also call it expensive at scale. Unspam is a subscription: a free plan, then paid from $5/mo with a 14-day refund and 15% off annual billing.
What is the biggest functional difference?
Kickbox verifies addresses: whether an email exists and is safe to send to. Unspam tests the email itself: spam score, inbox placement, client previews, AI heatmaps and per-test SPF/DKIM/DMARC checks. Since January 2024, Kickbox does none of those, and its DMARC tools went with the rest of the suite, while Unspam reads DMARC aggregate reports on its Custom plan. Neither tool offers automated inbox warmup. That split is why Kickbox sits in the verification and list-hygiene category of the deliverability tool comparison rather than among the pre-send testers.
How do the free tiers compare?
Kickbox gives new accounts 100 free verifications, once, with no card required. Unspam's free plan recurs monthly: 5 spam tests, 3 inbox placements, 3 device previews, 5 screenshots and 5 heatmaps, with the AI assistant included and no card required.