- You want to pay monthly per domain rather than a year up front: $6 per domain per month on Unspam, against $250 per domain per year on Valimail Essentials
- You manage more than 5 domains self-serve. Essentials stops at 5 domains per account; Unspam holds up to 500 in one account at a published price
- You want an API and an MCP server on the plan you buy online. Valimail's API is an add-on on Starter and Premium and included on Enterprise, all quote-only
- You also test campaigns before sending: spam score, seed-list inbox placement across 7 providers and client previews
A Valimail alternative billed monthly per domain, with pre-send testing in the same account
Valimail, a DigiCert company since 2025, is a DMARC-as-a-service platform that hosts DMARC, SPF and DKIM through DNS delegation. Its free Monitor tier reads aggregate reports but cannot change policy, Enforce is quote-only, and the self-serve Essentials tier costs $250 per domain per year for up to 100,000 emails a month, for at most 5 domains. Unspam reads DMARC aggregate reports on its Custom plan at $6 per domain per month, first domain included, names each sending source and lists what blocks p=reject. Valimail hosts the records that get you to enforcement; Unspam leaves your DNS where it is and adds pre-send spam, inbox placement and preview testing.
Compared from public pricing and product pages, October 2026.
Which one fits you?
- You only need to see your DMARC data for free. Monitor costs nothing, needs no card and, by Valimail's own account, has no limit on domains or email volume, though it cannot change your policy
- You want the records hosted: DMARC by NS or CNAME, Instant SPF macros that avoid the 10-lookup limit, DKIM by NS delegation, and MTA-STS hosting on Enforce. Unspam hosts no records
- You need BIMI with a mark certificate from DigiCert, opt-in privacy-safe failure reports, webhooks, SAML/SSO or a FedRAMP option, or MSP packages sold through Pax8
Why teams move from Valimail to Unspam.
Monthly per-domain billing past 5 domains
Valimail's self-serve tier, Essentials, is $250 per domain per year billed annually and stops at 5 domains per account; above that, Enforce is quote-only. Unspam is $6 per domain per month with the first domain included, billed monthly or 15% off annually, for up to 500 domains in one account.
Your DNS stays where it is
Valimail enforces by taking over records through NS or CNAME delegation. Unspam needs one DNS record: it generates a DMARC record, or adds its reporting address to the one you have with your policy unchanged. It then checks each domain against p=quarantine and p=reject and lists what stands in the way.
Pre-send testing Valimail does not offer
Valimail has no spam-score, inbox placement or preview testing. Unspam runs spam score tests, seed-list placement across Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, Zoho, ProtonMail, AOL and GMX, client previews and an AI attention heatmap in the same account as your DMARC reports, and its REST API and MCP server come with the Custom plan.
Unspam vs Valimail, 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
Valimail
Free plan or trial
First domain free on the Custom plan
Monitor: free reporting, no card, cannot change policy
First paid plan
$5/mo Custom plan minimum, then $6 per domain per month
$250 per domain per year (Essentials)
Aggregate (RUA) report monitoring
Yesfirst domain free
Yes
Sending sources named and classified
YesESP, own, forwarder, spoofing
Yes
Guidance to p=reject
Yespolicy readiness checks
YesEnforce and Essentials, not Monitor
Failure (RUF) reports
No
Partialopt-in RUF+, Enterprise only
Hosted DMARC record
No
YesEnforce, via NS or CNAME
Hosted SPF / SPF flattening
No
YesInstant SPF; 10 lookups on Monitor
Hosted DKIM
No
YesStarter and up, NS delegation
BIMI
Partialchecked in spam tests
YesAmplify add-on; hosted in Essentials
MTA-STS / TLS reporting
No
YesMTA-STS hosting on Enforce only
Alerts
No
Yesbasic on Monitor; webhooks on Enforce
Scheduled email reports
Yesweekly, every Monday
Yesweekly report on Monitor
API access
YesCustom plan
Yesadd-on, included on Enterprise
MCP server
YesCustom plan
No
MSP / multi-tenant
Partialup to 500 domains in one account
YesDMARC Core and DMARC Pro, Pax8
Managed enforcement service
No
Partialpaid Valicare support, TAM on Valicare+
Pre-send email testing
Yesspam score, placement, previews
No
Compared from public pricing and product pages, October 2026.
What each one costs.
Monitor and Enforce prices are from Valimail's pricing page; Essentials prices are from its Essentials page, which is not linked from the main navigation. Essentials is billed annually per domain, all Enforce tiers are quote-only, and Valimail offers no trial. MSP pricing is per domain through the Pax8 marketplace.
- Custom $5/mo
DMARC monitoring at $6 per domain per month, first domain included at no charge, up to 500 domains, 15% off annual billing. Aggregate reports, named sending sources, policy readiness checks, a weekly email summary, REST API and MCP server. Spam tests, inbox placement and previews are priced per test in the same plan.
- Free $0
Spam tests, inbox placements, previews and heatmaps each month, no card. DMARC monitoring is not included.
- Monitor Free
Aggregate reports, named sending sources, 5 users, up to 10 SPF lookups, limited automated DMARC, a weekly emailed DMARC report, new-sender and suspicious-sending alerts, BIMI Simulator
Report-only: Monitor cannot manage your DMARC policy. A Valimail blog post from 2024 says it has no limit on domains or email volume; the current pricing page gives no domain limit.
- Essentials $250/year/domain up to 100,000 emails/month, $450/year/domain up to 500,000
Self-serve, no sales call. A guided path from p=none to p=quarantine to p=reject, BIMI hosting, optional Common Mark Certificate
Up to 5 domains per account, billed annually per domain. CMC listed at $750 (50% off, a limited-time promotion); bundles with a CMC at $1,000/year and $1,250/year.
- Enforce Starter Contact us for custom pricing
Unlimited users and SPF lookups, automated DKIM, downloadable and executive reports, onboarding help, dedicated account manager; API as an add-on
- Enforce Premium Contact us for custom pricing
Starter plus subdomain reports and configuration, automated task list, smart alerts, forced MFA, custom metadata; API as an add-on
- Enforce Enterprise Contact us for custom pricing
Premium plus API, privacy-safe RUF+, source IP CSV export, configurable alerts, portfolios, SAML/SSO, JIT provisioning, FedRAMP option
- Amplify Contact us for pricing
BIMI add-on: helps acquire and manage a VMC or CMC
Every Valimail plan and price in full
Compared from public pricing and product pages, October 2026. Valimail is a trademark of its respective owner. Unspam is not affiliated with or endorsed by Valimail.
Unspam vs Valimail, answered.
Is Unspam a replacement for Valimail?
For reading aggregate reports, yes. Unspam's DMARC monitoring names each sending source, marks it compliant, partially failing, failing or unauthorized, and shows what blocks p=reject. It does not host DMARC, SPF or DKIM records, MTA-STS or BIMI, and it has no failure reports or alerts. If you want Valimail to manage those records for you, Unspam is not a replacement.
What does Valimail do that Unspam doesn't?
It runs your authentication records for you: hosted DMARC by NS or CNAME, Instant SPF macros that are not limited by the 10-lookup rule, DKIM by NS delegation and MTA-STS hosting on Enforce. It also offers BIMI with a DigiCert Common Mark Certificate, opt-in failure reports on Enterprise, email alerts and webhooks, SAML/SSO and a FedRAMP option. And its Monitor tier reads reports for free, which Unspam's Free plan does not.
How do the prices compare?
For 3 domains, Unspam is $12/mo ($6 x 2 after the free first domain), or $144 a year on monthly billing. Valimail Essentials is $250 per domain per year, $750 a year for 3 domains up to 100,000 emails a month each. For 5 domains, Unspam is $24/mo ($288 a year) and Essentials is $1,250 a year. Valimail Monitor is free but cannot enforce a policy, and Enforce is quote-only. See pricing.
Can I use Unspam alongside Valimail Monitor?
Yes. Add Unspam's reporting address to the rua tag of your DMARC record; if Valimail hosts the record, add it there. Unspam verifies the record automatically, and first reports usually arrive 24 to 48 hours later. A rua tag can list two addresses, but some receivers honor only the first two, so keep Unspam's among them.