Email security has become a frontline battlefield for MSPs. With attackers targeting clients through business email compromise (BEC), phishing, domain spoofing, and transport-layer interception, managed service providers are expected to deliver hardened authentication and secure SMTP transport—not just mailbox management.

Modern standards like SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MTA-STS, and TLS-RPT have quickly moved from “nice to have” to non-negotiable security requirements.

But for MSPs, the biggest challenge isn’t merely configuring these protocols—it’s:

  • Managing them at scale
  • Hosting policies securely
  • Monitoring authentication failures
  • Visualizing MTA-STS and TLS-RPT data
  • Automating ongoing updates
  • Ensuring long-term compliance for every client domain

That’s where solutions like DMARCReport, Valimail, and various generic MTA-STS hosts come in.

This deep-dive comparison gives MSPs the clarity they need to choose the right partner for dependable, scalable, and high-visibility email authentication services.

Why Advanced Email Authentication Is Now an MSP Requirement

Historically, MSPs focused on endpoint protection, email filtering, and Microsoft 365 administration. But attackers have adapted.

Today’s most common vectors include:

▶ Domain Spoofing

Attackers forge a client’s domain to impersonate executives or finance staff.

▶ SMTP Downgrade Attacks

By forcing insecure connections, attackers intercept email traffic not protected by MTA-STS.

▶ SPF/DKIM Misconfigurations

Small alignment errors silently break authentication.

▶ Vendor Email Compromise

Clients are impacted when their vendors lack DMARC or MTA-STS.

▶ Fraudulent invoices & payment redirection

Often initiated through compromised or spoofed domains.

With over 91% of cyberattacks beginning with email-based vectors, MSPs are shifting toward authentication-first security models.

This makes DMARC, MTA-STS, and TLS-RPT analytics foundational services—especially when rolled out at scale across dozens or hundreds of client domains.

DMARCReport vs Valimail vs Generic MTA-STS Hosts: Expanded Feature Comparison

Below is a significantly expanded breakdown of the three major categories of solutions.

DMARCReport: The MSP-Centric Email Authentication Platform

DMARCReport is purpose-built for MSPs, emphasizing multi-tenant management, visualized reporting, and fully managed MTA-STS/TLS-RPT hosting. It removes the operational burden of:

  • Hosting HTTPS policy files
  • Managing MTA-STS certificates
  • Parsing XML-based TLS-RPT reports
  • Collecting DMARC XML from dozens of mail providers
  • Standardizing formats for MSP consumption

1. Fully Managed MTA-STS Hosting

DMARCReport handles:

  • Certificate provisioning & rotation
  • HTTPS hosting of policy files
  • Auto-validation of mx records
  • Redundancy & failover for policy hosting
  • Instant updates when MX infrastructure changes

This eliminates the fragility of manual MTA-STS deployment, which frequently breaks when:

  • Certificate renewals fail
  • Hosts change MX infrastructure
  • Policy files become unreachable
  • Incorrect versions or cache issues occur

2. TLS-RPT Collection, Parsing & Diagnostics

TLS-RPT files are notoriously difficult to handle: unstructured XML sent by multiple providers with inconsistent formatting.

DMARCReport converts them into crystal-clear insights:

  • Which senders attempted TLS
  • Which failed and why
  • Which ISPs reported downgrade attacks
  • Which hosts misconfigured STARTTLS
  • Which points in the transport chain are vulnerable

For MSPs, this eliminates hours of manual troubleshooting.

3. Advanced DMARC Reporting

MSPs gain:

  • Domain-by-domain or client-group views
  • Full authentication-path visibility
  • Heat maps showing misalignments
  • Daily or weekly summaries
  • Automatic identification of malicious senders
  • Per-source analysis (e.g., CRM, marketing systems, ERP mailers)

4. Multi-Tenant Dashboarding

MSPs can:

  • Add unlimited client domains
  • Monitor health across an entire portfolio
  • Produce audit-ready reports
  • Support compliance frameworks (SOX, HIPAA, CMMC, PCI-DSS, etc.)

5. Integrations

DMARCReport integrates with:

6. Automation Built for MSP Scale

Examples include:

  • Auto-suggested SPF corrections
  • DKIM verification testing
  • Alerts for DMARC alignment failures
  • Automated MTA-STS policy updates
  • TLS transport outage notifications

Valimail: Enterprise-Level Identity and Authentication Automation

Valimail is entrenched in mid-market and enterprise organizations, offering strong feature depth and heavy emphasis on identity governance.

1. Enterprise DMARC Automation

Valimail excels at large-scale DMARC enforcement:

  • Automated SPF flattening
  • DKIM alignment support
  • Source-level identity classification
  • Compliance-focused workflows

2. MTA-STS Hosting

While supported, MTA-STS is not the primary product focus. It works well, but lacks MSP-friendly management features like:

  • Multi-tenant UI
  • Client grouping
  • Automated MTA-STS fixes
  • Simplified deployment flows

3. Reporting

Valimail’s dashboards are polished and highly visual, optimized for enterprise security teams rather than MSP operations.

4. Integrations

Strong integrations include:

  • Identity management systems
  • Enterprise mail gateways
  • SIEMs like Splunk
  • Incident response tools

5. Customization

Rich customization and powerful governance workflows, but requires enterprise-level onboarding and budget.

Generic MTA-STS Hosting Providers: Minimalist and Bare-Bones

These providers typically offer:

  • Simple HTTPS policy hosting
  • No TLS-RPT analytics
  • No DMARC reporting
  • No MSP controls
  • No health monitoring

Use cases are incredibly narrow:

  • Very small businesses
  • Environments with internal-only SMTP
  • Organizations with a DIY security mindset

Strengths

  • Low cost
  • Quick to deploy

Limitations

  • Zero visibility
  • No misconfiguration alerting
  • No alignment or sender source analysis
  • No MSP management features
  • Fragile when MX infrastructure changes

This becomes particularly problematic for MSPs needing to ensure reliability across dozens of client domains.

Pricing Deep Dive

DMARCReport Pricing

Built specifically for MSPs:

  • Per-domain or volume bundles
  • Full feature access (DMARC + MTA-STS + TLS-RPT)
  • Unlimited report ingestion
  • No enterprise-level lock-in
  • Predictable costs

Perfect for MSPs balancing small-business and mid-market clients.

Valimail Pricing

More aligned with enterprise economics:

  • Tiered packages
  • Contracted onboarding
  • Domain-based pricing
  • Additional modules at added cost

MSPs may find enterprise contracts too rigid or expensive for smaller clients.

Generic MTA-STS Host Pricing

Very low, but limited:

  • Basic HTTPS hosting cost
  • No analytics
  • No automation
  • No multi-domain capabilities

Cheaper upfront, expensive long-term due to manual labor.

User Experience: Expanded Analysis

DMARCReport UI

Focused on at-a-glance clarity:

  • Domain health cards
  • Color-coded risk indicators
  • Clean visual timeline of authentication issues
  • MSP-friendly grouping
  • Simple onboarding for non-technical users

Ideal for teams needing to act quickly.

Valimail UI

Enterprise-grade visual polish:

  • Rich data visualization
  • Strong filtering
  • Advanced governance views

But the depth may feel heavy for MSP operations centered around efficiency.

Generic Host UI

Often command-line or DNS-only.

Integration Ecosystem Comparison 

DMARCReport

Integrates with:

  • DNS APIs
  • Email ecosystems
  • MSP RMM/PSA tools
  • SIEM/SOC pipelines
  • Audit and compliance software

Valimail

Strong for enterprise identity governance.

Generic Hosts

Limited or no integrations.

Why These Solutions Dominate the MTA-STS & DMARC Market

DMARCReport

  • MSP-first design
  • Deep reporting + automation
  • Multi-tenant dashboards
  • Fast deployment
  • Scales with an MSP’s customer base

Valimail

  • Enterprise identity governance
  • Compliance-friendly workflows
  • Strong brand recognition

Generic Hosts

  • Budget-only environments

Alternative Tools to Consider 

Dmarcian

Excellent educational resources + decent reporting.

Postmark DMARC

Simplified DMARC aggregation—good for small teams.

Proofpoint

Enterprise email security suite; authentication is one component.

Google Postmaster Tools

Useful for troubleshooting deliverability, not for authentication management.

Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Strong anti-phishing capabilities but limited DMARC/MTA-STS support.

Final Verdict: Which Solution Should MSPs Choose?

Choose DMARCReport if you’re an MSP needing:

  • Fast deployment
  • Multi-tenant controls
  • MTA-STS hosting + certificate automation
  • TLS-RPT visual dashboards
  • Deep DMARC analytics
  • Simple pricing that scales

DMARCReport provides the best operational efficiency and visibility, which MSPs rely on.

Choose Valimail if:

  • You’re supporting enterprise clients
  • You need identity/governance workflows
  • You have a highly complex sender environment

Choose Generic Hosts if:

  • You only need a static MTA-STS policy
  • You don’t need reporting
  • You’re fine with manual maintenance

Conclusion

Modern MSPs cannot avoid offering advanced email authentication anymore. Clients expect:

  • Encrypted transport
  • Verified domain identity
  • Proactive spoofing prevention
  • Compliance-ready auditing

Of the solutions reviewed, DMARCReport remains the clear leader for MSPs due to its:

  • Automation
  • Scalability
  • Deep reporting
  • Multi-tenancy
  • Simplicity
  • Cost efficiency