ShieldMarc vs dmarcian
A straight comparison for UK MSPs deciding between the two.
ShieldMarc is a UK-owned, EU-hosted alternative to dmarcian for DMARC monitoring, with flat pricing at £0, £50 and £100 per month (annual) instead of dmarcian's step-function pricing tiers. dmarcian is one of the longest-running DMARC platforms and employs several of the protocol's original authors, so it is a credible choice. Where ShieldMarc wins is per-domain economics, predictable billing, on-demand deep reasoning with AI on top of our own threat model, and a UK-owned / EU hosted default. Figures below are from dmarcian's public pricing page, verified May 2026. dmarcian publishes in USD, converted to GBP at approximately £1 = $1.25; verify directly at dmarcian.com/pricing.
Flat pricing beats step-function upgrades
dmarcian jumps from approximately £19/mo (Basic, 2 domains, 100k messages) to approximately £192/mo (Plus, 8 domains, 1M) to approximately £480/mo (Enterprise, 15 domains, 5M); list prices are USD, converted at roughly £1 = $1.25. You outgrow a tier, you take a roughly 10x jump. ShieldMarc Professional covers 25 domains for £50/mo annual and MSP covers 100 domain slots for £100/mo, with bucket expansion at £40/mo each.
Threat model + AI
Paid ShieldMarc plans run every DMARC report row through our proprietary threat model, then a frontier AI model reasons on top. dmarcian relies on its own tooling.
UK owned, EU hosted by default
ShieldMarc is a UK-based operation with EU hosted infrastructure and UK hosting available on request. dmarcian is US-headquartered with an EU subsidiary (dmarcian EU BV); customers picking the EU instance can sit outside the default US flow, but the parent group falls under the US CLOUD Act regardless of region.
Pricing and plan limits (verified May 2026)
| Feature | dmarcian | ShieldMarc |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Personal: 2 domains, 1,250 messages/mo, 1 user | Starter: 1 domain, 10,000 messages, 20 free tools, AI explanations included |
| First paid tier | Basic: ~£19/mo (~£228/yr), 2 domains, 100k messages/mo, 1 user | Professional: £50/mo annual, 25 domains, 1,000,000 messages/mo, 5 users |
| First-paid cost per domain | ~£9.50/domain/mo (2 domains) | ~£2/domain/mo (25 domains) |
| Top published tier | Plus: ~£192/mo (~£2,304/yr), 8 domains, 1M messages/mo, 3 users | MSP: £100/mo annual, 100 domain slots, 5,000,000 messages/mo, unlimited users |
| Top-tier cost per domain | ~£24/domain/mo | £1/domain/mo (MSP at capacity) |
| Published Enterprise tier (non-bespoke) | Enterprise: ~£480/mo (~£5,760/yr), 15 domains, 5M messages/mo | None: MSP + expansion buckets at £40/mo covers any volume or domain count on published pricing |
| Overage handling | Hit the message cap, upgrade to the next tier (often a 10x price jump) | No hard cap, 3-month grace, no surprise billing |
| Expansion pricing | Take the next tier | +50 domain slots and +5 million messages for £40/mo (published) |
| Enterprise tier purpose What actually triggers a custom quote | Triggered by volume cap on Plus. You effectively pay 10x to cross the 1M or 8-domain boundary. | Triggered only by formalised SLA, regional hardware hosting, EU-only AI routing, or specific compliance frameworks. Standard scale stays on published MSP + buckets. |
| Can you estimate your cost upfront? | Yes up to the published Enterprise tier, then no for anything above 15 domains / 5M messages. | Yes, for every standard case. Enterprise is only for compliance / hosting specifics. |
Features and depth
| Feature | dmarcian | ShieldMarc |
|---|---|---|
| Analysis engine Paid tiers only, on-demand only. We combine both. | In-house tooling only | Proprietary threat model + AI |
| Automated AI background jobs | n/a | None. AI fires only when a user clicks |
| Subdomain policy (sp=) detection | Policy detected | sp= scored independently, weaker-than-p flagged as a distinct control failure |
| Lookalike domain scanning | Sold separately as Domain Discover, not bundled with the DMARC tiers | All plans |
| SSL, DNS, DNSSEC, MTA-STS, TLS-RPT, CAA monitoring | Not the focus of dmarcian's product (TLS-RPT and MTA-STS reporting where present) | All included on paid tiers |
| Brand TLD grouping (MSP) | Not available | TLD variants count as one slot |
| Original research publication | Protocol documentation and blog | UK MSP Security Grade Audit, published quarterly (192 providers re-scanned each quarter) |
Data, hosting and privacy
| Feature | dmarcian | ShieldMarc |
|---|---|---|
| Company base | US-headquartered (with EU subsidiary, dmarcian EU BV) | UK owned and run |
| Default hosting | Region depends on contract; US default, EU instance available | EU hosted, UK hosted on request |
| PII stored | Standard SaaS profile | Minimal by design: account emails, audit log, rare RUF headers |
| Subject to US CLOUD Act | Parent group is US-incorporated; CLOUD Act applies to US-held data even when serving EU customers | No (UK based, EU hosted) |
| Third-party certifications | SOC 2 | Cyber Essentials, then SOC 2/ISO 27001 on the roadmap; certification-grade controls documented on our Trust page |
Conclusion
Where ShieldMarc has an edge
- Flat, predictable pricing. 25 domains for £50/mo annual, or 100 domains for £100/mo. No step-function jumps from £19/mo to £192/mo to £480/mo as you grow.
- More domains per tier at flat pricing: 25 domains on Professional and 100 domain slots on MSP, versus dmarcian's 8 (Plus) and 15 (Enterprise), with no per-tier step-ups.
- Paid-plan AI analysis combines our proprietary threat model with a frontier AI model, on demand only.
- Full stack in one dashboard on paid tiers: DMARC, SPF, DKIM, SSL, DNS, DNSSEC, MTA-STS, TLS-RPT, CAA, domain expiry, uptime, lookalike.
- Subdomain policy (sp=) scored independently, weaker-than-p flagged as a distinct control failure.
- UK-owned, EU-hosted by default, UK hosted on request. No US CLOUD Act exposure.
- Original UK MSP DMARC Audit published with methodology and data; rare in this category.
Where dmarcian stacks up
- Several of the original DMARC RFC authors work at dmarcian. Unmatched depth on the DMARC standards side of the product.
- Over a decade of running DMARC at scale. Longer track record than ShieldMarc, which is early days.
- SOC 2 attestation today. If your procurement requires it as a hard gate, that may be decisive.
- Mature enterprise sender management programmes with dedicated services teams. ShieldMarc is deliberately focused on the DMARC, SSL and DNS fundamentals in early days; we do not currently ship hosted SPF or hosted BIMI.
Frequently asked questions
What is an alternative to dmarcian for DMARC monitoring?
ShieldMarc is a UK-owned, EU-hosted alternative to dmarcian. It parses the same DMARC aggregate reports but uses flat pricing (£0, £50 or £100 per month on annual billing) instead of dmarcian's per-tier pricing plans, covers up to 100 domains on the MSP plan, and adds a proprietary threat model with AI analysis on demand. Other alternatives include EasyDMARC, Valimail and PowerDMARC; ShieldMarc differs by being UK owned with EU hosting by default and UK hosting available on request.
Is there a cheaper alternative to dmarcian?
Yes. dmarcian's first paid tier is roughly £19 per month for 2 domains (about £9.50 per domain), and its tiers step up sharply (Plus around £192 per month, Enterprise around £480 per month). ShieldMarc Professional covers 25 domains for £50 per month on annual billing, which works out at about £2 per domain, and the MSP plan covers 100 domain slots for £100 per month. For multi-domain teams ShieldMarc is materially cheaper per domain.
Which is better for UK MSPs: dmarcian or ShieldMarc?
For UK MSPs managing client domains, the deciding factors are per-domain cost and billing predictability. dmarcian's published tiers cover 2, 8 and 15 domains, so an MSP outgrows each step quickly and the price jumps with it. ShieldMarc Professional covers 25 domains for £50 per month (annual) and MSP covers 100 domain slots for £100 per month, with published expansion buckets beyond that, which keeps the per-client cost flat as the base grows. dmarcian remains a credible choice for a small fixed estate and holds SOC 2 attestation.
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