Free MxToolbox Alternatives: Email and DNS Tools Compared (2026)

Short answer: MxToolbox’s one-off lookups are still free, but its free account only adds weekly blacklist monitoring for one domain; DMARC reporting, inbox placement and SPF flattening are paid. For free alternatives, use dnschecker.org for DNS propagation, dmarcian or EasyDMARC for DMARC checks and record wizards, mail-tester or learndmarc to test a real message, and Google Admin Toolbox for Google Workspace. srvScripts covers the same day-to-day checks (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MTA-STS, BIMI, blacklists, SMTP, headers, propagation, ports) with free tools, but not hosted DMARC report processing or inbox placement.

This comparison reflects the vendors’ public tool and pricing pages as checked on 7 October 2026. We list only features and limits we could see on those pages, and we link each one; prices and limits change, so check the vendor’s page before you rely on them. Our own tools are described from their live tool pages on the same day.

What MxToolbox gives you for free today

MxToolbox has two layers: public lookup tools that anyone can run, and account plans that add monitoring. Its network tools page lists, among others: MX lookup, blacklist check, SMTP test on port 25, reverse DNS, WHOIS, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, BIMI, MTA-STS and TLS-RPT lookups, a DNS propagation check, an email header analyzer, a TCP port check, DMARC and SPF generators, a DMARC XML report parser, a deliverability report and Google/Yahoo and Microsoft sender-compliance checks.

Its MX lookup page says each MX IP can be checked against 105 DNS-based blacklists. That breadth is the main reason admins keep it bookmarked.

The MxToolbox plans page lists:

Plan	Price shown	What the page lists
Free	$0/month	Blacklist monitoring weekly, 1 domain
Delivery Center	$129/month	5 domains, inbox placement analysis (30 a month), recipient complaint reporting, DMARC reports, adaptive blacklist monitoring, inbound and outbound mail flow monitoring, BIMI management
Delivery Center Plus	$399/month	Adds 100 inbox placement analyses a month, advanced threat tools and SPF flattening

So the free tier is fine for spot checks. People look for alternatives when they want monitoring more often than weekly, more than one domain, DMARC report processing without a $129 plan, or record generators and explanations aimed at a specific setup.

Free alternatives compared

Each row only lists what the vendor’s own page shows. “Not stated” means we did not find a limit on the page we checked, not that there is none.

Service	Best for	Free tools seen on its site	Free limits stated
dnschecker.org	DNS propagation, quick lookups	DNS propagation checker, DNS/MX/NS/CNAME lookups, SPF, DKIM and DMARC checkers, DMARC generator, IP and email blacklist check (“50+ blacklist databases”), SMTP test, email header trace, BIMI checker and generator, port checker	Not stated
EasyDMARC	Record checkers paired with generators	Checker plus generator for DMARC, SPF (also a raw checker for draft records), DKIM, BIMI (plus logo converter), MTA-STS and TLS-RPT; DMARC XML report analyzer; email header analyzer; reputation check; deliverability test; lookalike domain checker	Paid plans on its pricing page start at $35.99/month billed annually (2 domains), with a free trial
PowerDMARC	Widest catalogue, BIMI and MTA-STS	DMARC, SPF, DKIM, BIMI checkers and generators; BIMI SVG converter and validator; MTA-STS, TLS-RPT and DANE checkers; blacklist checker; header analyzer; SMTP test; DNS propagation, DNSSEC, CAA, PTR and MX checks	One-off checkers need no sign-up; free monitoring tier listed as 1 domain, 10,000 emails a month, 10-day retention
Google Admin Toolbox	Google Workspace domains	Check MX (looks for common MX misconfigurations), Dig, Messageheader (header analysis), plus browser and log tools	Not stated
intoDNS	One-page DNS and mail server report	DNS report and mail servers report with suggestions and references to the relevant standards	Not stated
mail-tester	Spam score of a real message	Send a message to a one-time address and get a score out of 10 with a SpamAssassin report; also SPF, DKIM, DMARC and BIMI checkers	3 free tests in 24 hours; results visible to anyone with the address for 7 days (30 with an account); API is paid
learndmarc	Learning and explaining DMARC	Send a message to its tester and watch SPF, DKIM and DMARC evaluated step by step; paste headers for the same view; DMARC quiz	Not stated
dmarcian	DMARC rollout for small or personal domains	Domain Checker, DMARC Inspector, DMARC Record Wizard, SPF Surveyor, DKIM Inspector and Validator, BIMI tools, XML-to-human report converter, email header analyzer; no registration needed	Personal plan on its pricing page: $0, non-business use only, up to 2 domains, 1,250 DMARC-capable messages a month, 1 month of history

Quick notes on each

• dnschecker.org is the usual pick for “has my record propagated yet?”. Its tool list overlaps a lot with MxToolbox for one-off checks.
• EasyDMARC and PowerDMARC are DMARC vendors whose free tools lead into paid monitoring. The tools are good, but they are also lead generation: EasyDMARC’s domain scanner, for example, offers its full report by email in exchange for a work address.
• Google Admin Toolbox is narrow but trustworthy for Workspace tenants. Check MX and Messageheader are the two you will use.
• mail-tester and learndmarc test an actual message rather than DNS records, which is what you need when records look right but mail still lands in spam. On mail-tester, anyone who knows your test address can see the result, so do not send anything confidential.
• dmarcian’s Personal plan and PowerDMARC’s free tier are the two free hosted DMARC reporting options we found with published limits; dmarcian’s is explicitly for non-business domains.

Which srvScripts tool covers each task

All of these are free and need no account. Where another service does a job better, the last column says so.

Task	srvScripts tool	Notes
SPF check	SPF Record Checker	Follows every include and redirect, counts lookups, flags multiple records and +all/?all
SPF lookup count	SPF Lookup Counter	Running count against the limit of 10, void lookups, duplicates, a trimmed record and a minimal flattened record that you must keep up to date
SPF record	SPF Record Generator	Server IPs plus common senders (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, MailBaby and others)
DKIM check and selector	DKIM Checker	Test one selector or scan 23 common ones; shows key type and length and follows CNAME delegation. If the scan finds nothing, see find a DKIM selector
DKIM key	DKIM Key Generator	2048-bit key pair generated in your browser, with install steps for OpenDKIM, Exim, cPanel and DirectAdmin
DMARC check	DMARC Checker	Explains policy, subdomain policy, reporting addresses and alignment
DMARC record	DMARC Record Generator	Policy, rua/ruf, fo, sp, the RFC 9989 np and t tags and alignment, plus the cross-domain authorisation record. psd is left out because only public suffix operators need it, and the tool warns that RFC 9989 retires pct (see our DMARCbis guide)
DMARC aggregate reports	DMARC Report Analyzer	Opens one .xml, .xml.gz or .zip report in your browser. It does not collect reports for you
MTA-STS	MTA-STS Checker, MTA-STS Generator	Checks the TXT record, the policy file and MX coverage; generates both
TLS-RPT	TLS-RPT Checker, TLS-RPT Record Generator	Checks and builds the _smtp._tls record
BIMI	BIMI Checker, BIMI Generator	Checks DMARC enforcement, the SVG Tiny PS logo and VMC/CMC; converts a logo to SVG Tiny PS
Blacklist check	IP Blacklist Check	Up to 256 IPs, CIDR /24 to /32, hostnames or domains against 30 IP and 3 domain lists, with rDNS and CSV export. MxToolbox checks more lists (105); ours focuses on the major ones
SMTP test	SMTP Test	Ports 587 and 465: banner, STARTTLS, certificate, TLS version, AUTH methods. For port 25 reachability and the greeting, use the Open Port Checker
Header analysis	Email Header Analyzer	Hop-by-hop path with delays, SPF/DKIM/DMARC results and alignment problems; parsed in your browser
Bounce explainer	SMTP Bounce Explainer	Explains status codes such as 550 5.7.26 and common Gmail, Microsoft and Spamhaus messages
IP warm-up	IP Warm-Up Schedule Generator for New Mail Servers	Day-by-day plan from target volume and number of IPs
DNS propagation	DNS Propagation Checker	17 public resolvers at once; DNS Lookup can also ask the authoritative server
Port check	Open Port Checker	Up to 10 TCP ports per test from one location: open, closed or filtered
Spam score of a real message	Email Deliverability Test (Spam Score)	Score out of 10 with SpamAssassin report, alignment, rDNS, TLS and blacklist checks
Everything at once	Email Domain Health Check, Domain Health Checker	MX, SPF, DMARC, MTA-STS, TLS-RPT, BIMI, CAA and DNSSEC in one pass; the second adds web checks and a score

For MX records and reverse DNS on their own, use the MX Lookup and the Reverse DNS Lookup (up to 25 IPs, with forward-confirmed rDNS).

What srvScripts does not do

Being clear about the gaps saves you time:

• Monitoring is basic. The free Uptime SSL Blacklist Monitor allows up to five monitors per e-mail address: uptime hourly, SSL expiry daily and blacklist listing every 12 hours, from one location, with e-mail alerts only. That is more often than MxToolbox’s free weekly blacklist check, but it is not a monitoring platform.
• No hosted DMARC reporting. We do not receive and aggregate your rua reports over time. For that, use dmarcian’s Personal plan (non-business domains), PowerDMARC’s free tier or a paid service.
• No inbox placement or seed testing. Our deliverability test scores one message; it cannot tell you whether Gmail put it in the inbox or the Promotions tab.
• No managed SPF flattening. The lookup counter can produce a flattened record once, but nothing keeps it updated when a provider changes its IPs.
• No complaint or feedback-loop integration (Google Postmaster, Microsoft SNDS). See our SNDS and JMRP guide to set those up directly.
• DMARCbis tags are not in the DMARC generator yet, as noted above.

How to choose

1. Fixing one domain right now: run the Email Domain Health Check, then the SPF, DKIM or DMARC tool for whatever fails. MxToolbox or dnschecker.org are fine second opinions.
2. Mail lands in spam but DNS looks right: send a real message to the Email Deliverability Test (Spam Score) or mail-tester, and paste the received headers into the header analyzer.
3. Rolling out DMARC to p=reject: you need aggregate reports over weeks. Use a hosted reporting service, and our report analyzer for one-off files.
4. Blacklisted IP: check the whole range with the bulk blacklist tool, then follow our delisting runbook.
5. Google Workspace tenant: start with Google Admin Toolbox Check MX, since it knows Google’s expected records.
6. Teaching a client or junior admin: learndmarc’s step-by-step view explains alignment better than any table.

Whichever checker you use, two results deserve a second look on another tool: a single blacklist hit on a list you have never heard of, and DNS answers during propagation. Different services query different lists and resolvers, so they can disagree for a while without either being wrong.

Official documentation: RFC 7208: SPF · RFC 9989: DMARC · RFC 6376: DKIM · RFC 8461: MTA-STS

Related: SPF, DKIM and DMARC in cPanel DNS: Setup and Checks · DMARCbis (RFC 9989): What Changed and Must You Edit Records? · SPF Too Many DNS Lookups: Fix PermError and the 10-Lookup Limit · Mail server IP blacklisted: delisting runbook · Find a DKIM Selector: Headers, Panel Defaults and Key Checks

Frequently asked questions