InboxGreen vs SendGrid

Email sending infrastructure vs email authentication diagnostics - what each one does.

Short answer: SendGrid is an email sending platform - you use it to send marketing campaigns and transactional emails at scale. InboxGreen is an email authentication tool - you use it to check and fix SPF, DKIM, and DMARC so the emails you send land in the inbox. Many businesses use SendGrid to send and InboxGreen to verify their DNS authentication is correct.

SendGrid

Email sending platform

Send marketing campaigns and transactional emails via API or SMTP. Includes email editor, contact lists, analytics, unsubscribe management, and delivery infrastructure.

Free: 100 emails/day

Paid from $19.95/month (50,000 emails)

InboxGreen

Email authentication diagnostics

Check SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for any domain. Get copy-paste DNS records to fix authentication issues. Works with SendGrid, Mailchimp, or any sending platform you use.

Free check - no account needed

FixKit $29 one-time - Monitor from $19/mo

Feature comparison

Feature InboxGreen SendGrid
Send marketing and transactional email No Yes - SMTP relay and REST API
Check SPF / DKIM / DMARC in DNS Yes - free, no account needed No standalone DNS check
Generate SPF and DMARC records Free - SPF and DMARC generators No
Copy-paste DNS fix records Yes - formatted per DNS provider No
DKIM setup for sending domain Check and generate DKIM records free Provides DKIM for its sending infrastructure
Email marketing campaigns No Yes - drag-and-drop editor, lists, segments
Delivery analytics and click tracking No Yes - opens, clicks, bounces, spam reports
Ongoing DNS monitoring + alerts Yes - from $19/mo No DNS monitoring
Blacklist check Free - try it No
No account required Yes - free tools work without signup Account required for all use

When to use SendGrid

  • You need to send high-volume transactional or marketing emails from your application or business.
  • Your current sending method (shared hosting, Gmail) is hitting limits or going to spam due to sender reputation.
  • You need email templates, list management, unsubscribe handling, and campaign analytics in one platform.
  • You are a developer building email notifications into an application.

When to use InboxGreen

  • Your domain's SPF, DKIM, or DMARC records are misconfigured and emails are going to spam.
  • You want to verify that your SendGrid DKIM and SPF setup is correctly reflected in your domain's DNS.
  • You need copy-paste DNS records formatted for Cloudflare, Namecheap, GoDaddy, or another specific provider.
  • You want ongoing monitoring so you are alerted if authentication records break or change.

Why SendGrid users check their DNS with InboxGreen

When you set up a custom sending domain in SendGrid, they walk you through publishing CNAME records for DKIM. But several things can still go wrong that SendGrid's dashboard does not catch:

  • Your SPF record may not include include:sendgrid.net or the correct include for your account setup.
  • Your DMARC policy may be missing entirely, set to p=none indefinitely, or misconfigured.
  • Your DKIM CNAME may have propagated but later stopped resolving (DNS provider changes, migration errors).
  • You may have multiple SPF records (a common mistake) causing permerror failures.

A free InboxGreen check takes 10 seconds and catches all of these. If something is misconfigured, the FixKit generates the exact records you need to fix it.

Using SendGrid but emails still landing in spam? Check your domain authentication.
Run a free InboxGreen check to verify your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are correctly set up.
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Frequently asked questions

Does SendGrid fix email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)?

SendGrid sets up DKIM signing for emails sent through its platform and guides you to publish CNAME records for domain authentication. However, it does not check or fix your domain's overall SPF or DMARC configuration, and it does not generate copy-paste records for your specific DNS provider. InboxGreen fills that gap.

My SendGrid domain authentication shows verified but emails go to spam - why?

SendGrid's domain authentication verifying means their DKIM CNAMEs resolved correctly, but your domain may still have SPF or DMARC problems. Run an InboxGreen check to see the full picture: whether SPF covers SendGrid, whether DMARC is in place, and whether anything is misconfigured at the DNS level.

What should my SPF record look like when using SendGrid?

Your SPF record should include include:sendgrid.net along with any other services you send from. Use the free SPF Record Generator to build the correct record, or the SPF Lookup to check what you currently have.

Is InboxGreen a SendGrid alternative?

No. InboxGreen does not send emails. It is a DNS authentication diagnostic tool. If you are looking for an alternative to SendGrid's email sending service, look at Postmark, Mailgun, or Amazon SES. If you want to check and fix your email authentication records, InboxGreen is the right tool.