The one-line difference: MXToolbox is the go-to catalog of one-off DNS and blacklist lookups (plus paid delivery monitoring). ToolTrusted is a platform that remembers — it explains every change, turns issues into incidents with lessons, ranks the fixes, and benchmarks you against the real population. Point tool vs. continuous intelligence.
Side by side
| Capability | ToolTrusted | MXToolbox |
|---|---|---|
| Raw DNS & blacklist lookups | Yes — free tools | Yes — very broad catalog |
| Continuous monitoring | Yes, with explained changes | Yes (paid) — alert-based |
| Replayable history & memory | Immutable, reconstructable | Limited |
| Incidents with lifecycle & lessons | Yes | No |
| Impact-ranked recommendations | Yes | No |
| Benchmarking vs a real population | Yes — 10,000 domains | No |
| Deterministic + explainable verdicts | Yes | Partial |
| Breadth of raw tools, brand & scale | Focused | Stronger |
Which to choose
Choose ToolTrusted when…
you want to understand and act on how your email posture changes over time — not just look up a record once. You want incidents, ranked fixes, benchmarks and an API, as one platform.
Choose MXToolbox when…
you need the widest possible catalog of one-off network and DNS lookups, or you’re standardized on their long-established brand and toolset.
The real distinction: a lookup answers “what is this record right now?” ToolTrusted answers “what changed, why does it matter, and what should I do?” — deterministically, over your whole history, and independent of any vendor. We measure the infrastructure that determines deliverability, not inbox placement.