Email benchmarking answers one question: am I ahead or behind? A score is more meaningful when you know how it stacks up. Email benchmarking compares your email posture to a real population of 10,000 domains — so “we have DMARC” becomes “you enforce DMARC, which most domains still don’t.”
It doubles as an email authentication benchmark and a source of DMARC adoption statistics, grounded in real SPF DKIM DMARC statistics from our study — an email posture benchmark you can actually defend.
ToolTrusted email benchmarking compares your domain against the top 10,000 domains from our own authentication study, so a score has context instead of sitting in a vacuum. Email benchmarking updates as your posture changes and pairs with trend analytics to show whether you are pulling ahead or slipping.
How email benchmarking works
ToolTrusted maintains an original dataset built by measuring live DNS for the top 10,000 domains. For each standard, it compares your posture to the real adoption rate — overall and, where the data supports it, by TLD — and tells you whether you’re ahead of, behind, or typical for the population on that standard.
What you get
- Per-standard standingAhead / behind / typical for each standard, vs the real population.
- By TLD where availableCompared against your TLD’s rate, not just the global average.
- Rare-standard creditMeeting an uncommon standard (like MTA-STS or BIMI) is recognized as a lead.
- A shareable proof pointEvidence you can put in front of a client or a boss.
Where it fits
Benchmarking is how you prove where you stand after acting on your Recommendations. It draws on the same original research behind our public studies, and pairs naturally with public status pages and reports when you want to show it externally.
Which plan includes this
Pro · $29/mo
Benchmarking is part of Pro — it answers “am I behind the market?”, which is an operating question rather than a monitoring one. It is built on independent, original data and honest adoption figures — measured-only, never a fabricated metric, and never a claim to measure inbox placement. See plans →
An email posture benchmark against real data, not a guess
“Is 76% DMARC adoption good?” only means something with a baseline. ToolTrusted benchmarks your posture against a real population: our original study of the top 10,000 domains (the Majestic Million), measured by live DNS. For each standard it shows the actual adoption rate — overall and, where the data supports it, by TLD — so “we have DMARC” becomes “you enforce DMARC, which most domains still don’t.”
DMARC adoption statistics and SPF DKIM DMARC statistics
In that study, 84.5% of domains publish SPF and 76.6% publish DMARC — but only 54% actually enforce it. So a domain that merely publishes DMARC is typical; one that enforces it is already ahead of nearly half the web. Benchmarking places you on that curve honestly: it is aggregate public-DNS adoption data, not a fabricated percentile, and it never compares you against other customers’ private data. Benchmarking is part of the Pro plan.
Frequently asked questions
What does benchmarking compare my domain to?
To a real population of 10,000 top domains that we measured by live DNS (the Majestic Million list). For each standard it shows the actual adoption rate — overall and, where the data supports it, by TLD — so “we have DMARC” becomes “you enforce DMARC, which most domains still don’t.”
Is my domain compared against other customers’ data?
No. The benchmark is aggregate public-DNS adoption from the 10,000-domain study, not other users’ private data. It is honest adoption data, not a fabricated percentile.
Which plan includes benchmarking?
Benchmarking is part of the Pro plan ($29/mo).
Adoption is measured against the published standards themselves — SPF is defined in RFC 7208 and DMARC in RFC 7489 — so “publishes DMARC” and “enforces DMARC” mean exactly what the specifications say, not a vendor’s interpretation.