MSPs
Can Website and Email Security Become Recurring Revenue for MSPs?
Randy Hall, CEO— AI-assisted and reviewed prior to publication.
Yes, website and email security can become a predictable recurring revenue line when packaged as a managed service. The service includes continuous monitoring of SPF, DMARC, DKIM alignment, TLS certificate validity, and header configuration. MSPs typically price it per user, per domain, or as a tiered bundle.
What to include in the service
The monitoring package should cover SPF, DMARC, DKIM, MTA-STS, TLS-RPT, MX records, TXT records, DNS nameservers, registrar details, and domain registration expiration (dmarc.networkthinking.com). Each of these checks protects a different layer: without aligned SPF, DMARC, and DKIM records, a domain can be impersonated long before anyone notices a DNS change or a spike in failing mail.
Point RUA reporting to the platform inbox so provider XML is parsed, deduplicated, and available in dashboards and summary emails. The aggregate reports reveal which IPs send mail under the client's domain, whether each source passes authentication, and when volume shifts. DMARC aggregate reports include the source of sending IP address, when the email was sent, which domain or organization sent the report, SPF domain, SPF domain alignment check (pass or fail), SPF authentication result, DKIM domain, and DKIM domain alignment check (pass or fail) (glockapps.com).
TLS certificate monitoring prevents outages before they happen. TLS certificate monitoring service sends notifications of nearing expiration via email, Slack, SMS, Teams, and more (trackssl.com). Most MSPs set alerts for 30 days, 14 days, and 7 days before expiration.
How do you price it per client?
Pricing commonly places standard managed services between $110 and $175 per user per month, security-inclusive bundles at $200 to $275, where a specific deal lands depends on scope, geography, and security depth (n-able.com). Email and certificate monitoring can be added as a line item within a security bundle or sold separately.
If you sell it as a standalone module, MSPs typically resell at $3 to $8 per user per month (hooksecurity.co). For certificate monitoring, $0.01 per host per day (generatorlabs.com) is a common wholesale rate, which translates to around $0.30 per domain per month. Small clients with two to five domains might pay $15 to $40 per month as a flat fee. Larger clients with dozens of domains and subdomains often move to per-domain pricing with volume discounts.
The second pricing path is tiered packaging. You could offer three levels: Essentials (DMARC reports and TLS expiry alerts only), Standard (adds SPF flattening and weekly summaries), and Premium (adds forensic reports, policy enforcement support, and priority response). Each tier carries its own monthly price, making it easier for clients to see what they pay for.
What should the monthly report show?
The monthly report should answer four questions without requiring the client to translate security jargon: who is sending mail on their behalf, whether each sender is authenticated correctly, whether any certificates are approaching expiration, and what changed since last month.
DMARC aggregate reports show one record per sending IP with message counts, SPF result, DKIM result, alignment result, and the disposition applied. Known and authenticated senders need nothing. Known but misconfigured senders like invoicing tools, applicant tracking systems, or CRM notification senders will break when you enforce, so fix them. Unknown and failing everything means spoofers or shadow IT, which is what p=reject is for (tomba.io).
For certificate monitoring, the report lists every scanned certificate, its expiration date, days remaining, issuer, and any validation errors (mismatched common name, weak signature, incomplete chain). Certificates expiring within 30 days should appear at the top in red. If a certificate renewed since the last report, flag that as a positive event so the client knows you caught and resolved it.
Include a sender inventory table that maps each authorized platform (the ESP, marketing automation, transactional email service) to its SPF domain, DKIM signing domain, and pass rate over the reporting period. When a new sender appears, highlight it and note whether you authorized it or need client confirmation.
The report should close with a short actions section: what you fixed this month, what the client needs to approve, and what will happen next month (for example, moving from p=none to p=quarantine after all known senders pass alignment checks). A well-structured report takes less than three minutes to read and gives the client evidence that the service is working.
Why this works as recurring revenue
For MSPs managing email authentication across dozens or hundreds of client domains, automated DMARC reporting and SPF management is an operational necessity because manual monitoring at scale is not viable. Once you build the service package and reporting template, adding new clients requires minimal additional effort. The monitoring runs continuously, and the monthly report generation can be largely automated, freeing your team to focus on remediation rather than data collection.
The free AI-visibility check (/check) can serve as a lead-generation tool for this service. When a prospect's domain scores poorly on email authentication or TLS configuration, you have a concrete reason to propose managed monitoring. Similarly, the guide (/guide) helps prospects understand what they should be monitoring before they ask for a quote.
Tools that centralize this monitoring exist at several price points. DMARC Report's multi-tenant dashboard lets you onboard clients in minutes and monitor authentication across every domain from one portal. Several MSPs white-label monitoring platforms or build custom dashboards on top of open-source parsers for DMARC aggregate XML. The platform cost becomes part of your per-client delivery expense, and you price the service to cover that plus your labor and margin.
ActiScore's pricing (/pricing) starts at $79 per month for 250 scans, and each scan checks security DNS records (SPF, DMARC, DKIM) alongside TLS certificate health, HTTPS, CSP, and HSTS. If your clients need both website and email security monitoring in one report, a tool like this can reduce the number of platforms you manage while covering more ground per client.
The key is positioning this as a service that prevents problems rather than one that simply generates data. Clients renew when they see you catching issues before mail breaks or certificates expire. That reliability is what turns a technical monitoring task into a defensible recurring revenue line.
Common questions
What should be included in a managed email and website security service?
A managed email and website security service should cover SPF, DMARC, DKIM, MTA-STS, TLS-RPT, MX records, TXT records, DNS nameservers, registrar details, and domain registration expiration. It should also include TLS certificate monitoring with alerts at 30, 14, and 7 days before expiration. DMARC aggregate reports should be parsed automatically and displayed in dashboards, showing which IPs send mail under the client's domain, whether each source passes authentication, and when volume shifts, so the MSP can catch impersonation attempts and misconfigurations before they cause deliverability problems.
How do MSPs typically price email and website security monitoring?
MSPs typically price email security monitoring as a standalone module at three to eight dollars per user per month, or include it within a security bundle priced at two hundred to two hundred seventy-five dollars per user per month. Certificate monitoring is often priced at one cent per host per day, translating to around thirty cents per domain per month. Small clients with two to five domains might pay a flat fee of fifteen to forty dollars per month, while larger clients with many domains move to per-domain pricing with volume discounts. Tiered packages offering Essentials, Standard, and Premium levels make it easier for clients to choose the right scope.
What should a monthly DMARC and certificate monitoring report include?
The monthly report should answer who is sending mail on the client's behalf, whether each sender is authenticated correctly, whether any certificates are approaching expiration, and what changed since last month. It should show DMARC aggregate data with message counts, SPF result, DKIM result, alignment result, and disposition for each sending IP. Certificate details should list expiration dates, days remaining, issuer, and validation errors, with certificates expiring within thirty days highlighted at the top. A sender inventory table should map each authorized platform to its SPF domain, DKIM signing domain, and pass rate, and the report should close with a short actions section describing what was fixed, what needs approval, and what will happen next month.
Why does email authentication monitoring work as recurring revenue?
Email authentication monitoring works as recurring revenue because manual monitoring at scale is not viable for MSPs managing dozens or hundreds of client domains. Once the service package and reporting template are built, adding new clients requires minimal additional effort since the monitoring runs continuously and monthly report generation can be largely automated. Clients renew when they see the MSP catching issues before mail breaks or certificates expire, turning a technical monitoring task into a defensible recurring revenue line. The predictability of the work and the clear value delivered each month make it an operational necessity that clients are willing to pay for consistently.
How can MSPs use free tools to generate leads for security monitoring services?
MSPs can use free visibility checks as a lead-generation tool by offering prospects an immediate assessment of their email authentication or TLS configuration. When a prospect's domain scores poorly on SPF, DMARC, DKIM alignment, or certificate health, the MSP has a concrete reason to propose managed monitoring as the solution. Educational guides that explain what should be monitored help prospects understand the gaps before they request a quote, making the sales conversation easier. Tools like ActiScore that check both website and email security in one scan can reduce the number of platforms the MSP needs to manage while demonstrating value to potential clients during the evaluation phase.