SendGuard vs Litmus
Litmus is the whole suite. SendGuard is the pre-send check.
Both read the real email your ESP delivered — so that’s not the difference. Litmus is the enterprise suite you buy through sales; SendGuard is the pre-send check you run yourself, at a price you can see — the one that catches what’s broken and shows you the fix.
A campaign goes out once.
If the checkout link 404s, or the subject line still says “Hi {{FirstName}},” your whole list sees it before you can pull it back. SendGuard is the minute of checking that catches it first.
The head-to-head
Where they differ
Three things Litmus makes you work for — signing up, seeing the price, and getting every check — SendGuard just gives you.
| How they compare | SendGuard | Litmus (from Validity) |
|---|---|---|
| Start testing | Yes. Self-serve — or a free check, no account | No. Sales-gated — Contact Sales |
| Price you can see | Yes. Starter, $99/mo — flat, USD, on the page | No. No published price — quote only |
| Checks included | Yes. All 17, on every plan | Limited. Spam + deliverability behind higher tiers & add-ons |
| Ways to submit a campaign | Yes. Test recipient, or forward as an attachment | Yes. Unique test address |
| Visual previews across 100+ clients / dark mode | No. No — we don’t render email | Yes. Yes — its core product |
| Tests the real delivered email | Yes. Yes — the message your ESP sent | Yes. Yes — the received message |
| Authentication results (SPF/DKIM/DMARC) | Yes. Yes — reads the delivered result | Yes. Yes — reports it |
Start testing
- SendGuard
- Self-serve — or a free check, no account
- Litmus (from Validity)
- Sales-gated — Contact Sales
Price you can see
- SendGuard
- Starter, $99/mo — flat, USD, on the page
- Litmus (from Validity)
- No published price — quote only
Checks included
- SendGuard
- All 17, on every plan
- Litmus (from Validity)
- Spam + deliverability behind higher tiers & add-ons
Ways to submit a campaign
- SendGuard
- Test recipient, or forward as an attachment
- Litmus (from Validity)
- Unique test address
Visual previews across 100+ clients / dark mode
- SendGuard
- No — we don’t render email
- Litmus (from Validity)
- Yes — its core product
Tests the real delivered email
- SendGuard
- Yes — the message your ESP sent
- Litmus (from Validity)
- Yes — the received message
Authentication results (SPF/DKIM/DMARC)
- SendGuard
- Yes — reads the delivered result
- Litmus (from Validity)
- Yes — reports it
Don’t take our word for it
See exactly what it flags
Litmus points you to a demo. SendGuard just shows you.
Send a real campaign to a free SendGuard address. About a minute later you get the full report — every broken link, dead merge tag, missing header and failed check, each with a plain-English fix.
Black Friday – VIP offer
As delivered · received 08:31
Broken checkout link
click.example-esp.com/CL0/… → /checkout?bf2025 → 404
Merge tag in the subject line
"Hi {{FirstName}}, your VIP code…" — didn’t resolve
SPF, DKIM and DMARC
All passed at the receiving server
Pricing & access
A price you can read — without a sales call
You can see what SendGuard costs before you talk to anyone. Starter, $99/mo — flat, USD, every check included. It’s all on the pricing page.
Litmus went the other way. It retired self-serve in 2025. Today there’s one sales-gated tier — “Litmus Enterprise,” no published price — and the pre-send checks that matter sit behind upgrades:
- Full spam testing — higher tiers only
- SPF/DKIM/DMARC tracking + inbox placement — a paid Deliverability add-on
What you’d pay us
- Starter
- $99/mo, USD
- Validations
- Unlimited
- Add-ons & overage
- None
- Checks
- All 17, every plan
Suite vs. single check
A whole suite, or the one check before send
Keep whatever shows you how it looks. Add the pass that catches what’s broken.
If you want the whole suite
Litmus is a full visual-QA lab. It renders your email across 100+ clients and devices, dark mode included, plus 40+ accessibility checks. SendGuard doesn’t render email at all.
But it’s sold like enterprise software — a quote, a contract, and the QA checks spread across higher tiers.
If you just need the pre-send check
SendGuard catches what’s broken in the email your ESP delivered — and shows you the fix:
- Dead links
- Unfilled merge tags
- Missing unsubscribe header
- Authentication result (SPF/DKIM/DMARC)
Self-serve, every check included, first report in about a minute.
Most teams already have something that shows how an email looks. What’s missing is the pass that tells them whether it works — before it goes to everyone. Add SendGuard for that; keep the rest.
Only evaluating Litmus for pre-send QA, not previews? Then you’re buying a whole suite — a quote and a contract — for a checklist job. SendGuard’s Starter plan ($99/mo) does it, self-serve.
FAQ
Common questions, straight answers
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No. You add a SendGuard address as a test recipient, or forward the email as an attachment. No API keys, no login, no DNS changes.
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No — SendGuard checks a test send before the real one goes out, so your subscribers and sending reputation are never touched. One note: we request every link to see where it lands, and your ESP’s click wrapper may log that as a click in your own reporting.
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For catching what’s broken before a send — links, merge tags, headers, the authentication result — yes. It is not a rendering tool: if you also need to see your email across 100+ clients, keep a preview lab like Litmus for that. SendGuard is the check, not the whole suite.
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Yes. Run a free check with no account right now, or start a card-free trial. There’s no demo to book.
Do you need access to our ESP or account?
Will it affect our deliverability?
Is SendGuard enough on its own?
Can I use it without talking to sales?
See what’s broken before your subscribers do.
Send your next campaign to SendGuard first — free, no account. You’ll either fix something that mattered, or send knowing nothing’s broken.