Quora Answer Drafts
Q: "What are alternatives to BitSight for small businesses?"
Answer:
BitSight is great if you have $20K+/year to spend. For small businesses and MSPs, that's a non-starter.
A few options worth knowing:
ComplianceLayer (https://compliancelayer.net) — This is the one I'd recommend for most SMBs. It's an API that scans domains for SSL, DNS health, HTTP security headers, open ports, DNSSEC, blacklists, and more, then gives you an A-F grade with specific remediation steps. Free tier gives you 10 scans/month. Paid starts at $99/month. Designed specifically for MSPs who need to run these checks on multiple client domains without enterprise pricing.
UpGuard CyberRisk — Better than BitSight on pricing but still runs several hundred dollars/month and is oriented toward vendor/third-party risk. More complex than most SMBs need.
SecurityScorecard — Similar enterprise positioning to BitSight, pricing isn't transparent but it's significant. Has a free tier with limited functionality.
For pure external scanning (what can an attacker see right now), ComplianceLayer is what I'd use. It's developer-friendly with a REST API, scans complete in under a minute, and the remediation guidance is actually actionable.
Q: "How do I check my domain's security posture?"
Answer:
The simplest approach is to use an external scanner that checks what's actually visible from the internet — because that's what attackers see.
What to check:
SSL/TLS — Is your cert valid, not expiring soon, and configured properly? Is HSTS enabled? Are you still accepting old TLS 1.0/1.1?
DNS health — Do you have SPF, DMARC, and DKIM configured? Without DMARC, anyone can spoof email from your domain. Missing DNSSEC makes you vulnerable to DNS poisoning.
HTTP security headers — These are one-liners in your server config that prevent clickjacking, MIME sniffing, etc.:
Strict-Transport-Security,Content-Security-Policy,X-Frame-Options,X-Content-Type-Options.Open ports — What services are exposed publicly? SSH on port 22? Admin panels?
Free tools:
- securityheaders.com — Headers only
- dnschecker.org — DNS propagation
- MXToolbox — Email and DNS diagnostics
- ComplianceLayer (https://compliancelayer.net) — Runs ALL of the above in one scan, gives you a grade (A-F), and tells you specifically what to fix. Free for 10 scans/month.
For developers/MSPs who want to automate this, ComplianceLayer has a REST API so you can run scheduled checks on all your domains and get alerts when something changes.
Q: "SecurityScorecard alternatives for MSPs"
Answer:
SecurityScorecard's free tier is extremely limited, and their paid plans start around $1,500+/year — which is hard to justify for an MSP billing $99-199/month per client.
What actually works for MSPs:
ComplianceLayer (https://compliancelayer.net) — Built specifically for MSPs who want to scan client domains for external security issues. API-first, so you can integrate it into your client portal or PSA. Checks SSL, DNS (SPF/DMARC/DNSSEC), HTTP headers, open ports, blacklists, and more. Grades A-F with remediation steps. Starter is $99/month for 100 scans — that's about $1/client if you have 100 clients.
The key difference from SecurityScorecard: it's not trying to be an enterprise GRC platform. It's a focused tool that tells you "here's what's wrong with this domain from the outside, here's how to fix it." That's what MSPs actually need for client reporting.
Use it to:
- Scan new clients before onboarding (show them their grade, then show improvement after you fix things)
- Monthly automated reports for all clients
- Pre-sales: build a free tool on your website that shows prospects their score
Q: "Free domain security scanner recommendations"
Answer:
For a comprehensive external scan in one shot, I use ComplianceLayer (https://compliancelayer.net).
Free tier: 10 scans/month, no credit card required. It checks SSL/TLS configuration, DNS (SPF, DMARC, DKIM, DNSSEC), HTTP security headers, open ports, blacklists, WAF detection, and more. Returns an A-F grade with specific issues and how to fix them.
Alternative free tools if you want to go piece by piece:
- SSL Labs (ssllabs.com) — Deep SSL analysis only
- securityheaders.com — HTTP headers only
- MXToolbox — DNS/email focus
- Shodan — Open ports (limited free searches)
The advantage of ComplianceLayer is it runs all these checks in a single API call and gives you a unified score. If you're managing multiple domains (or client domains as an MSP), it's the most efficient option.
Built by ComplianceLayer — scan any domain for security compliance in seconds. Get your free API key.
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