Email Validator: Bulk MX, Disposable and Role Check

Clean an email list before you send to it, and cut bounces from dead domains, typos and throwaway addresses. Paste addresses, upload a list or point the Actor at a dataset column, and get one row per address with a clear status (valid, risky, invalid or unknown), the exact reasons, and the DNS facts behind them.

Every address gets checked for:

• Syntax: RFC 5321/5322 rules that matter in practice, with plain reasons such as missing_at_sign or invalid_dots. Handles Jane Doe <jane@acme.com>, mailto: links, stray quotes and punctuation, and international domains (IDN).
• Domain and mail servers: does the domain exist (NXDOMAIN), does it have MX records, a null MX (RFC 7505, "this domain takes no email"), or only an A record fallback. Optionally checks that the listed mail server host names actually resolve.
• Disposable domains: about 10,000 throwaway domains (mailinator.com, yopmail.com, 10minutemail.com ...), including their subdomains.
• Role accounts: info@, sales@, support@, admin@, noreply@ and about 140 more shared mailboxes.
• Free providers: Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud, Proton, GMX, Mail.ru, QQ and about 160 more.
• Typos: gmial.com, hotmial.com, gmail.con and similar, with a suggested fix (jane@gmail.com).
• SPF and DMARC: whether the domain publishes them, and the DMARC policy (none, quarantine, reject).
• Mail provider: Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Yahoo, Proofpoint, Mimecast, Zoho and others, detected from MX records.

Important and honest: this Actor works at the DNS level only. It never connects to mail servers (no SMTP probing), so it cannot confirm that a specific mailbox exists and cannot detect catch-all domains. valid means "the address is well formed and its domain is set up to receive email", not "this person will get your message". Every row says so with mailboxChecked: false and catchAll: null. In exchange it is fast, cheap, does not touch anyone's mail server, and cannot get your IP blocklisted.

Quick start

1. Click Try for free, paste your addresses into Emails and press Start.
2. Or call the API with an empty input {}. That checks these 6 demo addresses:

{
    "emails": ["john.doe@gmail.com", "info@apify.com", "someone@mailinator.com", "jane@gmial.com", "bad.address@", "user@example.com"]
}

On Nov 1, 2026 this run checked 6 addresses in about 1 second for 6 x $0.001 = $0.006: 1 valid (john.doe@gmail.com), 3 risky (info@apify.com role account, someone@mailinator.com disposable, jane@gmial.com typo) and 2 invalid (bad.address@ missing domain, user@example.com null MX). The typo row, shortened:

{
    "email": "jane@gmial.com",
    "status": "risky",
    "reasons": ["disposable_domain", "no_mx_a_fallback", "possible_typo"],
    "suggestion": "jane@gmail.com",
    "domain": "gmial.com",
    "syntaxValid": true,
    "domainExists": true,
    "hasMx": false,
    "isDisposable": true,
    "mailboxChecked": false,
    "catchAll": null
}

What you can use it for

• Clean signup forms and CRM exports: drop dead domains, typos and throwaway addresses before they hurt deliverability.
• Pre-filter before a paid SMTP verifier: remove the obvious invalid and disposable rows first, so you pay the expensive per-mailbox check only for what is left.
• Lead list hygiene: flag role accounts and free mailboxes in B2B lists, and see which companies run Google Workspace or Microsoft 365.
• Fraud and abuse screening: spot disposable domains and domains with no mail setup on new accounts.
• Enrich datasets from other Actors: point it at any Apify dataset and the field that holds the email.

Why this Actor

• $1 per 1,000 emails, pay only for what is checked. Duplicates are removed before charging.
• Fast: domains are looked up once and cached, with parallel DNS queries, timeouts, retries and a DNS over HTTPS second opinion for flaky domains.
• Clear output: one status, machine readable reason codes, and a plain English reasonText for every row.
• Your rules: decide whether role accounts, free providers and disposable domains count as risky or invalid.
• No proxy, no browser, no SMTP: nothing that can get blocked or blocklisted.

Input

Give addresses in any combination of three ways: a list, a pasted block of text, or a dataset.

{
    "emails": ["john.doe@gmail.com", "info@apify.com", "someone@mailinator.com", "jane@gmial.com", "bad.address@", "user@example.com"],
    "emailsText": "Jane Doe <jane@acme.com>, bob@yahoo.com\nsales@shop.example",
    "roleAsRisky": true,
    "disposableStatus": "risky",
    "freeAsRisky": false
}

Field	Default	What it does
emails		List of addresses, one per entry.
emailsText		Paste a whole column or text block. Split on new lines, commas, semicolons and tabs. Tokens without an @ (like a CSV header) are skipped and counted.
datasetId		Read addresses from an existing Apify dataset (ID or name), for example the output of another Actor.
datasetField	email	Field that holds the address. Dot paths work (contact.email) and array values are expanded.
maxItems	0 (no limit)	Check at most this many addresses (after removing duplicates).
dedupe	true	Remove duplicates (case insensitive) before checking, so you never pay twice for the same address.
roleAsRisky	true	Role accounts (info@, sales@ ...) get status risky. Off: they can be valid, the flag stays.
disposableStatus	risky	Status for disposable domains: risky or invalid.
freeAsRisky	false	Free consumer providers (gmail.com ...) get status risky. Useful for B2B lists.
checkMxHosts	true	Also check that the listed mail server host names resolve.
checkSpfDmarc	true	Look up SPF and DMARC records (informational, does not change status).
includeSpfRecord	false	Add the raw SPF record text to each row.
dnsMode	udp	udp uses plain DNS (fastest). doh uses DNS over HTTPS (Cloudflare and Google).
dnsServers	1.1.1.1, 8.8.8.8	Resolvers for plain DNS. Leave empty to use the system resolver.
dohFallback	true	When a plain DNS lookup still fails after all retries, ask Google DNS over HTTPS once before returning unknown.
dnsConcurrency	50	Parallel DNS queries.
dnsTimeoutSecs	4	Timeout per DNS query.
dnsRetries	2	Retries on timeouts and server failures, rotating resolvers.

Before checking anything, the Actor runs a DNS self test (gmail.com must return Google mail servers). If the configured resolver is blocked it falls back to the system resolver, then to DNS over HTTPS. If nothing works, the run fails before anything is charged.

Output

One dataset row per checked address, in input order:

{
    "email": "info@apify.com",
    "normalizedEmail": "info@apify.com",
    "status": "risky",
    "reasons": ["role_account"],
    "reasonText": "Role or shared mailbox (info@, sales@, support@ ...), often a group inbox with low engagement.",
    "suggestion": null,
    "localPart": "info",
    "domain": "apify.com",
    "syntaxValid": true,
    "domainExists": true,
    "hasMx": true,
    "nullMx": false,
    "mxFallbackToA": false,
    "mxRecords": [{ "exchange": "aspmx.l.google.com", "priority": 1 }, { "exchange": "alt1.aspmx.l.google.com", "priority": 5 }],
    "mailProvider": "Google",
    "isDisposable": false,
    "isRoleAccount": true,
    "isFreeProvider": false,
    "plusTag": null,
    "hasSpf": true,
    "hasDmarc": true,
    "dmarcPolicy": "reject",
    "mailboxChecked": false,
    "catchAll": null,
    "dnsErrorCode": null,
    "checkedAt": "2026-10-29T12:18:39.013Z"
}

A typo row looks like "email": "jane@gmial.com", "status": "risky", "reasons": ["disposable_domain", "no_mx_a_fallback", "possible_typo"], "suggestion": "jane@gmail.com".

Statuses

Status	Meaning	Typical action
valid	Well formed, the domain exists and is set up to receive mail, no risk flags.	Keep.
risky	Deliverable domain, but something is off: disposable, role account, typo suspect, no MX (A record fallback), quoted or non-ASCII local part, or free provider if you turned that on.	Review, or segment.
invalid	Bad syntax, the domain does not exist, has a null MX, has no mail server at all, or its mail servers do not resolve.	Remove.
unknown	DNS failed after retries (timeout or SERVFAIL). Usually a broken or temporarily unreachable domain.	Retry later.

Reason codes

Code	Status	Meaning
empty, contains_whitespace, missing_at_sign, multiple_at_signs, missing_local_part, missing_domain, invalid_dots, invalid_characters, invalid_local_part, local_part_too_long, address_too_long	invalid	Syntax problems in the address.
ip_address_domain, invalid_domain, domain_missing_tld, domain_too_long, invalid_tld, reserved_domain	invalid	Domain part is malformed or reserved (.test, .local, .invalid, localhost ...).
domain_not_found	invalid	The domain does not exist (NXDOMAIN).
null_mx	invalid	The domain publishes a null MX (RFC 7505): it accepts no email.
no_mail_server	invalid	No MX and no A/AAAA record.
mx_host_not_found	invalid	None of the listed mail servers resolve.
mx_localhost	invalid	Mail servers point to localhost or an unroutable address.
disposable_domain_invalid	invalid	Disposable domain, when disposableStatus is invalid.
disposable_domain	risky	Disposable (throwaway) domain.
role_account	risky	Role or shared mailbox.
possible_typo	risky	Domain looks like a typo of a popular provider; see suggestion.
no_mx_a_fallback	risky	No MX record; mail would go to the domain A record. Often not a real mail setup.
quoted_local_part, non_ascii_local_part	risky	Technically allowed but rejected by many systems.
free_provider	risky	Only when freeAsRisky is on.
dns_error, mx_host_dns_error	unknown	DNS lookups failed after retries.

Field reference

Field	Description
email	The value as supplied.
normalizedEmail	Cleaned address with a lowercase, ASCII (punycode) domain. The local part keeps its case.
status, reasons, reasonText	Verdict, reason codes, and plain English explanation.
suggestion	Corrected address when the domain looks like a typo, else null.
localPart, domain	The two halves of the address.
syntaxValid	Passed the syntax checks.
domainExists	The domain resolves in DNS. Null if not checked or DNS failed.
hasMx, nullMx, mxFallbackToA	MX record found, null MX found, or no MX but an A/AAAA record.
mxRecords	Up to 5 mail servers, best priority first.
mailProvider	Detected mail host (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Proofpoint ...), or null.
isDisposable, isRoleAccount, isFreeProvider	Flags, independent of how you set the status rules.
plusTag	Sub-address tag, for example promo in sales+promo@acme.com.
hasSpf, hasDmarc, dmarcPolicy	Email authentication records of the domain. spfRecord is added when includeSpfRecord is on.
mailboxChecked, catchAll	Always false and null: this Actor does not open SMTP connections.
dnsErrorCode	DNS error code when status is unknown.
checkedAt	ISO time of the check.

Run summary

The key value store record OUTPUT holds a summary: emails supplied, duplicates removed, emails checked, counts per status and per reason, unique domains, DNS statistics (resolver used, queries, cache hits, retries, timeouts) and run time. The dataset also has an Overview view and a DNS details view in Console.

Pricing

Pay per event, no subscription:

Event	Price
Email checked (one dataset row)	$0.001 ($1 per 1,000)
Actor start	$0.00005 per run (Apify default)

Duplicates removed by dedupe are not charged. If you set a maximum cost per run, the Actor checks only as many addresses as fit, stops cleanly, and reports how many were left in notCheckedBecauseOfChargeLimit.

Rough cost: 10,000 addresses cost about $10. In our cloud test, 10,000 addresses across about 1,000 different domains finished in under a minute at the default 256 MB memory. Lists with fewer distinct domains are faster.

Limits and good to know

• No mailbox check. DNS cannot tell whether john@acme.com exists. If you need that, run the cleaned list through an SMTP verifier; this Actor makes that list shorter and cheaper.
• No catch-all detection for the same reason.
• Disposable lists are never complete. New throwaway domains appear every day. The list is updated with new Actor versions.
• Role and free provider lists cover the common cases, not every one in the world.
• unknown is rare and usually means the domain's own DNS is broken. Rerun those rows later.
• Domains are cached within a run, so lists with many addresses at the same company are very fast.

FAQ

Is a valid address guaranteed to be deliverable? No. It means the address is well formed and its domain accepts mail according to DNS. The mailbox may still not exist, be full, or bounce. Anyone who promises more without SMTP access is guessing.

Why not do SMTP checks? SMTP probing is slow, often blocked or misleading (many providers accept every address), and can get the probing IP blocklisted. This Actor stays at the DNS level on purpose and is priced accordingly.

Why is jane@gmial.com marked disposable? Some typo domains of big providers are registered by third parties and collect mail, so the open source disposable list includes them. The possible_typo reason and suggestion tell you what was probably meant.

Can I use my own DNS servers? Yes, set dnsServers, or switch dnsMode to doh for DNS over HTTPS.

Does it find or collect email addresses? No. It only checks the addresses you give it. It does not scrape, search for or store addresses anywhere other than your own run's dataset.

Data sources and licenses

• Disposable domains: disposable-email-domains, released under CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication), snapshot of 2026-10-27. Some extra checks for subdomains are added by this Actor.
• Role account, free provider, typo and mail provider rules are maintained in this Actor.

Legal and privacy

Email addresses are personal data in many jurisdictions (GDPR, CCPA and others). Only submit addresses you are allowed to process, for example your own customers or contacts with a lawful basis. The Actor processes them only inside your run, sends only domain names to DNS resolvers, and keeps results in your own Apify storage, which you control and can delete.

Support

Questions, bugs or feature requests: open an issue on the Actor's Issues tab, or email joesimo@mail.grokbot.com.

More examples and the docs for all 6 of our Actors: github.com/Joe-Simo/apify-actors. Store page: https://apify.com/joesimo/email-validator