SMTP Email Verifier

📬 SMTP email verification for bulk email lists

For email marketers, sales teams, and developers, this SMTP email verifier checks bulk email lists before outreach, CRM import, or enrichment. It returns syntax, MX, SMTP, risk, and action data for each address, so you can sort addresses into send, review, retry, or suppress groups without sending an email.

• Get mailbox-level evidence for an outreach list with SMTP email verification.
• Clean a CRM export into useful action buckets with SMTP email verifier for CRM cleanup.
• Check a CSV, pasted, or direct list with Bulk email verifier.
• Sort addresses for sending, review, retry, or suppression with Email list cleaning.
• Review cautious decisions for domains that accept random recipients with Catch-all email checker.

✅ Email checks and risk signals

Each saved dataset row covers one normalized email address. It combines the verification decision with syntax, MX, SMTP method, optional domain-health, risk, and failure details.

Field group	What you get
Email result	email, domain, status, verdict, sendable, confidence, qualityScore, and riskLevel
Action fields	decision, recommendedDisposition, and recommendedAction for send, review, retry, or suppress workflows
Syntax evidence	Validity, syntax errors, and typo suggestions when available
MX evidence	MX status, detected provider, and sorted MX records
SMTP evidence	Verification method and error text when available
Risk flags	Catch-all, disposable, role-based, and free-provider signals
Domain health	SPF, DMARC, and common DKIM selector checks when enabled

▶️ Check an email list

1. Add addresses in Email addresses, paste copied text in Paste emails, or upload a CSV/TXT file. You can combine these sources.
2. Every run checks syntax, MX, and SMTP signals and can include catch-all, disposable, role, free-provider, and typo signals. Turn on Domain health check for SPF, DMARC, and common DKIM selector signals.
3. Set Run limit or Per-domain limit when you want to check only part of a list. Leave either limit empty to return all available results until the source is exhausted.
4. Run the Actor, then open the dataset to review status, confidence, risk flags, and recommended action for each email.

⚙️ Input

You can provide emails in three ways and combine them in one run. The domain health check is optional and off by default.

Input fields

Field	Type	What it does
emails	array of strings	Add email addresses directly. Use one address per list entry.
emailsText	string	Paste raw CSV rows, copied CRM text, comma-separated values, or one email per line.
csvFile	string	Upload a CSV or TXT file from a spreadsheet or text export.
checkDomainHealth	boolean	Check SPF, DMARC, and common DKIM selectors for each email domain.
maxEmails	optional integer	Limit the normalized addresses checked in this run. Leave it empty to return all available results until the source is exhausted.
maxEmailsPerDomain	optional integer	Limit addresses checked for each email domain. Leave it empty to return all available results for each domain until the source is exhausted.

The Actor normalizes submitted addresses and removes duplicate addresses before checking them. Both limits accept positive integers when set.

Input example

This complete example is the public input from a successful current-beta default-input run.

{
  "emails": [
    "postmaster@gmail.com",
    "abuse@yahoo.com",
    "test@mailinator.com",
    "contact@cloudflare.com",
    "admin@apify.com"
  ],
  "emailsText": "",
  "csvFile": "",
  "checkDomainHealth": false
}

🧾 Output

The default dataset contains one row for each checked email address. Status values include valid, invalid, invalid_syntax, no_mx, catch_all, temporary_failure, blocked, timeout, and unknown.

Email verification row

Field	Type	What it does
email	string	Normalized email address that was checked.
domain	string or null	Domain used for DNS and SMTP checks, or null when no usable domain is available.
status	string	Machine-readable verification outcome.
verdict	string	Human-readable verification result for filtering exports.
sendable	boolean	Whether the result can be used for sending according to the verification decision.
confidence	number from 0 to 1	Verification confidence.
qualityScore	integer from 0 to 100	List-quality score for sorting and suppression workflows.
riskLevel	string	Overall deliverability and list-quality risk.
decision	string	Compact action category for filtering and automation.
recommendedDisposition	string	Recommended list-management bucket for the email.
recommendedAction	string	Plain-English next step for this email.
riskFlags	array of strings	Specific risk signals found for this email.
flags	object	Boolean verification and list-quality signals.
flags.isDisposable	boolean	Whether the domain is a known temporary email provider.
flags.isRoleBased	boolean	Whether the local part is a shared role address.
flags.isFreeProvider	boolean	Whether the domain belongs to a common free mailbox provider.
flags.isCatchAll	boolean	Whether the domain appears to accept arbitrary recipients.
syntax	object	Email syntax validation details.
syntax.isValid	boolean	Whether the email passed syntax validation.
syntax.errors	array of strings	Syntax issues found in the email.
syntax.suggestion	string or null	Suggested correction for a common domain typo, or null when none is available.
mx	object	DNS mail-exchange evidence for the email domain.
mx.hasRecords	boolean or null	Whether the domain has usable MX records, or null when no domain was available.
mx.provider	string or null	Detected mail provider when recognized.
mx.records	array of objects	MX records sorted by priority.
mx.records[].priority	integer	MX record priority.
mx.records[].exchange	string	MX record host.
smtp	object	Mailbox-level SMTP recipient-check evidence.
smtp.method	string	Deepest verification method used for the row.
smtp.error	string or null	Connection or verification error when the mailbox check is inconclusive.
domainHealth	object or null	Email-domain authentication signals, or null when the check is not available.
domainHealth.spf	boolean	Whether the domain publishes an SPF record.
domainHealth.dmarc	boolean	Whether the domain publishes a DMARC record.
domainHealth.dkim	boolean	Whether a common DKIM selector was found.
domainHealth.dkimSelectorsChecked	array of strings	Common DKIM selectors checked for the domain.
failureAnalysis	object	Reasoning for suppress, retry, review, and cautious-send decisions.
failureAnalysis.primaryCause	string or null	Main reason for the decision, or null for clean deliverable emails.
failureAnalysis.category	string	High-level decision category.
failureAnalysis.severity	string	Impact level for the cause.
failureAnalysis.recoverable	boolean	Whether retrying, correcting, or replacing the email may resolve the issue.
failureAnalysis.explanation	string	Operator-readable explanation of the decision.

Output example

This complete row is from a successful current-beta mixed-input run with domain health enabled.

{
  "email": "abuse@yahoo.com",
  "domain": "yahoo.com",
  "status": "catch_all",
  "verdict": "Valid - Catch-all domain",
  "sendable": true,
  "confidence": 0.84,
  "qualityScore": 84,
  "riskLevel": "medium",
  "decision": "send_monitor",
  "recommendedDisposition": "send_with_caution",
  "recommendedAction": "Review according to source signals: free_provider, role_address, mailbox_accepts_mail, catch_all_domain.",
  "riskFlags": [
    "free_provider",
    "role_address",
    "mailbox_accepts_mail",
    "catch_all_domain"
  ],
  "flags": {
    "isDisposable": false,
    "isRoleBased": true,
    "isFreeProvider": true,
    "isCatchAll": true
  },
  "syntax": {
    "isValid": true,
    "errors": [],
    "suggestion": null
  },
  "mx": {
    "hasRecords": true,
    "provider": "Yahoo Mail",
    "records": [
      {
        "priority": 1,
        "exchange": "mta5.am0.yahoodns.net"
      },
      {
        "priority": 1,
        "exchange": "mta6.am0.yahoodns.net"
      },
      {
        "priority": 1,
        "exchange": "mta7.am0.yahoodns.net"
      }
    ]
  },
  "smtp": {
    "method": "smtp",
    "error": null
  },
  "domainHealth": {
    "spf": true,
    "dmarc": true,
    "dkim": true,
    "dkimSelectorsChecked": [
      "default",
      "selector1",
      "selector2",
      "google",
      "k1",
      "mail"
    ]
  },
  "failureAnalysis": {
    "primaryCause": "free_provider",
    "category": "deliverability_risk",
    "severity": "medium",
    "recoverable": true,
    "explanation": "Source reported a catch-all domain, so the specific mailbox needs cautious review."
  }
}

💳 Pricing

This Actor charges one email-verified event for each checked email row that is saved to the dataset.

Unit	Price
1 checked email	$0.00001
1,000 checked emails	$0.01

There is no actor-start charge. If no email row is saved, no checked-email event is charged.

🔌 Integrations

• Export checked emails to JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, RSS, or HTML from the Apify dataset.
• Use the Apify API to run SMTP email verification from your app or enrichment pipeline.
• Schedule repeat list checks and send finished datasets to webhooks or downstream Apify integrations.
• Combine results with website email discovery, CRM cleanup, cold outreach QA, or signup review workflows.

❓ FAQ

Does this do a real SMTP check?

Yes. After syntax and MX checks, the Actor connects to the target mail server and performs an SMTP recipient probe with RCPT TO. It then closes the connection without sending a message.

Why does it check MX records first?

MX records tell the Actor which mail servers receive email for a domain. If a domain has no usable MX records, the Actor can return no_mx without wasting SMTP attempts.

Why are some results marked unknown, blocked, or catch_all?

Some mail servers hide mailbox validity, block probing, rate-limit connections, or accept all recipients. The Actor keeps those outcomes separate and gives a recommended action instead of pretending they are confirmed valid mailboxes.

Do I need Gmail, Outlook, SMTP, or verifier API credentials?

No. You only provide the email addresses you want to check. The Actor does not need inbox credentials, an email provider login, or a third-party verifier API key.

Can I use this for email list cleaning?

Yes. The output includes suppress, retry, review, send, and send-with-caution decisions so you can clean a list before importing it into a CRM, outreach tool, newsletter tool, or data pipeline.

Why not use an SMTP API?

SMTP is a protocol, not a single public API for checking every mailbox. This Actor wraps syntax, DNS, SMTP, catch-all, and list-quality checks into one Apify run so you can export the results or call them through the Apify API.

What are SMTP email verifier alternatives?

Alternatives include MX-only email checkers, paid email verification APIs, CRM validation tools, and lead-enrichment platforms. Use this Actor when you already have the email addresses and want credential-free SMTP evidence plus action-ready output.

📝 Changelog

v1.0 (13-09-2026)

• Check email lists from direct entries, pasted text, or CSV/TXT files with run and per-domain limits.
• Get structured verification results with action recommendations and optional domain health checks.
• See honest running progress for open-ended lists instead of treating a run cap as the total.

v0.1

• Initial release.

🆘 Support

For issues, questions, or feature requests, file a ticket and I'll fix or implement it in less than 24h 🫡

🔗 Related Actors

• Website Email Scraper - Find public contact emails from submitted websites before checking their mailboxes.
• Email MX Verifier - Pre-screen syntax, MX, disposable-domain, and role-address signals before deeper SMTP checks.
• Bulk SMTP Email Verifier — Mailbox & Catch-All Checker - Compare another mailbox and catch-all checking workflow for bulk lists.
• Real-Time SMTP Email Verifier [Live Handshake] - Review another SMTP verification option for email-list checks.
• BounceVerify - Email Verifier & Deliverability Tester - Check syntax, DNS MX records, SMTP mailbox status, catch-all domains, and disposable emails in another workflow.

Made with ❤️ by Maxime Dupré