Email Address Validator & Disposable Email Checker

Check any email address in one call: is it valid, can its domain receive mail, is it a throwaway, and is there a typo to fix. You pay only for completed checks.

What does Email Address Validator do?

Email Address Validator takes one address or a list of up to 100 and returns a clear verdict for each, plus the evidence behind it. It validates the syntax, suggests a typo fix (gmial.com becomes gmail.com), builds a canonical form so j.o.hne+promo@gmail.com and johne@gmail.com are recognised as the same Gmail inbox, looks up the domain's MX records, and flags disposable domains, role accounts (info@, support@) and free providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo). It can also check for a Gravatar, a soft sign that a real person owns the address.

It does not open a connection to the recipient's mail server, so it never sends mail and never alerts the owner. That keeps it fast, cheap and safe to run on large lists. See the FAQ for what that means for accuracy.

Why use Email Address Validator?

• Cleaner sign-ups. Reject malformed, typo and throwaway addresses before they enter your CRM or newsletter list.
• Stop duplicate accounts. The canonical form collapses Gmail dots and +tags, so one person cannot create a hundred accounts.
• Modular, honest pricing. Choose the depth of check; pay only for a completed verdict. Invalid addresses cost almost nothing.
• Built for pipelines. Same fields on every row, bulk input, and an explanation in plain English for every verdict.
• Agent-ready. Deterministic JSON that an AI agent can call as a tool.

How to use Email Address Validator

1. Open the Actor in Apify Console and click Try for free (or call it through the API).
2. Enter one address in Email, or add up to 100 addresses to Emails, one per line.
3. Choose the checks: syntax (cheapest) or syntax + domain (adds MX records and flags).
4. Click Start, then open the Results tab or download JSON, CSV or Excel. To automate it, use the API, schedules, webhooks, or Zapier, Make and n8n.

Input

Field	Type	Description
email	string	One address to verify.
emails	list of strings	Up to 100 addresses; each is verified and priced separately.
checks	list	syntax (RFC validity, typo suggestion, canonical form) and domain (adds MX records and flags). Higher checks include the lower ones. Default: syntax and domain.

Example input:

{ "emails": ["john.doe@gmail.com", "someone@mailinator.com"], "checks": ["syntax", "domain"] }

Output

Each address produces one dataset item.

Field	Description
input	The address exactly as submitted.
reachable	The verdict: safe, risky, invalid or unknown.
module	The deepest check that ran: syntax or domain.
mailbox_verified	Always false: the individual mailbox is not probed (see FAQ).
explanation	Plain-English statement of exactly what was and was not checked.
syntax	Validity, domain, username, typo suggestion and canonical_email.
domain	has_mx, mx_records, is_disposable, is_role_account, is_free_provider, Gravatar details.
charge_event, charged	What was billed for this row.

Verdicts: safe (valid, and the domain accepts mail), risky (disposable or otherwise a sign-up trap), invalid (malformed, typo domain or dead domain) and unknown (inconclusive, never charged).

{
  "input": "someone@mailinator.com",
  "module": "domain",
  "reachable": "risky",
  "mailbox_verified": false,
  "explanation": "Disposable/throwaway provider — deliverable now, but a sign-up trap.",
  "syntax": { "is_valid": true, "domain": "mailinator.com", "canonical_email": "someone@mailinator.com" },
  "domain": { "has_mx": true, "is_disposable": true, "is_role_account": false, "is_free_provider": false }
}

Pricing

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing, so you only pay for what you use.

Event	Price	When it is charged
Syntax check	$0.0001	A valid address checked at syntax level
Invalid address	$0.0001	A malformed address that was rejected
Domain check	$0.0005	A completed syntax + MX + flags verdict

• Pay only for completed verdicts. An inconclusive result is never charged.
• A small fixed start fee of $0.00005 applies per run.
• No subscription. Apify free-plan credit applies, so your first thousands of checks are effectively free. Set a maximum cost per run to cap spend.

Integrations and API

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("mechniverse/email-address-validator").call(
    run_input={"emails": ["a@gmail.com", "b@mailinator.com"], "checks": ["syntax", "domain"]}
)
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item["input"], "->", item["reachable"])

You can also connect the dataset to Make, Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets, Slack or webhooks.

Use with AI agents and MCP

The Actor is available as a tool through Apify's MCP server. An agent can validate an address before sending, read the structured verdict and its explanation, and stay inside a budget with Apify's maximum-charge cap.

FAQ

Does it verify that the mailbox exists? No. Syntax and domain checks tell you whether the address is well formed and whether its domain can receive mail. They cannot prove that one specific inbox exists. Apify's network does not allow the direct mail-server connections that mailbox probing needs, so we do not claim it. If you request the smtp check you receive the domain-level verdict and the SMTP event is never charged.

What are the limits of a domain-level check? A safe verdict means the address is valid and its domain accepts mail. The specific user may still not exist. Treat safe as "worth sending", not "guaranteed delivered".

Will it email the address or alert its owner? No. Nothing is sent, and no mail server is contacted.

How are Gmail addresses canonicalised? For Gmail, dots are removed, +tags are stripped and googlemail.com becomes gmail.com. For other providers +tags are stripped. Variants of one inbox share a canonical_email.

How many addresses per run? Up to 100. For more, start several runs or loop through the API.

Is it legal? The Actor only processes the addresses you provide and public DNS data. You are responsible for lawful use of the results, including data-protection rules in your region.

Questions or feature requests? Open an issue on the Issues tab; we read every one.