📧 Email RBL Bulk Checker — MXToolbox Alternative

The drop-in bulk DNS blacklist checker for 2026.

MXToolbox charges $149/month for bulk mode (50 simultaneous blacklist checks). This actor runs the same 30+ RBL queries in parallel for $0.002 per check — that's 74x cheaper at 1,000 checks/month, and scales linearly.

What it does

Checks any IP or domain against 30 popular DNS blacklists including:

• Spamhaus ZEN (SBL, XBL, PBL combined — industry standard)
• Barracuda Reputation Block List
• SpamCop BL
• SORBS (multiple zones: DNSBL, Spam, Web, Zombie, Proxies)
• UCEPROTECT (Level 1/2/3)
• SpamRats, Mailspike, WPBL, Manitu, CBL, NJABL
• Backscatterer, DroneBL, Cymru Bogons, GBUdb

Returns per-target:

• Clean/listed status on every RBL checked
• Reputation score 0-100 (deterministic, comparable across runs)
• Evidence (TXT record reasons when listed)
• Specific remediation action based on severity
• Resolved IP (if domain was given)

Example

import requests

APIFY_TOKEN = "your_token"

r = requests.post(
    f"https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/nexgendata~email-rbl-checker/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token={APIFY_TOKEN}",
    json={
        "targets": ["mail.example.com", "203.0.113.50", "newsletter.example.com"]
    }
)

for target in r.json():
    print(f"{target['target']} ({target['ip']}) — score: {target['reputation_score']}")
    if target["listed_on"]:
        for rbl in target["listed_on"]:
            print(f"  LISTED on {rbl['rbl_name']}: {rbl['reason']}")
    print(f"  Action: {target['recommended_action']}")

Sample output:

mail.example.com (203.0.113.50) — score: 85
  LISTED on UCEPROTECT Level 2: Poor ISP reputation
  Action: Minor listing. Request delisting from affected RBLs.
203.0.113.99 — score: 100
  Action: Clean. No blacklist issues detected.

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/nexgendata~email-rbl-checker/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"targets":["8.8.8.8"]}'

Common use cases

• Pre-send deliverability check — verify IP reputation before a marketing blast
• Post-incident recovery — see which blacklists flagged your IP after a compromise
• Email service provider audits — bulk-check all IPs in your sending pool weekly
• Lead-list hygiene — pre-score recipient domains for deliverability risk
• Compliance reports — exportable CSV for SOC 2, ISO 27001 proof of monitoring

Pricing

Pay-per-event, no subscription:

• $0.005 per run (startup cost)
• $0.002 per target checked (regardless of how many RBLs lit up)

Checking 500 IPs = $1.005. Same workload on MXToolbox Bulk: $149/month with a 1,000-check monthly cap.

FAQ

Q: How fresh are the RBL responses? A: Real-time. Every query is a live DNS lookup. No caching.

Q: What does "reputation score 0-100" mean? A: 100 = clean on every RBL. 85+ = one minor listing. 70-85 = moderate. Below 70 = severe — rotate IP or pause mail.

Q: Can I provide a list of 10,000 IPs? A: Yes. At 30 RBLs × 10,000 IPs = 300K DNS queries. Expect ~15-20 minutes runtime on default concurrency, and about $20 in compute.

Q: Does this also check SPF/DKIM/DMARC? A: No — that's a separate concern. Use nexgendata/email-dmarc-auditor for email authentication records.

Q: Will it delist my IP automatically? A: No. Delisting requires human submission to each RBL. This tool tells you which RBLs to submit to.

Related tools

• Company Email Finder
• Email Verification Tool
• Website Email Extractor
• DNS Propagation Checker

Try it

📧 Email RBL Bulk Checker on Apify

New to Apify? Get free platform credits.

💻 Code Example — Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("nexgendata/email-rbl-checker").call(run_input={
    # Fill in the input shape from the actor's input_schema
})

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

🌐 Code Example — cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/nexgendata~email-rbl-checker/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ /* input schema */ }'

❓ FAQ

Q: How do I get started? Sign up at apify.com, grab your API token from Settings → Integrations, and run the actor via the Apify console, API, Python SDK, or any integration (Zapier, Make.com, n8n).

Q: What's the typical cost per run? See the pricing section below. Most runs finish under $0.10 for typical batches.

Q: Is this actor maintained? Yes. NexGenData maintains 165+ Apify actors and ships updates regularly. Bug reports via the Apify console issues tab get responses within 24 hours.

Q: Can I use the output commercially? Yes — you own the output data. Check the target site's Terms of Service for any usage restrictions on the scraped content itself.

Q: How do I handle rate limits? Apify manages concurrency and retries automatically. For very large batches (10K+ items), run multiple smaller jobs in parallel instead of one mega-job for better reliability.

💰 Pricing

Pay-per-event pricing — you only pay for what you actually extract.

• Actor Start: $0.0001
• result: $0.0050

🔗 Related NexGenData Actors

• Hacker News Scraper
• Google Maps Lead Scraper
• SEC EDGAR Scraper

🚀 Apify Affiliate Program

New to Apify? Sign up with our referral link — you get free platform credits on signup, and you help fund the maintenance of this actor fleet.

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