# Email Validator: Syntax, MX, Disposable & Typo Check (`oqen/email-validator`) Actor

Bulk-validate email lists without sending mail: RFC syntax, MX/null-MX DNS check, 10k+ disposable domains, role accounts, free providers, mail host (Google, Microsoft...) and typo fixes like gmial.com → gmail.com.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/oqen/email-validator.md
- **Developed by:** [oqen](https://apify.com/oqen) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Marketing, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.50 / 1,000 email validateds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Email Validator: Syntax, MX, Disposable & Typo Check

Clean an email list before you import it into a CRM or send a campaign. The Actor checks every address **without sending any email and without connecting to the recipient's mail server** (no SMTP "ping"), so it can't get your IP blacklisted and it doesn't bother anyone's mail server.

### What it checks

| Check | What it catches |
|---|---|
| **Syntax** (RFC 5321/5322 dot-atom, internationalised domains) | missing `@`, double dots, spaces, bad characters, labels over 63 chars, numeric TLDs, addresses over 254 chars |
| **Domain & MX** (DNS) | domains that don't exist, domains with no mail server, domains that publish a **null MX** (RFC 7505: "this domain never receives mail", e.g. `example.com`), and A-record fallback |
| **Disposable** | 10,000+ throwaway domains (mailinator, yopmail, 10minutemail, ...) from the community-maintained `disposable-email-domains` list |
| **Typos** | `gmial.com`, `hotmial.com`, `yaho.com`, `gmail.con` → returns the fixed address in `didYouMean` |
| **Role accounts** | `info@`, `support@`, `sales@`, `noreply@` ... (flag only) |
| **Free provider** | Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud, GMX, Proton and 100+ others: useful to separate B2B from B2C leads |
| **Mail host** | Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Zoho, Proofpoint, Mimecast ... detected from MX records |

### Status values

- **valid**: syntax OK and the domain accepts mail.
- **risky**: deliverable domain but disposable, or a likely typo. Review before sending.
- **invalid**: bad syntax, non-existent domain, null MX or no mail server. `reason` says which.
- **unknown**: DNS timed out. **Not charged**; just run those again.

What this Actor does **not** do: it does not confirm that a specific mailbox exists. That needs SMTP probing, which providers like Gmail and Microsoft deliberately block or answer with false positives, and which can get the checking IP blacklisted. If you need mailbox-level verification, use a dedicated paid verification service after this free-of-risk first pass.

### Input

```json
{ "emails": ["john.doe@gmail.com", "someone@mailinator.com", "jane@gmial.com"], "checkMx": true }
```

You can also paste a whole column from a spreadsheet into **emailsText**. Duplicates are removed (case-insensitive) unless you turn that off.

### Output

```json
{ "input": "jane@gmial.com", "email": "jane@gmial.com", "status": "risky", "reason": "possible_typo",
  "syntaxValid": true, "localPart": "jane", "domain": "gmial.com", "disposable": false, "roleAccount": false,
  "freeProvider": false, "mxFound": true, "mxRecords": ["..."], "mailProvider": "Other", "didYouMean": "jane@gmail.com" }
```

Export as CSV, Excel or JSON from the dataset, or call it from Make, Zapier, n8n or an AI agent through the Apify API or MCP. A `SUMMARY` record in the key-value store has counts per status.

### Speed and limits

DNS answers are cached per domain, so 10,000 addresses usually finish in well under a minute. The `maxEmails` cap (default 10,000, up to 100,000 per run) protects you from accidentally running a huge list.

### Pricing

Pay per event: you pay per validated address (`email-validated`). Addresses that come back **unknown** (DNS timeout), duplicates you asked us to remove, and addresses skipped by `maxEmails` are free. The run stops cleanly when your *Max cost per run* is reached.

### Privacy

Addresses are only used inside your run to compute the result. Only domain names are sent to DNS; nothing is stored outside your own dataset.

# Actor input Schema

## `emails` (type: `array`):

Addresses to check, one per row.

## `emailsText` (type: `string`):

Paste addresses separated by new lines, commas or semicolons (e.g. a column copied from a spreadsheet).

## `checkMx` (type: `boolean`):

Look up the domain's mail servers. Detects non-existent domains, domains with no mail server and RFC 7505 null MX. Turn off for a syntax-only check.

## `suggestTypos` (type: `boolean`):

Flags likely misspellings of popular providers (gmial.com, hotmial.com, gmail.con) and returns a corrected address in didYouMean.

## `deduplicate` (type: `boolean`):

Case-insensitive de-duplication before checking. You are only charged once per unique address.

## `maxEmails` (type: `integer`):

Safety cap. Extra addresses are skipped (and not charged).

## `dnsTimeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

Per-query timeout. Domains whose DNS times out get status 'unknown' and are not charged.

## `dnsMode` (type: `string`):

How MX records are resolved.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "emails": [
    "john.doe@gmail.com",
    "info@apify.com",
    "someone@mailinator.com",
    "jane@gmial.com",
    "bad..dots@example.org",
    "user@example.com"
  ],
  "checkMx": true,
  "suggestTypos": true,
  "deduplicate": true,
  "maxEmails": 10000,
  "dnsTimeoutSecs": 5,
  "dnsMode": "auto"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One item per address: status (valid / risky / invalid / unknown), reason, syntax, MX, disposable, role, free-provider flags and typo suggestion.

## `summary` (type: `string`):

Counts per status and number of charged validations.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "emails": [
        "john.doe@gmail.com",
        "info@apify.com",
        "someone@mailinator.com",
        "jane@gmial.com",
        "bad..dots@example.org",
        "user@example.com"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("oqen/email-validator").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "emails": [
        "john.doe@gmail.com",
        "info@apify.com",
        "someone@mailinator.com",
        "jane@gmial.com",
        "bad..dots@example.org",
        "user@example.com",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("oqen/email-validator").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "emails": [
    "john.doe@gmail.com",
    "info@apify.com",
    "someone@mailinator.com",
    "jane@gmial.com",
    "bad..dots@example.org",
    "user@example.com"
  ]
}' |
apify call oqen/email-validator --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,oqen/email-validator"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/UzVJZCRxl9OiobkRT/builds/ac1N2hC5SiUK3CyCh/openapi.json