# Bulk Email Deliverability Check — MX, SPF, DMARC (`paoe/bulk-email-deliverability-check`) Actor

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

## Pricing

from $6.00 / 1,000 email checkeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

Check a list of email addresses at the domain level: MX records, SPF policy strength, DMARC enforcement, disposable providers, free-mail domains, role accounts and syntax. Every result states plainly that no SMTP connection was made, so a clean address means the domain can receive mail and is not a claim that a specific mailbox exists. Built by PAOE.

Each item is processed individually and charged as its own event, so you pay only for what the run actually delivers. Results are written to the run's dataset as one JSON object per item, ready to download as JSON, CSV or Excel, or to pull through the Apify API.

### What it checks

For each address: syntax and local-part validity, whether the domain publishes MX records and can receive mail at all, whether it is a null MX that refuses all mail, SPF policy strength (including `+all`, which authorises the whole internet), DMARC enforcement level, whether the domain is a disposable/throwaway provider, whether it is a free consumer mail provider, and whether the address is a shared role account such as `info@` or `sales@`.

### Pricing

| Event | What it covers | Price |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `email-checked` | email checked (primary) | $0.01 per event |

Volume tiers reduce the price automatically on higher Apify plans: Bronze 15% off, Silver 25% off and Gold or above 40% off the listed free-tier price. The charge is per item processed, not per run.

### Input

| Field | Type | Required | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `addresses` | array | yes | `["someone@example.com"]` | Addresses to check. Accepts one per line, or comma-separated in a single string. Each address checked is one charged event. |
| `maxAddresses` | integer | no | `500` | Hard cap on how many addresses are checked in one run. |

Example input:

```json
{
  "addresses": [
    "someone@example.com"
  ],
  "maxAddresses": 500
}
```

### Output

One JSON object per item in the run's dataset. Every result carries the input it came from plus the fields this Actor measures, so the output can be joined back to your own data without guessing which row is which. The final dataset entry is a `summary` object with the run's totals.

### Typical use cases

- Clean a lead or signup list before sending, to cut bounces.
- Separate business domains from free-mail and disposable addresses.
- Find role accounts that should be replaced with a named contact.

### Limitations

No, and it never claims to. The checks are domain-level and rely on DNS, not an SMTP conversation, so no individual mailbox is probed. A clean result means the domain can receive mail and its policy is sane. Every record states this in a `note` field and the summary reports `verification_level: domain_and_syntax` with `mailbox_probed: false`, so a downstream system cannot mistake the result for mailbox verification. DKIM is not checked, because that needs a selector DNS cannot guess.

#### Does it confirm a specific mailbox exists?

Every limitation above is reported per item in a `findings` entry with a `level` of `fail`, `warn`, `info` or `ok`, a machine-readable `code` and a concrete `action`. If something cannot be checked it is reported as such rather than assumed to be fine.

#### Can it run on a schedule?

Yes. Save a task from this Actor with your inputs, then set a schedule on the task. Scheduled runs recur with the same inputs, which is the intended way to use it for ongoing monitoring.

#### Why not just open an SMTP connection?

SMTP probing from a shared cloud IP is unreliable and often blocked, and a false negative would wrongly discard a good address. These checks are deterministic and reproducible, and the output says exactly what was and was not verified.

### Notes

If a site returns something unexpected, open an issue on the Actor's page with the URL and the input used, and it will be looked at.

### Related Actors

- [Domain & HTTPS Security Audit](https://apify.com/paoe/domain-https-security-audit)

### Keywords

email verifier, email validation, MX record check, SPF check, DMARC check, disposable email detection, bulk email cleaner, lead list cleaning.

# Actor input Schema

## `addresses` (type: `array`):

Addresses to check. Accepts one per line, or comma-separated in a single string. Each address checked is one charged event.

## `maxAddresses` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on how many addresses are checked in one run.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "addresses": [
    "someone@example.com"
  ],
  "maxAddresses": 500
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `records` (type: `string`):

One JSON result per address, with score, grade and a named finding for every deduction; states that no SMTP connection was made.

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

Addresses checked, how many can receive mail and the counts by severity.

# 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 = {
    "addresses": [
        "someone@example.com"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("paoe/bulk-email-deliverability-check").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 = { "addresses": ["someone@example.com"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("paoe/bulk-email-deliverability-check").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 '{
  "addresses": [
    "someone@example.com"
  ]
}' |
apify call paoe/bulk-email-deliverability-check --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/EO1Vjof0JUm67H2Hd/builds/IKJjI9yVQytRJ27wW/openapi.json