Bulk Email Validator (Syntax, MX, Disposable, Typo)

Clean your email list before you hit send. This bulk email validator checks every address for valid syntax, working MX/DNS records, disposable (temporary) domains, role accounts, free providers and domain typos (gmial.com → gmail.com), then gives each one a 0–100 score and a valid / risky / invalid verdict. Up to 100,000 emails per run.

This Actor verifies email lists you already own. It does not find, scrape, guess or harvest email addresses. You bring the list (your CRM export, newsletter signups, form submissions); the Actor tells you which addresses are safe to mail.

What you get

• Syntax check: practical RFC 5322 rules (what real mail providers accept), length limits, valid domain labels. Cleans Jane Doe <jane@x.com> and mailto: forms automatically.
• MX / DNS lookup: confirms the domain exists and can receive mail (MX records, with an A/AAAA fallback, null-MX detection). Top 3 MX hosts are returned.
• Disposable email detection: 10,000+ known temporary / throwaway domains (mailinator, yopmail, 10minutemail, guerrillamail...), including their subdomains.
• Role account detection: info@, support@, sales@, noreply@, admin@ and 40+ more shared inboxes.
• Free provider flag: gmail.com, outlook.com, yahoo.com, icloud.com, proton.me and other consumer mailboxes, so you can separate B2B from B2C leads.
• Typo suggestions: gmial.com → gmail.com, hotmial.com → hotmail.com, yaho.com → yahoo.com, company.con → company.com.
• Score 0–100, verdict and reasons: one clear verdict per email plus machine-readable reasons (domain_not_found, disposable_domain, possible_typo...).
• Free SUMMARY report: counts per verdict, number of disposable / role / typo addresses, and the top 20 domains in your list.

Why this Actor

	This Actor	Regex-only checks	SMTP "ping" verifiers
Syntax check	Yes	Yes	Yes
Domain exists + MX records	Yes	No	Yes
Disposable domains (10k+)	Yes	No	Usually
Role / free provider flags	Yes	No	Sometimes
Typo suggestions	Yes	No	Sometimes
Mailbox existence	No (honest, see Limits)	No	Claimed, often unreliable
Sends traffic to the recipient's mail server	No	No	Yes
Speed	~2,000 emails in about 5 s in our local test	Instant	Slow

Use cases

• CRM and list cleaning before campaigns: remove dead domains, typos and throwaway addresses before a newsletter or cold-email send.
• Reduce bounce rate: hard bounces hurt your sender reputation. Drop invalid addresses and review risky ones.
• Signup form QA: check the addresses collected by your forms, spot disposable signups and fixable typos (offer "Did you mean jane@gmail.com?").
• Lead list hygiene: split B2B (company domain) from B2C (free provider) leads, flag shared role inboxes.

Input

Use any combination of the three sources. Everything is merged, deduplicated and capped at 100,000 emails per run.

Field	Type	Description
emails	array	List of email addresses.
emailsText	string	Pasted text: one email per line, or separated by commas/semicolons.
datasetId	string	Optional: validate a column of an existing Apify dataset (e.g. another Actor's output).
emailField	string	Field that holds the email in that dataset. Default email.
checkMx	boolean	Look up MX/DNS records. Default true. Turn off for syntax-only checks.
suggestTypos	boolean	Suggest domain typo fixes. Default true.
dedupe	boolean	Check each address once (case-insensitive). Default true.

{
  "emails": ["john.doe@gmail.com", "jane@gmial.com", "test@mailinator.com", "info@apify.com", "not-an-email"],
  "emailsText": "lee@aol.com, kim@abc.com\nceo@company.con",
  "checkMx": true,
  "suggestTypos": true,
  "dedupe": true
}

If you start the Actor with no emails at all, it validates a 5-email sample so you can see the output format.

Output

One dataset item per email checked. Real output from a test run:

[
  {
    "email": "john.doe@gmail.com",
    "normalized": "john.doe@gmail.com",
    "isValidSyntax": true,
    "localPart": "john.doe",
    "domain": "gmail.com",
    "hasMx": true,
    "mxRecords": ["gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com", "alt1.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com", "alt2.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com"],
    "isDisposable": false,
    "isRoleAccount": false,
    "isFreeProvider": true,
    "typoSuggestion": null,
    "score": 100,
    "verdict": "valid",
    "reasons": [],
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T02:39:55.593Z"
  },
  {
    "email": "alice@yaho.com",
    "normalized": "alice@yaho.com",
    "isValidSyntax": true,
    "localPart": "alice",
    "domain": "yaho.com",
    "hasMx": false,
    "mxRecords": [],
    "isDisposable": false,
    "isRoleAccount": false,
    "isFreeProvider": false,
    "typoSuggestion": "alice@yahoo.com",
    "score": 45,
    "verdict": "risky",
    "reasons": ["no_mx_a_record_fallback", "possible_typo"],
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T02:42:04.910Z"
  },
  {
    "email": "test@mailinator.com",
    "normalized": "test@mailinator.com",
    "isValidSyntax": true,
    "localPart": "test",
    "domain": "mailinator.com",
    "hasMx": true,
    "mxRecords": ["mail.mailinator.com", "mail2.mailinator.com"],
    "isDisposable": true,
    "isRoleAccount": false,
    "isFreeProvider": false,
    "typoSuggestion": null,
    "score": 40,
    "verdict": "risky",
    "reasons": ["disposable_domain"],
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T02:39:55.597Z"
  },
  {
    "email": "info@apify.com",
    "normalized": "info@apify.com",
    "isValidSyntax": true,
    "localPart": "info",
    "domain": "apify.com",
    "hasMx": true,
    "mxRecords": ["aspmx.l.google.com", "alt2.aspmx.l.google.com", "alt1.aspmx.l.google.com"],
    "isDisposable": false,
    "isRoleAccount": true,
    "isFreeProvider": false,
    "typoSuggestion": null,
    "score": 85,
    "verdict": "valid",
    "reasons": ["role_account"],
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T02:39:55.598Z"
  },
  {
    "email": "someone@thisdomaindoesnotexist-zzqx9.com",
    "normalized": "someone@thisdomaindoesnotexist-zzqx9.com",
    "isValidSyntax": true,
    "localPart": "someone",
    "domain": "thisdomaindoesnotexist-zzqx9.com",
    "hasMx": false,
    "mxRecords": [],
    "isDisposable": false,
    "isRoleAccount": false,
    "isFreeProvider": false,
    "typoSuggestion": null,
    "score": 5,
    "verdict": "invalid",
    "reasons": ["domain_not_found"],
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T02:39:55.598Z"
  },
  {
    "email": "not-an-email",
    "normalized": null,
    "isValidSyntax": false,
    "localPart": null,
    "domain": null,
    "hasMx": null,
    "mxRecords": [],
    "isDisposable": false,
    "isRoleAccount": false,
    "isFreeProvider": false,
    "typoSuggestion": null,
    "score": 0,
    "verdict": "invalid",
    "reasons": ["missing_at_or_part"],
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T02:39:55.615Z"
  }
]

How the verdict works

Start at 100, then: domain cannot receive mail → 5; MX missing but A record present → −25; disposable → −60; possible typo → −30; role account → −15; DNS lookup failed → −20. valid = score 80+ and the domain accepts mail. risky = 40–79. invalid = below 40, bad syntax, or a domain that cannot receive mail.

SUMMARY record (key-value store, free)

{
  "total": 33,
  "verdicts": { "valid": 15, "risky": 5, "invalid": 13 },
  "disposable": 6,
  "roleAccounts": 5,
  "freeProvider": 8,
  "typoSuggestions": 5,
  "badSyntax": 6,
  "topDomains": [{ "domain": "gmail.com", "count": 3 }, { "domain": "outlook.com", "count": 1 }, { "domain": "yahoo.com", "count": 1 }],
  "uniqueDomains": 28,
  "dns": { "system": 27, "doh": 0, "failed": 0 },
  "stoppedForBudget": false,
  "failed": 0,
  "durationSec": 0.6
}

Download results as JSON, CSV, Excel or via the API. Filter on verdict to get your clean list.

Pricing

Pay per result: you pay only for emails checked and saved to the dataset. An invalid email is still a result (knowing it is invalid is the point). Duplicates removed by dedupe are free, and internal errors are free (they go to the FAILED record, not the dataset). Set a maximum cost per run and the Actor stops cleanly when it is reached.

Limits (please read)

• Mailbox existence is not checked. There is no SMTP probing: port 25 is blocked on most cloud platforms, and "pinging" mailboxes is spammy and unreliable (many servers accept everything or block verifiers). "valid" means the address is well-formed and its domain accepts mail, not that the specific mailbox exists. A small share of valid addresses may still bounce.
• Catch-all domains, full mailboxes and deactivated accounts cannot be detected without sending mail.
• The disposable list has 10,000+ domains but new throwaway services appear daily, so some will be missed.
• Typo suggestions cover popular consumer providers and clear TLD typos (.con, .cmo, .ner...). They are suggestions only; the Actor never changes your data.
• 100,000 emails per run. Split larger lists across runs.
• DNS uses the system resolver with Google Public DNS-over-HTTPS as a fallback. If both fail for a domain, the email gets dns_lookup_failed and a risky verdict instead of a wrong invalid.

FAQ

Do I need an account or API key? Only an Apify account. No third-party API keys.

Does this Actor find emails? No. It only checks addresses you supply. It is a list-cleaning tool, not a lead or email finder.

Is it legal? The Actor performs public DNS lookups on domains and never contacts the mailbox. You are responsible for having a lawful basis for the email data you process (for example consent under GDPR or the PDPA) and for following anti-spam laws such as CAN-SPAM when you send.

Do you store my list? Results stay in your own Apify storage. The Actor does not send your emails anywhere except the domain names to DNS resolvers.

Why is a gmail typo like gmial.com also marked disposable? Some typo domains are registered by throwaway mail services and appear on the public disposable list. Either way, the fix is the typoSuggestion.