Email Domain & Deliverability Checker (no SMTP)

Clean an email list without sending anything and without SMTP mailbox probing. Every address gets:

• Syntax validation (RFC 5321/5322 rules that real mailboxes use, plus IDN domains). Name <a@b.com> and mailto: inputs are accepted.
• Domain checks: does the domain exist, MX records, null MX (RFC 7505), implicit MX (A record only), and the mail provider (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, …).
• Disposable / throwaway detection, using the public, community-maintained disposable-email-domains list (~10k domains) plus your own additions.
• Role address detection (info@, sales@, support@, noreply@ …) and free provider detection (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo …).
• Typo suggestions: jane@gmial.com → jane@gmail.com.
• SPF / DMARC on the domain (optional).
• Verdict (deliverable / risky / undeliverable / unknown), a 0–100 score, and the reasons behind it.

What it does not do

It does not connect to mail servers, so it can't confirm that a specific mailbox exists or detect catch-all domains. That trade-off is deliberate: SMTP probing gets your IPs blocklisted, is unreliable against Gmail and Microsoft 365, and is unwelcome to mail operators. Use this Actor to remove obviously bad, risky and mistyped addresses before you send.

Use cases

• Pre-clean lists before paid SMTP verification: remove syntax errors, dead domains and disposable addresses for $0.50 per 1,000.
• Sign-up form hygiene: flag disposable and typo'd addresses (gmial.com → gmail.com).
• Lead list QA: flag role addresses (info@, sales@) and free-mail addresses in B2B lists.
• Mail-provider segmentation: Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 vs others, from MX.
• CRM data quality jobs on a schedule.

Input

{ "emails": ["someone@gmail.com", "info@apify.com", "test@mailinator.com", "jane@gmial.com", "bad@@x"] }

Output sample

{
  "input": "jane@gmial.com", "email": "jane@gmial.com", "domain": "gmial.com",
  "syntaxValid": true, "domainExists": true, "mxRecords": ["..."], "nullMx": false,
  "disposable": false, "role": false, "freeProvider": false,
  "typoSuggestion": "gmail.com", "suggestedEmail": "jane@gmail.com",
  "spf": false, "dmarc": false, "mailProvider": null,
  "verdict": "risky", "score": 50, "reasons": ["possible typo of gmail.com", "domain has no SPF", "domain has no DMARC"],
  "charged": true
}

The dataset has two views: Overview and Technical.

Pricing (pay per event)

Event	Price	When
email-checked	$0.0005 per email	A unique email with valid syntax whose domain DNS lookup completed. A result that says the domain doesn't exist counts as completed.

Invalid syntax, duplicates and DNS timeouts or failures are never charged. Invalid-syntax rows still appear in the dataset so you can see them. DNS answers are cached per domain, so large lists from the same company domains run quickly.

Cost example: a 10,000-address list costs about $5.00 in events, plus a few cents of platform usage.

Use it from AI agents (MCP), Zapier, Make, n8n or the API

AI agents (Claude, Cursor, VS Code, ChatGPT and other MCP clients). Add Apify's hosted MCP server with just this Actor as a tool:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=steadyline/email-deliverability-checker"
    }
  }
}

Sign in with Apify (OAuth) on first connect, or add an Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN> header. Then ask your agent, for example:

Use steadyline/email-deliverability-checker to clean this list of 500 emails: drop undeliverable and disposable addresses and fix obvious typos.

The agent sees this Actor's input schema and output fields, so it can call it without extra prompting. Agents that use the general Apify MCP server can also find it with search-actors.

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing with limited permissions, so it can also be run through Apify's agentic payments (no Apify account needed for the agent). See the Apify docs.

Zapier, Make and n8n. Use the official Apify app: Zapier "Run Actor" action, Make "Run an Actor" module, or the n8n Apify node. Choose steadyline/email-deliverability-checker, paste the input below, then use "Get dataset items" (or the run's dataset) to send results to Google Sheets, Slack, a CRM or a database.

API (any language). Run it and get the results in one call:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/steadyline~email-deliverability-checker/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"emails": ["someone@gmail.com", "info@apify.com", "test@mailinator.com", "jane@gmial.com"]}'

Or with the Python client (pip install apify-client):

from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient("<APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("steadyline/email-deliverability-checker").call(run_input={"emails": ["someone@gmail.com", "info@apify.com", "test@mailinator.com", "jane@gmial.com"]})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

Works well with other Steadyline Data tools

• Tech-targeted lead list: Tech Stack Detector → Website Contact Extractor → this Actor to clean the emails.
• List hygiene: this Actor, then Domain Intel on the remaining company domains for SPF/DMARC and mail provider.
• Related: Website Contact Scraper, Domain Intel (WHOIS/RDAP, DNS, SSL), Tech Stack Detector.

FAQ

Does it verify that the mailbox exists? No. It never connects to mail servers over SMTP or sends mail. It checks everything that can be known from syntax and DNS. Use it to remove obvious bad addresses before you pay for SMTP verification.

Which addresses are charged? Each email checked is $0.0005. Rows that fail syntax, and rows where the DNS lookup itself fails, are returned with charged: false.

What does the verdict mean? deliverable (score ≥ 70), risky (40–69, e.g. typo, disposable, no SPF/DMARC) or undeliverable (bad syntax, no such domain, null MX). reasons explains each verdict.

Can I run it on a schedule? Yes. Create an Apify Schedule (or a saved Task with a schedule) and connect a webhook or integration to receive results.

Need a feature or found a bug? Open an issue on the Issues tab of this page or email steadylinedata@proton.me. Built and maintained by Steadyline Data.

Acceptable use

Use this Actor only on lists you are legally allowed to process: for example, your own customers, sign-ups or CRM contacts, under a legitimate interest or consent. It reads public DNS data only and never contacts mailboxes. Don't use it to build or validate lists for unsolicited bulk email. You're responsible for complying with GDPR, CAN-SPAM, CASL and similar laws.

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Built and maintained by Steadyline Data. The disposable list comes from the public disposable-email-domains project (CC0).