# Bulk Email Validator: MX, Disposable & Role Check (`waags/bulk-email-validator`) Actor

Validate email lists in bulk: syntax, domain and MX records, disposable and role addresses, free providers, typos (gmial.com), SPF/DMARC and mail provider, each with a valid/risky/invalid verdict and a score. No SMTP pings, no API key.

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

## Pricing

$0.24 / 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.

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

## Bulk Email Validator: MX, Disposable, Role & Typo Check

**Validate and clean email lists in bulk** before you send. For every address you get a clear **`valid` / `risky` / `invalid` / `unknown` verdict**, a **0–100 score** and the reasons behind it: syntax, **domain existence and MX records**, **disposable / temporary email**, **role accounts** (info@, sales@, support@), **free providers** (Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook…), **typo detection with "did you mean"** (gmial.com → gmail.com), the **mail provider** (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Proofpoint, Mimecast…) and **SPF / DMARC** presence.

**DNS-only verification:** no SMTP pings and no emails sent, so your IPs and domains are never put at risk and runs finish in seconds. **No API key needed.**

### Why use this email verifier?

- ✅ **One clear verdict per email**, ready for filtering in Excel, Google Sheets or your CRM
- 🧹 **Cuts bounces** by removing non-existent domains, domains without mail servers and null-MX domains
- 🗑️ **Detects about 9,000 disposable domains** (Mailinator, Guerrilla Mail, 10 Minute Mail…) from a maintained open-source blocklist, plus 14,000+ free-provider domains
- 👥 **Flags role accounts** (info@, sales@, admin@, no-reply@…) that hurt cold-email deliverability
- ✍️ **Catches typos** in popular providers (`gmial.com`, `hotmial.com`, `yahoo.con`) and suggests the fix
- 🏢 **Free vs. business email** split: separate B2B prospects from personal addresses
- 📬 **Mail provider detection** from MX records: know whether a company uses Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or a security gateway
- 🔐 **SPF & DMARC** checks as a domain-quality signal
- 🔗 **Chains with other actors:** validate the emails in any Apify dataset (e.g. a lead scraper's output) by its ID
- 💸 **Very low price per email**, deduplication included (duplicates are free), plus an "only valid" output mode where you pay only for good emails

### Use cases

- **Cold email & outbound:** clean lists before loading them into Instantly, Lemlist, Apollo, Smartlead or HubSpot sequences
- **Lead generation pipelines:** verify emails scraped from websites, Google Maps, directories or government data (e.g. our [FMCSA trucking leads](https://apify.com/waags/fmcsa-trucking-carrier-leads))
- **Sign-up forms & CRM hygiene:** find fake, disposable and mistyped addresses in your user base
- **Pre-filter for paid SMTP verifiers:** remove obvious invalids first and pay less to ZeroBounce, NeverBounce or similar services

### How to use it

1. Click **Try for free**. The input is prefilled with sample emails that show every verdict.
2. Paste your emails (one per line), **or** pick an **Input dataset** (e.g. a lead scraper's output) and set the **Email field**.
3. Click **Start** and export to **CSV, Excel or JSON**. Filter by `status`.
4. Use it from code through the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2), or in **Zapier / Make / n8n** to validate emails in real time as leads arrive.

#### Input example

```json
{
    "emails": ["john.smith@gmail.com", "info@acme.com", "jane@gmial.com", "test@mailinator.com"],
    "checkDns": true,
    "checkSpfDmarc": true,
    "dedupe": true,
    "onlyValid": false,
    "maxItems": 10000
}
```

To validate another dataset: `{ "inputDatasetId": "abc123XYZ", "emailField": "email" }`. Dot paths such as `contact.email` and arrays of emails are supported.

#### Output example

```json
{
    "email": "jane@gmial.com",
    "normalizedEmail": "jane@gmial.com",
    "status": "risky",
    "score": 0,
    "reasons": ["no_mx_uses_a_record", "disposable_domain", "possible_typo"],
    "isValidSyntax": true,
    "domain": "gmial.com",
    "isFreeProvider": true,
    "isDisposable": true,
    "isRoleAccount": false,
    "didYouMean": "jane@gmail.com",
    "domainExists": true,
    "hasMxRecords": false,
    "mxRecords": [],
    "mailProvider": null,
    "hasSpf": false,
    "hasDmarc": false
}
```

#### Verdicts

| Status | Meaning | Typical action |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `valid` | Correct syntax, domain exists and has mail servers, not disposable/role/typo | Send |
| `risky` | Deliverable domain but disposable, role account, likely typo, or no MX (A-record fallback) | Review, fix the typo, or exclude from cold email |
| `invalid` | Bad syntax, domain does not exist, domain refuses email (null MX) or has no mail server | Remove |
| `unknown` | DNS timed out | Re-run later |

A run summary (`valid / risky / invalid / unknown` counts) is saved to the key-value store as `SUMMARY`.

### Pricing

Pay-per-event: a fixed price per email saved, currently **about $0.24 per 1,000 emails** (see the **Pricing** tab). There is no start fee and no compute charge on top. Duplicates are removed for free, and with **Output only valid emails** you pay only for the good ones. Cap spend with `maxItems`.

### FAQ

**Does it confirm the mailbox exists?** No. This validator does not connect to mail servers (SMTP). It checks everything that can be verified safely from DNS and public lists. That catches most hard bounces (bad domains, no MX, typos, disposables) without risking your sender reputation. Mailbox-level checks on catch-all servers are unreliable anyway.

**How accurate is the disposable list?** It uses the community-maintained `disposable-email-domains` blocklist (about 9,000 domains, the most common throwaway services), refreshed whenever the actor is rebuilt.

**Is my data stored?** Emails are processed only in your own Apify run and saved only in your own dataset.

**Can I validate millions of emails?** Yes. DNS results are cached per domain, so large lists are fast. Split very large lists into runs of a few hundred thousand.

**Something wrong?** Report it on the **Issues** tab. The actor is monitored daily.

### Related actors by WAAGS

- [US Phone Number Validator](https://apify.com/waags/us-phone-number-validator): E.164, line type, US state and time zone
- [SEC Form D Funding Leads](https://apify.com/waags/sec-form-d-funding-leads) · [FMCSA Trucking Carrier Leads](https://apify.com/waags/fmcsa-trucking-carrier-leads) · [SAM.gov Contract Opportunities](https://apify.com/waags/sam-gov-contract-opportunities)

# Actor input Schema

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

Email addresses to validate, one per line. You can paste thousands at once.

## `inputDatasetId` (type: `string`):

Pick another Apify dataset, e.g. the output of a lead scraper run, whose emails should be validated. Set the name of the field that holds them in "Email field".

## `emailField` (type: `string`):

Name of the field that holds the email in the input dataset. Dot notation is supported (e.g. contact.email). Arrays of emails are expanded.

## `checkDns` (type: `boolean`):

Look up the domain's MX (and A) records to confirm it can receive email. Disable for an instant syntax-only check.

## `checkSpfDmarc` (type: `boolean`):

Also report whether the domain publishes SPF and DMARC records, a strong sign of a real, maintained business domain.

## `dedupe` (type: `boolean`):

Validate each address only once (case-insensitive). Duplicates are not charged.

## `onlyValid` (type: `boolean`):

Save only emails with status "valid". You are only charged for saved results.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of emails to validate and save. You are charged per result, so this also caps your cost.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "emails": [
    "john.smith@gmail.com",
    "info@apify.com",
    "sales@stripe.com",
    "jane@gmial.com",
    "test@mailinator.com",
    "bob@nonexistent-domain-xyz-123.com",
    "not-an-email"
  ],
  "emailField": "email",
  "checkDns": true,
  "checkSpfDmarc": true,
  "dedupe": true,
  "onlyValid": false,
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

# 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.smith@gmail.com",
        "info@apify.com",
        "sales@stripe.com",
        "jane@gmial.com",
        "test@mailinator.com",
        "bob@nonexistent-domain-xyz-123.com",
        "not-an-email"
    ],
    "maxItems": 100
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("waags/bulk-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.smith@gmail.com",
        "info@apify.com",
        "sales@stripe.com",
        "jane@gmial.com",
        "test@mailinator.com",
        "bob@nonexistent-domain-xyz-123.com",
        "not-an-email",
    ],
    "maxItems": 100,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("waags/bulk-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.smith@gmail.com",
    "info@apify.com",
    "sales@stripe.com",
    "jane@gmial.com",
    "test@mailinator.com",
    "bob@nonexistent-domain-xyz-123.com",
    "not-an-email"
  ],
  "maxItems": 100
}' |
apify call waags/bulk-email-validator --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,waags/bulk-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/fzVQ4g6Nyu7NO1WMN/builds/x5vGbNQiFM6DCOodm/openapi.json