Validate an email list in bulk before you send

Every bounced email costs you a little sender reputation, and a list full of typos, throwaway sign-ups and dead domains costs a lot. Before a campaign, a CRM import or an ad-audience upload you want to know which addresses are worth keeping. This guide shows how to check a whole list at once and get a verdict and a 0–100 score for every address, for $0.50 per 1,000 emails.

One thing up front, because it matters: this is syntax + DNS/MX + list-based validation. It does not open an SMTP connection to ask a mail server whether one specific mailbox exists — outbound port 25 is blocked on Apify, as on most cloud platforms. Below we explain what that means in practice and when you should add an SMTP check on top.

What you get

Each address becomes one row. A real row from a recorded run:

{
  "email": "[email protected]",
  "normalizedEmail": "[email protected]",
  "isValidSyntax": true,
  "localPart": "support",
  "domain": "apify.com",
  "domainAscii": "apify.com",
  "hasMx": true,
  "mxRecords": [
    "aspmx.l.google.com",
    "alt2.aspmx.l.google.com",
    "alt1.aspmx.l.google.com"
  ],
  "mxFallback": false,
  "mxProvider": "Google Workspace",
  "isDisposable": false,
  "isFreeProvider": false,
  "isRoleAddress": true,
  "didYouMean": null,
  "deliverability": "risky",
  "score": 85,
  "reasons": [
    "Local part looks like a role account (e.g. info@, support@), not a named person"
  ],
  "error": null,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-28T10:50:28.149Z"
}

Step-by-step

1. Open the tool and paste your list into Emails — straight from a CRM export or sign-up log. Blank lines and duplicates are ignored.
2. Keep Check MX / A records on. This is the check that catches dead and misspelled domains. Turn it off only for a quick syntax-and-lists pass.
3. For lists of thousands, raise Max concurrency to 20–30. Lower it to 2–3 if you see DNS timeouts.
4. Click Start, then filter the results on deliverability or score and export to CSV or Excel.

Run Email Validator & Verifier — Bulk Email Check on Apify →

Call it from code

import json
import os
from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient(os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"])
run = client.actor("webdatatools/email-validator").call(run_input=json.loads("{\n    "emails": [\n        "[email protected]",\n        "[email protected]",\n        "[email protected]"\n    ],\n    "checkMx": true,\n    "maxConcurrency": 10\n}"))
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('webdatatools/email-validator').call({
    "emails": [
        "[email protected]",
        "[email protected]",
        "[email protected]"
    ],
    "checkMx": true,
    "maxConcurrency": 10
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/webdatatools~email-validator/run-sync-get-dataset-items" 
-H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" 
-H "Content-Type: application/json" 
-d '{"emails":["[email protected]","[email protected]","[email protected]"],"checkMx":true,"maxConcurrency":10}'

For single addresses in real time — say, a sign-up form — the tool also runs in Apify's Standby mode: a GET request with ?email= (or [email protected],[email protected]) to its standby URL returns the scored rows directly, without starting a batch run.

Recipes

Clean a lead list before the first send

Run the list, keep rows with deliverability = deliverable-likely, and review the risky ones by hand. Drop every undeliverable row and every isDisposable: true address. If your campaign targets people rather than inboxes, set role addresses aside as well.

Validate what the Email Extractor found

Crawled a list of company websites with the Email Extractor? Start this tool with inputDatasetId set to that run's dataset ID and inputField set to emails. The emails array of every domain is flattened, so a 50-domain run with two or three addresses per site becomes 100–150 scored rows. Addresses from the dataset are merged and de-duplicated with anything you also paste into Emails.

Catch typos at sign-up

Call the standby endpoint from your form's backend. When didYouMean is filled — [email protected] → [email protected] — ask the user "did you mean…?" before saving. Typos fixed at the door never become bounces later.

How much does it cost?

Primary event rates from a catalog snapshot; this is not the total price of a run. Additional charge events and Actor Start fees may apply; start fees can scale with memory. Check the Actor's Pricing tab on Apify for all events, conditions and current plan-specific rates, and set a maximum run budget before starting.

Each address needs at most one DNS lookup, so a list of 10,000 runs in a few minutes. Set Maximum cost per run and the tool trims the list to what the budget covers.

How it compares

The honest summary: DNS and list checks catch most real-world problems — typos, dead domains, throwaway addresses, generic inboxes — at very low cost. When a near-zero bounce rate matters more than cost (a high-value cold campaign, a paid audience upload), run this tool first and send only the survivors to an SMTP verifier. You pay the expensive check on a much shorter list.

Responsible use

Validating addresses you already hold is routine list hygiene. If those addresses belong to people, data-protection law (GDPR, UK GDPR, KVKK) and anti-spam rules (CAN-SPAM, PECR) still apply to how you collected and use them: keep a lawful basis, honour unsubscribes and suppress opted-out addresses before every send. The tool only reads public DNS records — it never sends a message or reads any mailbox.

Check your own sending domain

Validating addresses tells you who you can reach; your own domain's SPF and DMARC decide whether that mail lands in the inbox. The free instant domain check shows a domain's SPF, DMARC, MX records and registration expiry in seconds, without signing up.

FAQ

Does it confirm that a mailbox actually exists?

No. It confirms the address is well formed, that its domain can receive mail and whether it is disposable, free or a role account. A valid address on a working domain can still bounce if that particular mailbox was never created; ruling that out needs an SMTP handshake, which cloud platforms block.

What does "unknown" mean?

The domain's mail setup wasn't confirmed in this run — either Check MX / A records was off or the DNS lookup failed (for example a timeout). The address may be fine; re-run it or treat it as unverified.

How current is the disposable-domain list?

It is a curated snapshot embedded in the tool, not a live feed. New throwaway services appear constantly, so treat isDisposable as a strong signal rather than a guarantee.

Why didn't my Gmail address get a typo suggestion?

didYouMean only fires when the domain is not already an exact known provider and is within a couple of characters of one — gmial.com or yahooo.com. A correct gmail.com never triggers it.

Can I export the results?

Yes — JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML from the Output tab, or through the API.