Free email checker

What this tool does

The email checker runs the full Verifyre pipeline on a single address and streams every stage to you as it settles. First the address is parsed against the practical RFC 5321 rules and normalised (dots and plus tags on Gmail are folded, so two spellings of one mailbox are treated as one). Then the domain is resolved: do MX records exist, which hosts accept mail for it, and in what order of priority? SPF and DMARC are read at the same time. The domain and local part are checked against a daily-refreshed list of more than 10,000 disposable providers, a list of free mailbox providers and about 80 role prefixes such as info@ and sales@.

Then comes the part a database can never replace. Verifyre connects to the best mail exchanger on port 25 and holds an ordinary SMTP conversation: EHLO, MAIL FROM, RCPT TO. The server's reply to RCPT TO is the answer. A 250 means the mailbox exists and accepts mail; a 550 5.1.1 means there is no such user; a 450 or 451 means the server is greylisting and wants us to try again later; 452 or 552 means the mailbox is over quota. The conversation ends with QUIT before any DATA command, so no message is ever delivered and the owner of the address sees nothing.

If the real address was accepted, a second RCPT TO with a random name at the same domain tells us whether the domain is a catch-all. Accepting both means the server does not check names, and the result is scored as risky rather than deliverable.

Reading the result

Every check ends with one of four verdicts and a score from 0 to 100. Deliverable means the server confirmed the mailbox and nothing else raised a flag. Risky means the address might deliver: catch-all domains, role accounts, full mailboxes and providers that refuse to confirm individual mailboxes all land here. Undeliverable means mail will bounce: the mailbox does not exist, the domain has no mail service, the provider is disposable or the syntax is wrong. Unknown means the server would not answer either way, usually because of greylisting; re-check in a few hours.

The transcript panel shows the exact dialogue, timestamped. If a verdict surprises you, the reply codes explain it. Anonymous visitors can run a handful of checks an hour; a free account adds 100 credits, bulk uploads and the API.