Frequently Asked Questions

Email verification is the process of validating that an email address exists, is properly formatted, and can receive emails. It helps maintain clean email lists, improve deliverability, and protect sender reputation.

ValidMail achieves 99%+ accuracy through a multi-layer verification process that includes syntax validation, DNS/MX checks, SMTP verification, disposable email detection, and ML-based risk scoring.

SMTP verification connects to the recipient's mail server and simulates the beginning of an email delivery without actually sending a message. This allows us to check if the mailbox exists and can receive emails.

Catch-all domains are configured to accept emails for any address at that domain, even if the specific mailbox doesn't exist. This makes verification less certain because the server will accept any address.

Disposable (or temporary) email addresses are short-lived addresses from services like Mailinator, TempMail, and 10MinuteMail. They're often used to avoid spam or for one-time signups. ValidMail detects over 120,000 disposable email domains.

Role-based addresses are generic emails associated with a function rather than a person, such as info@, support@, sales@, or admin@. They often have multiple recipients and higher bounce rates.

No. ValidMail uses SMTP handshake verification, which connects to mail servers and simulates the delivery process without sending actual emails. This is non-intrusive and doesn't affect the recipient.

Some email providers (like Microsoft 365 and some Gmail configurations) don't allow SMTP verification. In these cases, we use alternative signals like DNS records, domain reputation, and pattern analysis to estimate validity.

Single email verification typically takes 1-3 seconds. Some domains may take longer if their mail servers are slow to respond. Bulk verification processes approximately 1,000 emails per minute.

Yes! New accounts receive 100 free verification credits to test the service. After that, you can choose from our pricing plans.

Credits on paid plans are valid for 12 months from purchase. Free credits expire after 30 days of account inactivity.

Yes! Our API is designed for real-time verification with typical response times under 3 seconds. This allows you to validate emails during user registration or form submission.

We recommend graceful degradation: if verification fails due to a network error or timeout, let the user proceed and flag the email for later verification. See our error handling guide for detailed best practices.

The score (0-100) represents our confidence in the email's validity. Higher scores indicate higher confidence. A score of 85+ typically indicates a safe-to-send email, while scores below 50 suggest high risk.

Yes! ValidMail integrates with most email marketing platforms through our API or bulk upload feature. You can export cleaned lists to import into your platform, or integrate directly using our API.

Yes. We use industry-standard encryption (TLS 1.3) for all API communications. Email addresses are processed in real-time and we don't store them permanently. Bulk verification results are retained for 30 days and then automatically deleted.

Yes, ValidMail supports international email addresses including those with non-ASCII characters (internationalized domain names and email addresses per RFC 6530).

You'll receive a 429 status code with a Retry-After header indicating when you can resume. We recommend implementing exponential backoff in your code. See our rate limiting documentation for details.

We don't offer refunds for unused credits, but credits remain valid for 12 months. Contact support if you have special circumstances.

Yes, enterprise plans include a 99.9% uptime SLA, dedicated support, and custom rate limits. Contact our sales team for details.