# ZeroBounce review (2026): fast, accurate, and no fakes passed By [Florian Martens](https://pipe0.com/authors/florian-martens) ยท Published Oct 6, 2026 Source: https://pipe0.com/reviews/zerobounce Scoring method: https://pipe0.com/reviews#methodology Disclosure: pipe0 buys verification from ZeroBounce and offers it as a pipe. The scores come from our own benchmark, not from that relationship. > ZeroBounce got 96 of 100 labelled addresses right in our test, one behind LeadMagic, and passed no fake address as valid. It costs several times more per check than budget verifiers, and new accounts' credits now expire. **Verdict: 4.2/5.** One of the two most accurate email verifiers we tested and the fastest, with no fake passed as valid and real answers on work domains. You pay three to seven times a budget verifier for it. | Criterion | Score | Why | | --- | --- | --- | | Ease of use | 4.5/5 | Upload a list or call one endpoint. 100 free checks a month, clear statuses, and sub-statuses that say why an address failed. | | Data quality | 4.7/5 | 96 of 100 labelled addresses right, no fake passed as valid, and only 2 undetermined. It resolved work domains another verifier gave up on. | | Pricing value | 3.0/5 | From 2 cents a check on small packs to 0.3 cents at volume, several times a budget verifier. Catch-all results are charged. | | API and agent access | 4.5/5 | An official MCP server, SDKs in 13 languages, a batch endpoint, and a rate limit of 80,000 checks per 10 seconds. | | **Overall** (mean) | **4.2/5** | | **Best for:** - Cold outbound to work addresses, where a bounce hurts the domain - Teams that need a definite answer on catch-all-looking domains - Companies that need SOC 2, ISO 27001, or HIPAA paperwork **Skip it if:** - You verify millions of consumer addresses and price is everything - You buy credits once and use them over several years **Price:** from $39 for 2,000 checks, pay as you go. Free plan available. ## ZeroBounce at a glance - **Founded:** 2013 by Liviu Tanase, who is CEO ([source](https://www.zerobounce.net/about)) - **Headquarters:** Santa Barbara, California ([source](https://www.zerobounce.net/about)) - **Customers:** 650,000+, according to ZeroBounce ([source](https://www.zerobounce.net/facts)) - **Verdicts:** valid, invalid, catch-all, unknown, spamtrap, abuse, do_not_mail, each with a sub-status ([source](https://www.zerobounce.net/docs/email-validation-api-quickstart/v2-status-codes)) - **API:** Real-time and batch endpoints, 80,000 requests per 10 seconds, SDKs in 13 languages ([source](https://www.zerobounce.net/docs/api-dashboard/api-rate-limits)) - **MCP server:** Official and open source, for Claude Desktop, Cursor, and VS Code ([source](https://www.zerobounce.net/mcp)) - **Compliance:** SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, and HIPAA, according to ZeroBounce ([source](https://www.zerobounce.net/trust)) - **Data centers:** Frankfurt and New York ([source](https://www.zerobounce.net/docs/api-dashboard/api-endpoints)) ## ZeroBounce in our benchmark pipe0 ran the same labelled addresses through every verifier it tests and scored each verdict against the known answer (October 2026). ### Verifier scorecard (run 20261006T201548Z-886a) 100 labelled addresses, 50 known valid and 50 known invalid. Catch-all and unknown count as undetermined, never as wrong. | Verifier | Accuracy | Real confirmed | Fakes caught | Fakes passed as valid | Real called invalid | Undetermined | Median time | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | ZeroBounce | 96% | 47/50 | 49/50 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.3 s | | MixRank | 93% | 47/50 | 46/50 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1.3 s | | LeadMagic | 97% | 49/50 | 48/50 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2.0 s | | MillionVerifier | 66% | 31/50 | 35/50 | 1 | 1 | 32 | 0.7 s | ### How fast ZeroBounce answers Email verification, median response time per lookup (run 20261006T201402Z-a061). - ZeroBounce: 0.3 s - MillionVerifier (low-cost): 0.7 s - MixRank: 1.3 s ### How often ZeroBounce agrees with other providers Email verification, 100 labelled addresses (run 20261006T201548Z-886a). - MixRank: ZeroBounce and MixRank returned the same verdict for 93 of 100 addresses (93%). - MillionVerifier (low-cost): ZeroBounce and MillionVerifier returned the same verdict for 67 of 100 addresses (67%). - Every verifier got all 20 real Gmail addresses, all 20 fake Gmail and Outlook addresses, and all 10 addresses at nonexistent domains right. The differences are all on work domains. - One real address was called invalid by every verifier. A sign-in 45 days earlier proves the Google account then, not the address today, so it may be a labelling error. - Median times come from the first, fully uncached run (20261006T201402Z-a061). - Samples are small, 100 records per test, so treat a few points of difference as noise. - Known-valid addresses are pipe0 users with a live Google sign-in in the last 45 days; known-invalid addresses are synthetic, with no person behind them. - Catch-all, unknown, and risky verdicts count as undetermined, never as wrong. Only a fake passed as valid or a real address called invalid is an error. ## What is ZeroBounce? [#what-is-zerobounce] ZeroBounce checks whether an email address will accept mail before you send to it. Liviu Tanase founded it in 2013 in Santa Barbara, and it says more than 650,000 customers use it, from people cleaning a newsletter list to outbound teams checking every address before a sequence starts. You can upload a list or call one endpoint per address. Each check returns one of seven statuses (valid, invalid, catch-all, unknown, spamtrap, abuse, or do not mail) with a sub-status that says why, such as `mailbox_not_found` or `greylisted`. Around that, ZeroBounce has built a deliverability suite: an email finder, warmup, DMARC and blacklist monitoring, and inbox placement tests. ## How it did in our test [#how-it-did-in-our-test] We ran 100 labelled addresses through four verifiers. Fifty were real: pipe0 users who had signed in with Google in the previous 45 days, 30 on work domains and 20 on Gmail. Fifty were fake: random mailboxes at Gmail, Outlook, and well-known company domains, and addresses at domains that don't exist. ZeroBounce got 96 of them right. It confirmed 47 of the 50 real addresses and caught 49 of the 50 fakes, and it passed none of the fakes as valid. If you had sent only to the addresses it called valid, nothing in this test would have bounced. Every verifier handled the easy cases perfectly: real Gmail addresses, random Gmail and Outlook mailboxes, and domains with no mail server. The difference was entirely on work domains. On 30 real work addresses, ZeroBounce gave a definite answer on 29. MillionVerifier called 18 of the same 30 catch-all, which in practice means "send at your own risk". ZeroBounce called two real addresses invalid. One of those, every verifier rejected, which suggests the address stopped existing after the user's last sign-in rather than an error by ZeroBounce. ## What it costs [#what-it-costs] Pay-as-you-go packs start at $39 for 2,000 checks, almost 2 cents each, and fall to about 0.3 cents a check at a million or more. ZeroBounce ONE, the subscription, costs $79 a month billed annually for 10,000 checks a month plus the deliverability tools. There are 100 free checks a month for a business email address. That is several times the price of budget verifiers: 10,000 checks cost $129 at ZeroBounce and $39 at MillionVerifier. Unknown results are free, but catch-all results are billed. One change to know about: for accounts created after June 1, 2026, credits expire two years after the last purchase unless a subscription is active. ## ZeroBounce for developers and agents [#zerobounce-for-developers-and-agents] The API has a real-time endpoint, a batch endpoint for 100 addresses per request, and a bulk file API, with SDKs in 13 languages and a limit of 80,000 requests per 10 seconds. It answered in a median of 0.3 seconds in our test, the fastest of the four. ZeroBounce also publishes an official, open-source MCP server, so an agent in Claude, Cursor, or VS Code can verify an address before it writes to a CRM or a sequence. For companies with security reviews, ZeroBounce says it holds SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, and HIPAA certifications, and it runs its own data centers in Frankfurt and New York. ## ZeroBounce and pipe0 [#zerobounce-and-pipe0] We buy verification from ZeroBounce, and pipe0 offers it as a pipe you can add to a sheet next to email finding. We chose it for accuracy on work domains, which is where outbound lists live, and this benchmark is the reason it stays. ## Who should buy ZeroBounce [#who-should-buy-zerobounce] Buy ZeroBounce if you send to work addresses and a bounce costs you more than a check does: cold outbound, sales sequences, anything on a domain you care about. Its answers on catch-all-looking work domains are the reason to pay the premium. Look elsewhere if you verify very large consumer lists where price per check decides, or if you buy credits once and use them over years. Then [MillionVerifier](/reviews/millionverifier) costs a fraction and handles consumer addresses just as well. ## ZeroBounce pros and cons ### Pros - **Among the most accurate in our test.** ZeroBounce got 96 of 100 labelled addresses right: 47 of 50 real ones confirmed and 49 of 50 fakes caught, the most fakes caught of the four verifiers we tested. - **No fake passed as valid.** Not one of the 50 known-fake addresses came back valid, so a list that sends only to its valid addresses would have bounced on none of them. - **Answers where others hedge.** On 30 real work addresses, ZeroBounce gave a definite verdict on 29. A budget verifier called 18 of the same 30 catch-all. - **Fast and agent-ready.** A median of 0.3 seconds per check, the fastest of the four, an official MCP server for Claude, Cursor, and VS Code, and SDKs in 13 languages. ### Cons - **Several times the price of budget verifiers.** 10,000 checks cost $129 against $39 at MillionVerifier, and 1 million cost $3,199 against $449. - **Credits now expire.** For accounts created after June 1, 2026, credits expire two years after the last purchase unless a ZeroBounce ONE subscription is active. Older pages still say credits never expire. - **Catch-all results are billed.** Unknown results are free, but a catch-all verdict costs a credit like any other. - **Real addresses can be rejected.** It called 2 of our 50 real addresses invalid. One of them every verifier rejected, so the label itself may be wrong. ## ZeroBounce pricing | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Free | $0 | 100 validations a month on a business domain, plus small monitoring and email finder allowances. | | Pay as you go | $39 to $26,998 | 2,000 checks for $39, 10,000 for $129, 100,000 for $649, 1 million for $3,199, down to 0.27 cents a check at 5 million. | | ZeroBounce ONE | $79/mo annual, $99 monthly | 10,000 checks a month, warmup, DMARC and blacklist monitoring, inbox placement tests, email finder, and 15% off extra credits. | - One credit per check. Unknown results and duplicates are free; catch-all results are charged. - Credits for accounts registered after June 1, 2026 expire two years after the most recent purchase unless ZeroBounce ONE is active. - ZeroBounce guarantees 99.6% accuracy on lists of 1,000+ opt-in addresses, refunding five times the shortfall if you send only to the valid file within 72 hours and share bounce codes. Prices as of Oct 6, 2026, from https://www.zerobounce.net/email-validation-pricing. ## ZeroBounce alternatives - [MillionVerifier](https://pipe0.com/reviews/millionverifier): You verify large consumer lists and the price per check matters more than catch-all answers. - [pipe0](https://pipe0.com/docs/pipe-catalog): You want ZeroBounce verification as a column next to email finding and enrichment, billed in one subscription. - [Hunter](https://pipe0.com/reviews/hunter): You also need to find work emails, with verification included. ## FAQ ### Is ZeroBounce accurate? In our test it was the second most accurate of four verifiers: 96 of 100 labelled addresses right, 47 of 50 real addresses confirmed, and 49 of 50 fake addresses caught. It passed no fake address as valid. ### How much does ZeroBounce cost? Pay-as-you-go packs start at $39 for 2,000 checks and fall to about 0.3 cents a check at a million or more. ZeroBounce ONE costs $79 a month billed annually for 10,000 checks plus deliverability tools. There are 100 free checks a month. ### ZeroBounce or MillionVerifier: which is better? ZeroBounce was more accurate in our test, 96% against 66%, mostly because it gave definite answers on work domains that MillionVerifier called catch-all. MillionVerifier is three to seven times cheaper per check. ### Do ZeroBounce credits expire? For accounts registered after June 1, 2026, yes: credits expire two years after the most recent purchase unless a ZeroBounce ONE subscription is active. Older accounts and some ZeroBounce pages still describe credits that never expire. ### Does ZeroBounce have an API and an MCP server? Yes. The API has real-time and batch endpoints with SDKs in 13 languages, and ZeroBounce publishes an official open-source MCP server for Claude Desktop, Cursor, and VS Code.