SINGLE EMAIL VALIDATOR - REAL TIME (V2)

Below are the instructions for our single email validator API, which requires SSL. The API also requires that you have an active credit balance and will never consume a credit for any unknown result. This endpoint can be called asynchronously and is not currently rate-limited.

To test out our API without using credits, please use the emails provided in our Sandbox Mode (v2).

The response time for our API is between one second and 30 seconds. Since APIs are meant to be fast by nature, we limit the amount of time we spend validating an email address. If we encounter a slow mail server or a mail server with a greylisting algorithm, you will get an unknown result. You can always revalidate those conditions by uploading a file to the bulk email validator.

On average, 96-98% of all domains will return in 1 to 5 seconds. There are a handful of domains that run on Postfix/Dovecot, which have a 20-second connection time for real-time validations, and a very small fraction of other domains that are slow to respond to SMTP inquiries. All major ISPs will respond in 1 to 3 seconds, which is typically the majority of email distribution.

- GET / POST /V2/VALIDATE

API DEFAULT URL: https://api.zerobounce.net/v2/validate

API U.S.A. URL*: https://api-us.zerobounce.net/v2/validate

API EU URL: https://api-eu.zerobounce.net/v2/validate

Starting September 3, 2026, this endpoint also accepts POST. Use the same parameters as GET, sent in the request body as application/x-www-form-urlencoded.

*This endpoint uses servers located within the United States. By utilizing this endpoint, you acknowledge and consent to your data being processed on servers in the United States.

URL / Body Parameters

Parameter
Description

email
The email address you want to validate
ip_address
The IP Address the email signed up from (Can be blank, or can be missing entirely)
api_key
Your API Key, found in your account.
timeout
The duration (3 - 60 seconds) allowed for the validation. If met, the API will return unknown / greylisted. (optional parameter)
Default is 30 seconds if a custom value in the timeout parameter is not specified.
activity_data
[true/false] +Activity Data information will be appended to the validation result. (optional parameter)
Learn more about Activity Data.
verify_plus
[true/false] +If set to ‘true,’ Verify+ validation method will be used to get the validation result. It overrides the account settings made regarding Verify+. (optional parameter)
Learn more about Verify+

If you want to call the API from your browser to test it, all you need to do is to replace the API KEY with your key:

https://api.zerobounce.net/v2/validate?api_key=replacewithyours&email=valid@example.com&ip_address=156.124.12.145

https://api-us.zerobounce.net/v2/validate?api_key=replacewithyours&email=valid@example.com&ip_address=156.124.12.145

https://api-eu.zerobounce.net/v2/validate?api_key=replacewithyours&email=valid@example.com&ip_address=156.124.12.145

TO VERIFY AN EMAIL ADDRESS, USE THE FOLLOWING CODES FOR THE FOLLOWING LANGUAGES:

Successful Response


    {
      "address": "john.doe@zerobounce.net",
      "status": "valid",
      "sub_status": "",
      "free_email": false,
      "catchall_domain": true,
      "did_you_mean": null,
      "account": "johndoe",
      "domain": "zerobounce.net",
      "domain_age_days": "3431",
      "active_in_days": "30",
      "active_first_seen": "2026-02-25",
      "smtp_provider": "g-suite",
      "mx_found": "true",
      "mx_record": "aspmx.l.google.com",
      "firstname": "dan",
      "lastname": "cotet",
      "gender": "male",
      "country": null,
      "region": null,
      "city": null,
      "zipcode": null,
      "processed_at": "2026-06-18 07:05:00.033"
  }

Error Response


    {"error":"Invalid API Key or your account ran out of credits"}
    // Failure response sample using the API with either method Get

THE API WILL RETURN THESE RESULTS IN A JSON FORMAT USING THE "VALIDATE" METHOD.

JSON Properties

Properties
Description

address
The email address you are validating.
status
[valid, invalid, catch-all, unknown, spamtrap, abuse, do_not_mail]
sub_status
[alternate, antispam_system, greylisted, mail_server_temporary_error, forcible_disconnect, mail_server_did_not_respond, timeout_exceeded, failed_smtp_connection, mailbox_quota_exceeded, exception_occurred, possible_trap, role_based, global_suppression, mailbox_not_found, no_dns_entries, failed_syntax_check, possible_typo, unroutable_ip_address, leading_period_removed, does_not_accept_mail, alias_address, role_based_catch_all, disposable, toxic, accept_all, gold]
account
The portion of the email address before the "@" symbol.
domain
The portion of the email address after the "@" symbol.
did_you_mean
Suggestive Fix for an email typo
domain_age_days
Age of the email domain in days or [null].
active_in_days
The last activity date that is less than [30/60/90/180/365/365+]
active_first_seen
The first date when we detected a signal (activity) for this email
free_email
[true/false] If the email comes from a free provider.
mx_found
[true/false] Does the domain have an MX record.
mx_record
The preferred MX record of the domain
smtp_provider
The SMTP Provider of the email or [null] [BETA].
catchall_domain
- [true/false or null] Is the domain name a catch-all (the domain email server responds with valid to any SMTP checks and emailing to an invalid might not bounce)?
firstname
The first name of the owner of the email when available or [null].
lastname
The last name of the owner of the email when available or [null].
gender
The gender of the owner of the email when available or [null].
city
The city of the IP passed in or [null]
region
The region/state of the IP passed in or [null]
zipcode
The zipcode of the IP passed in or [null]
country
The country of the IP passed in or [null]
processed_at
The UTC time the email was validated.

API Validation V2 Rate Limits

We allow a maximum of 80,000 requests in 10 seconds validations (100,000 for ZeroBounce ONE™ Customers) for the following endpoints:

https://api.zerobounce.net/v2/validate
https://api-us.zerobounce.net/v2/validate
https://api-eu.zerobounce.net/v2/validate

Exceeding this limit will result in a temporary block for 1 minute.

Bad API key requests (200 times in 1 hour) to the following endpoints will result in a temporary block for 1 hour:

https://api.zerobounce.net/v2/validate
https://api-us.zerobounce.net/v2/validate
https://api-eu.zerobounce.net/v2/validate

*This endpoint uses servers located within the United States. By utilizing this endpoint, you acknowledge and consent to your data being processed on servers in the United States.

If you require an increase beyond the default rate limits, please contact our support team to discuss your needs.