Mailtester Review

Is It a Good Email Validation Tool for Email Marketers?

Are you wondering how well Mailtester works as an email validation tool? This review covers every facet of Mailtester so you can determine whether it’s the right choice compared to its competitors.

A woman in a white shirt and glasses sits at a desk with her hands crossed under her face and looks intently at a laptop screen in front of her.

Email marketing isn’t easy. Aside from writing and designing your emails, accumulating subscribers is a large part of the struggle. But even then, you have to take the right steps to get your emails landing in the inbox.

As an email marketer, you know that even the ideal email can result in crickets, and one of the top reasons is email decay. Even a vibrant email list doesn’t take long to get a few duds. Did you know that more than 25% of your database goes bad every year?

If you carry on with business as usual, you get bounces. It’s precisely why you’re looking for an email validation tool like Mailtester.

But you have to consider several aspects to make sure you avoid wasting time and money. There are so many services: some good, some not so good. You’re looking for an email validation tool that does a good job but also makes life easier for you.

We’re going to inspect Mailtester from all angles and also look at some other options so you can make a decision you’re happy with.

Let’s begin.

What is Mailtester?

Mailtester is a developing email validation platform based in Belgium. It allows its customers to verify email addresses and also includes an email finder, which appears to be under development.

Brecht Sanders started and designed Mailtester. Although the service has a California phone number, the business appears to be based in Belgium. The company's website states that you can “Reach the inbox. Increase your email ROI.”

Mailtester features

Mailtester markets its service on the company website as an email validation tool. It offers a supplemental feature called an Email Test and an email finder, which the company doesn’t heavily promote.

ZeroBounce Image Single Check: Mailtester’s single email verification

If you want to check a single email address, you can find that tool in the “Single Check” tab. Once you enter the email address into the form, a green circle will spin, and you’ll read “Loading” for several minutes.

At the time we tested it, Mailtester’s single check email verifier wasn't functioning properly.

ZeroBounce Image Bulk email list verification

With data degrading so quickly, you want to weed out poor-quality contacts at least once a quarter. If you want to check an entire email list with Mailtester, you can find that option in the “List Verification” tab. Then you upload a “comma separated” file in either .csv, .xls, .xlsx or .txt. format. You can also verify your email list using one of Mailterster’s available integrations.

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Mailtester doesn’t specify what types of risky email addresses the service detects. The help center with this information is malfunctioning or disabled on the website.

ZeroBounce Image Email deliverability testing

In addition to its email verification service, Mailtester seems to offer a few email deliverability tools. However, the way these tools are presented can be confusing.

Although each service is separate, they are featured together on one page, with minimal information regarding their functionality. The page appears to be an amalgamation of different tools – from inbox and mail server testing to blacklist monitoring.

ZeroBounce Image Mailtester accuracy for email validation

Mailtester proclaims “99% accurate email checker and email validation,” but why the two are differentiated is unclear. It’s difficult to substantiate Mailtester’s claims as its email checker frequently provides no result at all.

ZeroBounce Image Mailtester speed and email validation performance

When you get down to it, your email validation service is supposed to provide accurate results – and save you time and energy. If the service is cumbersome or performs poorly, it defeats much of the reason you’re using an email validation tool.

Efficiency and performance matter, so how does Mailtester fare?

The service is plagued with inefficiencies and malfunctions. It is sometimes quite slow but sometimes doesn’t yield any understandable result at all. It took us several attempts (and wasted credits) to find out whether an email was valid or not.

ZeroBounce Image Mailtester pricing

Mailtester offers subscription billing as well as a pay-as-you-go structure. The company begins providing a discount if you purchase 5,000 or more credits. Mailtester positions itself in the email marketing sphere as a cost-effective option.

Here’s how much it costs to use Mailtester’s email validation tool:

  • 500 credits - $5
  • 1,000 credits - $10
  • 2,500 credits - $25
  • 5,000 credits - $19
  • 30,000 credits - $59
  • 50,000 credits - $99
  • 100,000 credits - $199
  • 300,000 credits - $359

Although Mailtester may be one of the cheaper services, it’s also rudimentary and doesn’t leave you a lot of options if you run into trouble – which seems likely. Although the platform has the added perk of an email finder, it’s ineffective. The email finder will return many potential email address formats and never indicates which is correct.

Want to see a one-on-one comparison between Mailtester and ZeroBounce?

ZeroBounce Image Mailtester ease of use and integrations

One of the things Mailtester users will likely need help with is figuring out the platform. Issues start from the get-go. Signing up doesn’t result in a welcome email – leaving the user unsure if the signup was successful or not.

Mailtester works very slowly. Also, the analysis results don’t always give you a checkmark or the word “valid.” After reaching out to a support representative, the team member explained that there was a server issue and we couldn’t check email addresses at that time.

ZeroBounce Image Mailtester customer support

Mailtester claims to provide customer support through the following channels:

  • Email
  • Telephone (available on weekdays from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM Eastern time)
  • Chatbox

However, we found several issues:

  • It can take hours and hours to get a response via email or chat.
  • The phone number is either temporarily unavailable or disconnected. No phone support is available.

In a nutshell, Mailtester’s support is below par. One customer commented on the company’s Facebook page that, despite using two million credits monthly, their emails remained unanswered.

ZeroBounce Image Mailtester customer reviews

Mailtester has the most minuscule presence on review sites of all email verification services. The company has no presence on Trustpilot. However, Mailtester does have ten reviews on G2, where it scores 4.2 out of 5 stars – but no new reviews have been submitted since January 2023. Although some reviews are positive, one reviewer mentioned that the only good thing about Mailtester is the fact that it’s cheap.

ZeroBounce Image Mailtester alternatives and competitors

While Mailtester is a possible solution in the email list verification market, other services are more likely to suit your needs. Here are a few more reliable, convenient, and user-friendly services:

  • ZeroBounce: Known for its high accuracy rate of 99%, ZeroBounce offers features like blacklist monitoring, email scoring, and subscriber activity insights, making it in a class of its own.
  • NeverBounce: Offers good pricing and decent processing times, making it a common choice in the email marketing space.
  • BriteVerify: Another reasonably reliable email validation tool.
Verify 100 emails free

ZeroBounce Image Data protection at Mailtester

Perhaps the most shocking thing about Mailtester is that there is no information about any data protection accreditations or safeguards. The company doesn’t appear to have any information about GDPR compliance, which is the bare industry minimum.

How ZeroBounce is different

ZeroBounce is different from many of the run-of-the-mill options in the email validation market. On top of an email validation tool used by more than 350,000 companies, ZeroBounce offers additional features to help you increase email deliverability and connect with real prospects.

Want to take a closer look? Here’s an overview of ZeroBounce’s features.

ZeroBounce features

ZeroBounce has the most complete set of email deliverability tools that caters to every email marketing need, from marketers who are just getting started to established major corporations. From email validation (single, bulk, and real-time) to authentication, ZeroBounce helps you bolster email performance and sales – with 24/7 customer support.

ZeroBounce features

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Bulk & real-time email validation

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Email scoring

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Activity Data

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Verify+ from ZeroBounce

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Email deliverability tools

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Email authentication tools

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Email finder

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24/7 customer support

The No. 1 email validation service for 350,000+ clients

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Bulk and real-time email validation

ZeroBounce offers both bulk and real-time email validation. When you use them together. you’re assured that your email list is always clean and up-to-date. The real-time API integration is helpful for ongoing data collection and instant verification when someone enters an email address on any of your forms.

If you want to check emails on the go, ZeroBounce also gives you the option of a single email verifier. Just type in a contact and within seconds, you’ll see if it’s valid.

Verify+ from ZeroBounce

Verify+ from ZeroBounce does something other services cannot. Verify+ checks any Yahoo, AOL, and Verizon emails more likely to be disabled and may bounce. All email validation services faced a unique challenge in determining whether or not these accounts were disabled. ZeroBounce offers access to Verify+ free of charge to all customers using the email validation service.

Verify+ ensures 99% accuracy in verifying Yahoo-related email addresses. This feature helps you drastically reduce bounces from inactive accounts. Verify+ was an industry first, with other services offering no solution to this problem.

Email scoring

ZeroBounce’s email scoring tool analyzes your email list quality so you can determine the high-value contacts: those most likely to engage with your emails. This can take your email marketing ROI to the next level. The email scoring tool is beneficial for those looking to verify catch-all email addresses.

Activity Data

ZeroBounce’s Activity Data gives you information about the engagement of your email list, allowing you to target the most active and interested recipients. This tool will enable you to see to what degree your subscribers have been active in their inboxes in the past 365+ days.

Email deliverability tools

ZeroBounce offers a comprehensive set of tools to ramp up email deliverability, including blacklist monitoring, mail server testing, and inbox placement tests, ensuring your emails reach the intended recipients.

Email authentication tools

ZeroBounce supports email authentication protocols like DMARC, DKIM, and SPF, which protect your domain from spoofing and bolster your sender reputation. With Yahoo and Google’s new sender guidelines, any individual or company sending mass email messages is highly likely to encounter email deliverability issues if they fail to set up email authentication.

Email finder

The email finder allows you to uncover valid email addresses associated with specific domains, making it easier to create targeted email lists. You can even look up a particular individual’s email address based on their company's domain name.

Try the email finder

ZeroBounce customer support

ZeroBounce is known for having world-class customer support, available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, through chat, email, and toll-free by phone. ZeroBounce users consistently compliment the support team’s expertise and rapid response times. With ZeroBounce, you can reach a real person in just a few seconds and by phone, from Monday to Friday from 5:00 AM to 7:00 PM EST.

ZeroBounce customer reviews

Based on almost 1,100 reviews, ZeroBounce scores 4.7 out of 5 on Trustpilot. Reviewers highlight the platform’s accuracy, comprehensive features, and stellar customer service.

On G2, ZeroBounce has a 4.6 rating based on over 400 reviews, reinforcing its reputation as a preferred email validation tool for many email marketing professionals.

ZeroBounce's Trustpilot rating of 4.8 stars, or "excellent," from 1,021 customer reviews and ZeroBounce's rating of 4.5 stars from G2.

Data security at ZeroBounce

ZeroBounce is strongly committed to data security and satisfies the benchmarks set by GDPR and other international requirements. ZeroBounce uses advanced encryption and security protocols to keep your data protected.

When compared to other email marketing platforms, ZeroBounce's commitment to security protocols is among the highest in the industry. ZeroBounce uses an advanced encryption method to keep all user data secure, and routine security audits ensure a higher level of compliance and safety.

ZeroBounce keeps the following security certifications:

  • GDPR compliance: Ensures all of your data adhere to EU regulations.
  • SOC 2 Type 2: This allows periodic assessment of ZeroBounce, certifying that ZeroBounce maintains standards in data security, processing integrity, availability, privacy, and confidentiality.
  • ISO/IEC 27001: ZeroBounce’s attainment of this international standard establishes comprehensive data security management.
  • PCI Compliance: Protects transactional financial data with firewalls and antivirus tools and assesses any threats.
  • HIPAA compliance: Assures full compliance with all security standards associated with United States healthcare policies and practices.
  • CCPA compliance: Full compliance with California consumer privacy regulations.
  • Data Privacy Framework (DPF): ZeroBounce follows all regulations, providing companies with the capability to transfer personal data securely during transatlantic commerce.

Is Mailtester worth it?

Mailtester is not a competitive choice in the email validation tool space. Even a peripheral look at the website shows poor grammar and amateur writing. When you engage with the service, it doesn’t redeem itself. It’s just an overall low-quality experience.

The support is borderline nonexistent, and it almost seems the service is intended to get an occasional purchase and create an illusion that there are more than a couple of people behind the site.

But could Mailtester be worth it? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons.

ZeroBounce Image Pros of using Mailtester:

  • Mailtester is relatively cheap.
  • Mailtester gives you ten free credits if you sign up (Note: the website says 100, but it’s actually ten.)

ZeroBounce Image Cons of using Mailtester:

  • The user experience is abysmal.
  • The tools are borderline impossible to use – frequently, the platform doesn’t work.
  • You don’t get a clear understanding of how effective the email validation tool is.
  • The phone number is busy every day and night, meaning you must communicate through chat. It can take hours to get a response via chat.
  • Oftentimes, the support team doesn’t understand the problem and cannot help you.

Verify 100 email addresses free

While Mailtester is a choice you could make, ZeroBounce offers real usability as well as any feature you may need, higher accuracy, and much greater value for your money. Also consider that ZeroBounce actually deposits 100 free email verification credits into your account as soon as you sign up. But, it doesn’t stop there. Every month, ZeroBounce replenishes your account with 100 additional credits, which doesn’t cost you a cent.

Would you like to try ZeroBounce for free now?

Create a free account

Frequently asked questions

Mailtester is an email verification tool marketed towards businesses seeking to improve email deliverability by ensuring they work with valid email addresses.

Mailtester is a legit email validation tool. However, the service is prone to hiccups, and the company’s customer support service is difficult to reach.

Use an email validation tool such as Mailtester or ZeroBounce to ascertain the validity of email addresses in real-time or in bulk.

No, Mailtester is a paid email verification service. The company offers ten free email validation credits, but it doesn't seem to allow you to test the service.

Upload your email list to a verification tool like Mailtester or ZeroBounce to scrub and efficiently verify your list of bulk email addresses.