# Email Verifier MCP Server — verify email addresses from Claude, Cursor or any agent

**Give your AI assistant the ability to check whether an email address is real.** This Actor is an [MCP](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) server: connect it once, and your agent can verify addresses mid-conversation — before it drafts outreach, enriches a CRM record, or hands you a lead list.

$0.30 per 1,000 addresses verified. No Verimailx account needed — you authenticate with your Apify token.

> **Requires a paid Apify plan.** A call from a free-plan account returns a message and verifies nothing — nothing is charged either. For free verification with the same checks, use the [Free Email Verifier](https://apify.com/cold_email_master/free-email-verifier) (50 addresses per run).

---

## What your agent can do

| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| `verify_email` | Check one address. Returns a verdict, a 0–100 deliverability score, and every individual check. |
| `verify_email_list` | Check up to 25 addresses in one call. Returns per-address records plus a summary count by verdict. |

Each check runs RFC syntax validation, DNS resolution, MX record inspection and an SMTP handshake, and flags disposable and role-based mailboxes. **No mail is ever sent** — the SMTP handshake asks the receiving server whether a mailbox exists and then disconnects, so nobody on your list is contacted.

Verdicts are `valid` (safe to send), `invalid` (will bounce), `risky` (disposable, role-based, or a catch-all address that could not be resolved — including consumer/B2C catch-alls) and `unknown` (server timeout or ambiguous response).

---

## Connect it

### Claude Desktop / Claude Code

Add this to your MCP configuration, using an [Apify API token](https://console.apify.com/account/integrations):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "verimailx": {
      "url": "https://cold-email-master--email-verifier-mcp-server.apify.actor/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_API_TOKEN>"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

### Cursor, Windsurf, and other MCP clients

Same URL, same bearer token. The server speaks MCP over the Streamable HTTP transport.

The Actor runs in [Standby mode](https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/development/programming-interface/standby), so an instance is kept warm and answers immediately — there is no run to start.

---

## What it looks like in use

> **You:** Before I import these, are any of them going to bounce?
> `founder@stripe.com, info@mailinator.com, nobody@thisdomaindoesnotexist.xyz`
>
> **Claude:** *(calls `verify_email_list`)* One of three is safe to send to. `founder@stripe.com` is valid, score 98. `info@mailinator.com` is risky — it's a disposable address and a role mailbox. `nobody@thisdomaindoesnotexist.xyz` is invalid; the domain has no MX records.

---

## Pricing

**$0.30 per 1,000 addresses verified** — billed per address, not per call or per run.

| Volume | Cost |
|---|---:|
| 100 addresses | $0.03 |
| 1,000 addresses | $0.30 |
| 10,000 addresses | $3.00 |

Failed lookups are not charged. Apify's platform fee is included in the rate.

### Plan requirement

This server is available to accounts on a **paid Apify plan**. A tool call from a
free-plan account comes back with a message instead of a verdict; no address is
verified and nothing is charged. The [Free Email Verifier](https://apify.com/cold_email_master/free-email-verifier)
runs the same checks on up to 50 addresses per run at no cost.

If you set a maximum charge for the run, the server checks the remaining budget
before it verifies anything. Once the budget is spent it says so plainly — it
will not keep verifying addresses it cannot bill you for, and a partial list
call tells you exactly which addresses it left unverified.

---

## Verifying more than 25 at a time

This server is built for conversational use — an agent checking a handful of addresses inside a task. For list cleaning at scale, use the bulk Actor instead: [Bulk Email Verifier & Validator](https://apify.com/cold_email_master/bulk-email-verifier-validator). It takes a link to a CSV, an Apify dataset ID, or a pasted list, and handles tens of thousands of addresses per run at the same price.

---

## FAQ

**Q: Do I need a Verimailx account?**
A: No. The Actor carries the Verimailx credentials; you authenticate with your Apify token and are billed through Apify.

**Q: Does this send email to the addresses I check?**
A: No. Verification stops at the SMTP handshake. No message is delivered and the recipient sees nothing.

**Q: Do you verify addresses on catch-all domains?**
A: Yes, for **B2B** catch-all domains. A catch-all domain accepts mail at any address, which is why most verifiers label the whole domain risky and leave you guessing on every address behind it. Verimailx resolves the individual mailbox on business domains, so a real address returns `valid` and a fake one returns `invalid`. Consumer (B2C) catch-alls are not in scope; those and anything else unresolvable return `risky` with `catch_all` true, so you can always tell a verified verdict from an unverified one.

**Q: What happens to the addresses I check?**
A: They are sent to the Verimailx API for verification and are not written to any persistent storage by this Actor.

**Q: Can I use this without an AI agent?**
A: For scripted use the [REST Actor](https://apify.com/cold_email_master/bulk-email-verifier-validator) is a better fit — MCP is designed for tool-calling clients.

---

## Support

- **Issues with this Actor:** open an issue on the Actor's Issues tab
- **Bulk pricing (100k+ addresses):** contact us through Apify messaging
- **Verimailx API:** [verimailx.com](https://verimailx.com)

---

## Changelog

### 0.0.3 — Paid plan required
- Tool calls from free-plan accounts now return a message pointing at the free Actor instead of verifying. Nothing is verified and nothing is charged, so a free-plan call costs neither side anything.
- Every run logs the plan the platform reported for the caller, so a gate that stops working is visible rather than silent.

### 0.0.2 — Catch-all resolution, and a corrected connection URL
- Mailboxes behind **B2B** catch-all domains are resolved individually, so a real address on one now returns `valid` rather than being written off as `risky`. Consumer (B2C) catch-alls remain out of scope; `catch_all` is true for anything that could not be resolved.
- **The connection URL in this README was wrong** — it named a slug this Actor has never been published under, so anyone who copied it got a host that does not resolve. Corrected to the real Standby hostname.

### 0.0.1 — Initial release
- `verify_email` and `verify_email_list` tools over Streamable HTTP, served through Actor Standby.
- Pay-per-event billing, charged per address verified.