Email Intelligence API

The Email Intelligence API provides comprehensive analysis of email addresses to help businesses and developers validate emails, detect disposable addresses, analyze DNS records, and assess deliverability risks. It returns over 25 data points per email including domain classification, SMTP provider details, SPF/DKIM/DMARC record analysis, and a calculated risk indicator. The API is designed to improve email security, reduce fraud, and enhance the quality of email data in applications ranging from user registration forms to large-scale marketing platforms. By integrating this API into your workflow, you can automatically filter out invalid or high-risk email addresses before they enter your database, saving resources on bounced messages and reducing exposure to fraudulent accounts.

The API maintains a continuously updated database of over 50,000 known disposable and temporary email domains, including services like Guerrilla Mail, Mailinator, and TempMail. When you submit an email address for analysis, the API checks if the domain matches any entry in this database using both exact matching and pattern detection for dynamically generated subdomains. The API also identifies newer disposable services by analyzing domain age, DNS configuration patterns, and MX record characteristics that are common among throwaway email providers. If a match is found, the API flags the email as temporary in the response and raises the risk indicator, allowing you to block signups or require additional verification in your application.

The deliverability score is a numeric value from 0 to 100 that estimates the likelihood of an email sent to that address being successfully delivered to the recipient's inbox. The score is calculated using a weighted algorithm that considers multiple factors including domain reputation, DNS record completeness, MX record validity, SMTP server responsiveness, SPF and DMARC policy configurations, and historical deliverability patterns for the domain. A score above 80 indicates strong deliverability prospects, while scores below 40 suggest significant delivery risks. This metric helps you prioritize email addresses in marketing campaigns, identify potential delivery issues before sending, and maintain list hygiene by flagging addresses that are unlikely to receive messages.

Email alias detection identifies when a user has utilized the plus addressing feature available in many email services, such as test+alias@gmail.com. The API separates the main email address (test@gmail.com) from the alias portion (alias), allowing you to identify when the same user might be registering multiple accounts with different aliases. This is critical for preventing abuse of free trials, referral programs, promotional offers, and signup bonuses where bad actors create dozens of accounts using aliases of a single email. The API also detects dot-based aliasing used by Gmail, where john.doe@gmail.com and johndoe@gmail.com route to the same inbox, giving you a complete picture of potential duplicate registrations.

Yes, the Email Intelligence API can significantly help reduce fraud and improve security across your platform. By identifying disposable email addresses commonly used for fraudulent signups, detecting email aliases that enable multi-account abuse, and providing risk indicators based on comprehensive domain and SMTP analysis, the API gives you actionable data for informed verification decisions. The domain classification feature identifies government and educational institutions, helping you verify institutional email claims. Additionally, the DNS record analysis reveals whether a domain has properly configured SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records, which are strong indicators of legitimate email infrastructure. Many customers integrate the API at registration to block high-risk emails immediately, reducing chargebacks, spam, and fraudulent account creation by over 90%.

Catch-all domains are configured to accept emails sent to any address at that domain, even if the specific mailbox doesn't exist. This presents a validation challenge because traditional SMTP verification won't return a bounce for non-existent addresses. The Email Intelligence API detects catch-all configurations by analyzing SMTP responses and DNS patterns. When a catch-all domain is detected, the API flags it in the response and adjusts the deliverability score accordingly. While emails to catch-all domains may technically be accepted by the server, they might not reach a real recipient. Our approach combines catch-all detection with other signals like domain age, MX record quality, and known provider patterns to give you the most accurate assessment possible. For catch-all domains, we recommend implementing additional verification steps like sending a confirmation email with a unique link to ensure the address is actively monitored.