# Email Verifier

`POST https://api.getprospect.com/v2/email/verify`

Check whether an email address is deliverable. Costs 1 email verification credit per valid or invalid verdict, once per address per workspace; 1 enrich rate-limit unit. Pass the email inside `data`; the response reports its verification status along with domain health and whether the mailbox is free or disposable. Accept_all and unknown verdicts and syntactically invalid emails are free. Verification runs live and can take up to 75 seconds: set the client timeout to at least 80 seconds. A 408 is never charged; ask again after `Retry-After` seconds. Authenticate with your API key in the x-api-key header.

> **How are credits spent?**
>
> 1 email verification credit per check. Syntactically invalid emails are
> rejected immediately without spending a credit.

## Mailbox status vs domain status

`status` is the verdict for the exact mailbox you asked about; `domain_status` describes
the domain in general (`accept_all` when the domain accepts mail to any address, plus
`disposable`, `invalid`, and `unknown`), independent of what happened to that specific
mailbox. A `status: "valid"` result with `domain_status: "accept_all"` means this exact
mailbox was positively confirmed deliverable even though its domain generally accepts
everything - it remains valid, and should not be read as a mailbox-level accept-all result.

Unlike [Email Finder](https://getprospect.com/api-docs/email-finder.md), Email Verifier does not filter or rewrite the
mailbox verdict: `status` can itself come back as `"accept_all"` when the probe of that
specific mailbox was inconclusive (the server accepted it only because it accepts
everything) - that is a different situation from a `valid` mailbox on an accept-all domain,
described above.


## Authentication

Pass your API key in the `x-api-key` header.

## Body parameters

- `data` (object, required): Lookup identifiers.
  - `email` (string, required): The email address you want to verify.

## Example request

```bash
curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.getprospect.com/v2/email/verify \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --header 'x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY' \
  --data '
{
  "data": {
    "email": "emily.carter.sample@intercom.com"
  }
}
'
```

## Response 200

The verdict. When the verifier failed, `success` is false, `data.status` is `unknown` (not charged) and `errors[0].name` is `VERIFICATION_ERROR`: retry later.

```json
{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "email": "emily.carter.sample@intercom.com",
    "status": "valid",
    "account": "emily.carter.sample",
    "domain": "intercom.com",
    "domain_status": "valid",
    "smtp_provider": "google",
    "free_email": false
  },
  "metadata": {
    "timestamp": "2026-07-25T14:08:20.000Z",
    "credits": {
      "email_search": 482,
      "email_verification": 499,
      "reset_at": "2026-08-01T00:00:00.000Z"
    }
  }
}
```

## Response 400

Invalid request (`VALIDATION_ERROR`). A malformed `data.email` carries `payload.code` (`wrong_type`); an empty one answers without a code. A syntactically invalid address is not an error: it is a free `invalid` verdict.

```json
{
  "success": false,
  "data": null,
  "metadata": {
    "timestamp": "2026-10-08T14:07:55.000Z"
  },
  "errors": [
    {
      "name": "VALIDATION_ERROR",
      "message": "email must be a string",
      "payload": {
        "field": "data.email",
        "code": "wrong_type",
        "received_type": "undefined",
        "constraints": {
          "isString": "email must be a string"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}
```

## Response 401

Missing, unknown or inactive credentials (`UNAUTHORIZED`).

## Response 402

Not enough credits (`PAYMENT_REQUIRED`).

```json
{
  "success": false,
  "data": null,
  "metadata": {
    "timestamp": "2026-10-08T14:07:55.000Z"
  },
  "errors": [
    {
      "name": "PAYMENT_REQUIRED",
      "message": "Workspace has reached its credit limit"
    }
  ]
}
```

## Response 408

The verifier did not answer in time (`TIMEOUT`). Not charged; ask again after `Retry-After` seconds.

```json
{
  "success": false,
  "data": null,
  "metadata": {
    "timestamp": "2026-10-08T14:07:55.000Z",
    "credits": {
      "email_search": 482,
      "email_verification": 499,
      "reset_at": "2026-11-01T00:00:00.000Z"
    }
  },
  "errors": [
    {
      "name": "TIMEOUT",
      "message": "Email verification is taking longer than expected. Please retry your request in a few minutes."
    }
  ]
}
```

## Response 429

Over the `enrich` rate limit (`RATE_LIMIT`); wait `Retry-After` seconds. Sent only where rate limits are enforced.

## Response 500

Unexpected server error.