Traditional Validators
- SMTP handshake returns “valid” for every address on the domain
- Cannot detect abandoned or never-used mailboxes
- Label entire catch-all domains as “accept-all: unknown”
- Force you to guess which addresses are real
AI-Powered Confidence Scores
Binary verification stops at valid or invalid. Verifox gives every address a 0–100 email quality score built from 40+ behavioral signals, so the 20 to 40% of B2B addresses hiding behind catch-all domains get a real confidence score instead of a shrug.
Every email gets a confidence score · Not just valid/invalid
SCORING SIGNALS FROM 2.1 BILLION+ VERIFIED EMAILS
Accuracy on catch-all domains
Behavioral signals analyzed
Cached scoring latency (sub-50ms)
Bulk scoring throughput, standard tier
The keyword, answered
Email scoring assigns every address a 0 to 100 confidence score instead of the flat valid-or-invalid verdict you get from a standard checker. The number answers a more useful question: how likely is it that a real, active person reads mail at this address? A brand-new corporate mailbox and a mailbox abandoned in 2022 can both pass an SMTP check. Scoring tells them apart. Classic email verification runs the deterministic checks first: syntax, MX records, the SMTP handshake, disposable and role detection. Scoring then layers 40+ behavioral signals on top, things like engagement recency, domain-level bounce history, and address-pattern analysis, and compresses them into one number you can sort a spreadsheet by.
The score earns its keep on catch-all domains. A catch-all server says “accepted” to any address you throw at it, which is why 20 to 40% of B2B email lists fail there and why most free tools quietly mark the whole domain “unknown.” Verifox resolves those addresses to a concrete score with 98.2% accuracy, so a list you checked with a free email checker or built with the email finder stops carrying a gray zone you have to guess around.
In practice, teams score a list, then act by tier: send to 85+, slow-play the middle, cut everything under 20. That single sort keeps bounce rates under the 2% threshold mailbox providers punish, protects the sender reputation you are building with email warmup, and shows up directly in the results of your next inbox placement test. One number per address, one clear action per number.
The price of guessing
Most ESPs start throttling or suspending your account when your bounce rate exceeds 2%. A single campaign to an unscored list can cross this line.
20 to 40% of B2B email lists fail at catch-all domains, the one check most free tools skip. Without scoring, that whole slice of your list is a blind spot.
Once sender reputation drops, it takes 72+ hours for ESPs to re-evaluate your domain. During that window, even good emails land in spam.
The catch-all problem
A catch-all domain accepts mail sent to any address, whether the mailbox exists or not. The mail server responds with “250 OK” to every RCPT TO command. Traditional validators mark every address as valid, and you are left guessing.
RCPT TO: sales@acme.com 250 OK (Accepted)
RCPT TO: asdf123xyz@acme.com 250 OK (Accepted)
Both get the same “accepted” response. Only one is a real person.
The industry gap
Traditional Validators
Verifox AI Scoring
How it works
CATCH-ALL DETECTION
When a mail server is configured to accept everything, traditional validators give up and label the entire domain 'unknown.' Our behavioral engine analyzes engagement signals behind the SMTP response to separate real inboxes from black holes.
ENGAGEMENT INTELLIGENCE
A valid email address means nothing if the owner hasn't opened a message in 6 months. Our scoring engine detects dormant, abandoned, and secondary inboxes before you waste sends on them.
RISK CLASSIFICATION
Binary valid/invalid leaves you guessing on the 20 to 40% of B2B addresses that sit in the catch-all gray zone. Our 4-tier scoring system gives you a specific recommended action for every single email on your list.
Behind every score
Four stages, 40+ signals, one score.
01
Behavioral Fingerprint
Cross-reference 40+ engagement signals: open timestamps, click recency, reply cadence, device diversity, and send-receive ratios to build a behavioral profile for each address.
02
Catch-All Intelligence
Probe the mail server beyond a simple RCPT TO check. Analyze domain-level patterns, historical bounce data, and known catch-all configurations to distinguish real mailboxes from black holes.
03
Pattern Analysis
Compare the address against millions of known patterns: role accounts, disposable providers, sequential generators, and common fake-address templates.
04
Score Synthesis
Aggregate all signals into a single 0-100 confidence score with a tier assignment: Safe, Review, Risky, or Do Not Send. No ambiguous 'unknown' bucket.
What your score means
No more ambiguous “unknown” buckets. Each address receives a 0–100 confidence score mapped to a clear tier with a specific recommended action.
Your team, your workflow
Email Marketers
Sales Teams
Developers
Email Marketers
Sales Teams
Developers
Scores update in real-time · Works on catch-all domains · API access included · No credit card required
Common questions
What teams ask before they trust a number over a “valid”: how the score is built, what counts as safe, and what to do with the middle of the list.
Email scoring rates each address on a 0 to 100 scale that estimates how likely a real, active person reads mail there, instead of the binary valid/invalid verdict a standard checker returns. Verifox builds the score from 40+ behavioral signals layered on top of the deterministic checks that email verification runs, then maps it to one of four tiers with a recommended action.
Four stages run in sequence: a behavioral fingerprint built from engagement signals like open recency, reply cadence, and device diversity; catch-all intelligence that probes the mail server beyond a simple RCPT TO check; pattern analysis against millions of known role, disposable, and generated-address templates; and a final synthesis that compresses everything into one 0 to 100 number with a tier assignment. Cached results return in under 50ms.
85 and above is safe to send: the mailbox is active and accepting mail. 50 to 84 is worth a look, so segment it into a slower cadence or re-engagement flow. 20 to 49 is risky and should sit out your primary campaigns. Anything under 20 is dead, fake, or a spam trap; remove it immediately. That one sort keeps bounce rates under the 2% threshold most mailbox providers punish.
Catch-all servers accept mail for any address, which is why 20 to 40% of B2B lists fail there and most validators return “unknown.” Verifox analyzes domain-level bounce history, known catch-all configurations, and behavioral engagement signals behind the SMTP response to resolve those addresses to a concrete score with 98.2% accuracy, including on Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 catch-all setups.
Verification answers “does this mailbox exist?” with deterministic checks: syntax, MX records, the SMTP handshake, disposable and role detection. Scoring answers “should I send here?” by adding behavioral evidence on top. You can try the binary checks free on the free email checker; scoring matters most where those checks stall, on the catch-all domains the 9-point verification engine flags.
The underlying verification engine measures 99.99% accuracy on a 1,000-address benchmark list, and the AI scoring layer resolves catch-all addresses at 98.2% accuracy, the segment where binary tools simply give up. Scores are probabilistic by design: a 92 is not a guarantee, it is a measured confidence level. The tier thresholds are calibrated so that acting on them keeps bounce rates below the 2% line.
Both. CSV upload handles bulk jobs at roughly 10,000 emails per minute on the standard tier, and the REST endpoints documented in the API reference return single scores at a median of ~380ms, sub-50ms when cached. AI agents can call the same engine through the native MCP server with no glue code.
Sort once, then act by tier: full sends to 85+, a slower nurture cadence for 50 to 84, suppression for 20 to 49, and immediate removal under 20. Teams running email warmup point early sends exclusively at the top tier to build reputation fast, then confirm the effect with an inbox placement test before opening up the middle of the list.
That is its main job. Bounces and spam-trap hits are what land senders on blocklists, and scoring removes both before you press send. One unscored campaign can push you past the 2% bounce threshold, and recovery takes 72+ hours once providers throttle you. Pair scoring with blacklist monitoring so that if something does slip through, you hear about the listing within minutes instead of weeks.
Sign up free and you get 1,000 credits, or 2,500 with a work email, no card required. Credits are pay-as-you-go, never expire, and the pricing page shows volume rates for your region. Addresses are processed in memory and discarded once scoring completes: nothing stored, logged, or sold, backed by SOC 2 Type II.
Sign up and 1,000 free credits land in your account, 2,500 if you use a work email. Upload a list or hit the API, and every address comes back with a 0 to 100 score and a recommended action. Volume rates for your region are on the pricing page.
No card required · Credits never expire · Emails processed in memory, never stored