9 Best Email List Cleaning and Validation Services In 2024: Tested

Looking for an affordable yet high-quality email verifier with the best feature set? 

We’ve selected 9 email validation services popular among sales reps and tested them for you. And we’re ready to share our impression so that you can save time choosing the platform that satisfies your needs with a maximum profit. But first, let’s clarify why cleaning your email list is so important. 

Reasons you need to clean your email list

Cleaning your email list is an essential practice for maintaining a healthy and effective email marketing strategy. Here are several reasons why you need to regularly clean your email list:

1. Improved Deliverability: A clean email list ensures that your emails reach the intended recipients’ inboxes rather than being flagged as spam or bouncing back.
2. Cost Efficiency: Email marketing platforms often charge based on the number of subscribers on your list. By removing irrelevant or inactive email addresses, you can optimize your expenses by paying only for engaged subscribers.
3. Higher conversion rates: By cleaning your list from subscribers who have not interacted with your emails for a long time, you can focus your efforts on those who are genuinely interested in your content, resulting in improved open rates, click-through rates, and, ultimately, higher conversion rates.
4. Maintaining high sender reputation: By regularly cleaning your list, you ensure a lower risk of bonuses and spam complaints, which indicates to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) you are a trustworthy email sender.
5. Targeted and more personalized communication: By removing subscribers who are no longer interested in your content, you can focus on tailoring your emails to specific segments, delivering more personalized and relevant messages that resonate with your recipients.
6. Better analytics: By eliminating invalid or outdated email addresses, you avoid skewed metrics and gain a clearer understanding of your email marketing performance, which allows you to refine your strategies accordingly.
7. Compliance with data protection regulations: by regularly updating and removing outdated or irrelevant subscriber information, you position yourself as a law-abiding company that complies with data protection regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Top 9 email list cleaning services

For the test, we used a list of 600 valid email addresses. The emails sent to these addresses didn’t bounce, and the recipients clicked the link in them, so we are more than 100% sure the list is valid during this test. 

After that, we created another list containing invalid email addresses only. How did we do it? We just added one extra word before @ to all 600 valid emails. For example, johndoe@telablu.com (a valid address) can turn into johndoedarina@telablu.com (an invalid address).

We considered the following criteria:

• Ease of use (simple registration, possibility to test the tool before payment).
• The feature set as compared to competitors.
• Accuracy of email validation results.
• Service price and its quality-price ratio.

We evaluated all these aspects on a 5-point scale and then derived the mean score. At the end of our research, you will see an infographic that illustrates how various email verification services performed. 

Note: Here we want to mention that some platforms offer an extended classification of email statuses that belong to the catch-all category (they indicate this in their knowledge bases). This is why we decided to include detailed verification statuses in service overviews. Meanwhile, in the infographics, we will group all the emails into three statuses for your convenience:

• Valid
• Catch-all
• Invalid

Let’s start!

Kickbox

This service offers verification only. Upon registration, you will have 100 free credits (1 credit = 1 verification). There’s no charge for emails that belong to the unknown category. 

Brief overview

Kickbox made a dubious impression on us:

+ Easy registration, 100 credits for free.
+ High verification speed.
+ Flexible list import (CSV and XLSX formats).
+ Built-in integrations.
+ Extended classification of email statuses.
+ No charge for unknown emails.
– No anti-greylisting technology.
– Some of the weakest test results (perhaps because of the reason above).
– We wanted to conduct transparent research and present the results in an article so that the services could see what we were doing. This is why we didn’t hide who we were, and we registered openly. However, Kickbox banned our account. The negotiations with technical support were futile. We wouldn’t have included our negative experience if it only concerned us as competitors. But when we tried to make an incognito test, our account was banned again, immediately after the lists checkup.

Results

Valid email address list:

• Recognized valid email addresses as valid — 366
• Risky — 207, among them:
  • Accept all — 178
  • Disposable —- 0
  • Role — 49

(as you can see, there is also a small problem with calculations)

• Unknown — 27
• Mistakenly recognized invalid as valid — 0

Invalid email address list:

• Correctly recognized invalid email addresses as invalid — 400
• Risky — 180, among them:
  • • Accept all — 180
    • Disposable — 0
    • Unknown — 16
    • Role — 0
• Mistakenly recognized invalid as valid — 4

Our score

We can’t recommend Kickbox. Many similar email list cleaners showed better test results and made a much more positive overall impression. Even if we omit the fact that the account can be banned at any time, then, in our opinion, 100 free credits and the increased verification speed don’t compensate for the imperfect quality of the results. 

Our score is 3 points.

Snov.io

With this CRM platform for sales managers, you can find leads’ emails, verify them, and send triggered email campaigns. Most Snov.io tools are available on a free plan. Besides, there are free Chrome extensions — Email Tracker for Gmail and Gblast extension that allows you to send email campaigns directly from Gmail. The cost of verification is 0.5 credits. 

Brief overview

+ Simple and easy registration, no business email required.
+ Free plan with 50 monthly-renewable credits.
+ Anti-greylisting technology that guarantees more accurate email verification results.
+ Flexible list import (TXT, CSV, XLS, and XLSX formats).
+ No charge for catch-all emails.
+ High verification speed.
+ The least amount of errors.
+ Possibility of adding a verified list to an email campaign in 1 click.

Results

Valid email address list:

• The service correctly recognized valid email addresses as valid — 508
• Catch-all — 92
• Mistakenly recognized valid as invalid — 0

Invalid email address list:

• The service correctly recognized invalid email addresses as invalid — 508
• Catch-all — 91
• Mistakenly recognized invalid as valid — 1

Our score

Snov.io didn’t have errors in the valid list results. This proves that although anti-greylisting technology takes a little more time, it improves email verification quality. Simple and convenient registration, a forever-free plan, and the fact that the platform doesn’t charge credits for catch-all emails only add to the positive experience. 

Another advantage of Snov.io is that you can use the email verification tool as an in-built part of its free CRM, ensuring quality contact database for your sales outreach campaigns.

On a 5-point scale, our score is 5 points.

ZeroBounce

This email checker offers email verification only. After a simple registration, you can use the free plan with 100 credits replenished monthly. One credit equals one verification; ZeroBounce charges credits for all emails uploaded for verification.

Brief overview

+ Accuracy of the results.
+ Adequate minimum purchase amount of credits (2,000).
+ Anti-greylisting technology.
+ Customer focus and technical support. We needed a few more credits, and it was impractical to get a paid plan with 2,000 credits. Technical support denied the opportunity to pay for a small number of credits but instead provided them for free. Thanks! 🙂
+/- The service offers an extended classification of email statuses: valid, invalid, catch-all, spamtrap, abuse, do not email, unknown. It’s not bad, but it can be overwhelming and has no value for the end-user, because all that matters is whether you can send an email or not.
+/- Email validation took about 20 minutes for each list. It’s quite acceptable, but in our test, some email list cleaning services coped faster.
– File import is only available in the CSV format. It’s not critical; however, competitors offer a wider range of options.
– ZeroBounce charges credits for every email added for verification, no matter what category it ends up in.
– Valid role-based emails are added to the DO NOT EMAIL tab, which may confuse new users.

Results

Valid email address list:

• Recognized valid email addresses as valid — 484
• Recognized valid as invalid — 0
• Catch-all — 61
• Spamtrap — 1
• Abuse — 1
• Do not email — 49
• Unknown — 4

Invalid email address list:

• Recognized invalid email addresses as invalid — 520
• Recognized invalid as valid — 2
• Catch-all — 75
• Spamtrap — 1
• Abuse — 0
• Do not email — 0
• Unknown — 2

Our score

The test results are pretty great! We also liked the fact that ZeroBounce responds to customers’ wishes and doesn’t push you into buying a huge amount of credits. 

There are no critical remarks, but email validation could’ve been faster. Besides, this email list cleaner lacks list import formats. It’s also weird that role-based emails end up in the DO NOT EMAIL category. So, if you are planning a mailout to HRs’ corporate email addresses, then most of your list won’t be displayed as valid and will appear in this category instead. 

It’s also worth noting that, unlike some platforms where you don’t need to pay for unknown or catch-all emails, ZeroBounce charges credits for all addresses. 

Our score is 4.5 points.

FindThatLead

This is another cold outreach platform that offers not only verification but also email search and drip campaigns. Registration is not that easy — you won’t register without a business email, and free verifications are not given upon registration. 

Brief overview

We noted the following:

+ Quite good test results.
– Inconvenient registration. You can’t register using free emails. We also faced another problem — we didn’t receive an email with the registration confirmation link, and the tech support kept silent for about two weeks.
– The minimum number of credits that can be purchased is 5,000.
– File import is available only in the CSV format, and the service lost one email from each list while uploading them.
– The checkup takes quite a long time.
– Credits are charged for all emails uploaded for verification.
– You can’t find out the number of valid emails and bounces on the test results page. Email verification results can only be downloaded as a whole list. So, if you want to work with valid emails, you need to sort the downloaded list by status, which is less convenient. It would be better if the service provided an opportunity to download lists with different email statuses separately.

Results

Valid email address list:

• Correctly recognized valid email addresses as valid — 496
• Guess — 101
• Mistakenly recognized valid as invalid — 1
• 1 email was lost during list import

Invalid email address list:

• Correctly identified invalid email addresses as bounces — 493
• Guess — 103
• Mistakenly recognized invalid as valid — 3
• 1 email was lost during list import

We can’t provide screenshots of the results since they look like this in the app:

A downloaded file with verified emails looks like this:

Our score

The checkup results are quite good, but a large number of small inconveniences spoil the impression. The deal-breaker for us was the test results page and a downloaded list that wasn’t sorted. Besides, while using this verifier, you can’t manage your list of emails, despite the fact that the service also offers an email sender tool. 

Even though FindThatLead showed decent test results, we still recommend you to think twice if this service is worth your time or if it’s better to choose a similar platform that is easier to work with. 

Our score is 3.9 points.

NeverBounce

With this service, you can only verify emails. Registration is simple, no business email is required, and you get 1,000 free credits immediately. NeverBounce charges credits for all emails uploaded for verification. 

Brief overview

+ Easy registration, no business email required, 1,000 free credits.
+ Decent test results.
+ Verification speed is above average.
+ Extended classification of statuses.
+/- File import is possible only in the CSV format or through built-in integrations.
– The service charges credits for all emails, including the accept-all and unknown categories.

Results

Valid email address list:

• Recognized valid email addresses as valid — 526
• Accept-all — 63
• Unknown — 8
• Disposable — 0
• Mistakenly recognized valid as invalid — 3

Invalid email address list:

• Recognized invalid email addresses as invalid — 513
• Accept all — 73
• Unknown — 11
• Disposable — 0
• Mistakenly recognized invalid as valid — 3

Our score

Our impression of this email validator is pretty positive. It showed quite decent checkup results, and a fair number of free credits given immediately upon a simple registration was a big plus. Having one list import format is more like a minor inconvenience, and it doesn’t affect the quality of the validation in any way. 

That’s why the score is 4 points.

BriteVerify from Validity

Validity is a platform that makes it easier to manage your data in CRM. One of the tools it offers is BriteVerify, and we used it to check our lists. Many moments left us confused.

Brief overview

+/- You can upload your email list directly from a computer or using built-in integrations.
– The registration process takes a long time. You can register only after you reserve a demo. Otherwise, you will have to spend a considerable amount of time figuring out how to avoid the demo step.
– It’s impossible to register without linking one’s card credentials. Free verifications are not available.
– Hidden pricing — it’s not available until you register and link your card.
– The service charges money for all emails uploaded for verification.
– And most importantly, with all these inconveniences, the accuracy of the email validation results is below average.

Results

Valid email address list:

• Correctly recognized valid email addresses as valid — 432
• Accept all — 74
• Unknown — 91
• Mistakenly recognized valid as invalid — 3

Invalid email address list:

• Correctly recognized invalid email addresses as invalid — 458
• Accept all — 74
• Unknown — 63
• Mistakenly recognized valid as invalid — 5

Our score

As you can see, the verification accuracy is not that impressive. In fact, the results are even below average. Considering all the inconveniences that arise when working with the service, such as problematic registration and minor flaws like hidden pricing information, we wouldn’t recommend it.

The score is 3.8 points. 

Bounceless

The service, like many others on our list, specializes only in email validation. Registration is simple, no business email is required, and you get 100 free credits upon registration. 

Brief overview

+ Simple registration and the opportunity to test the service with free credits.
+ Relatively high verification speed.
+/- File import is only available in the CSV format, but you can also upload it via integrations and Google Drive.
+/- No charge for emails in the unknown category, but credits are charged for catch-all emails.
– Valid list test results are some of the worst.

Results

Valid email address list:

• Correctly recognized valid email addresses as valid — 474
• Accept all — 70
• Unknown — 24
• Spamtrap — 0
• Disposable — 0
• Mistakenly recognized valid as invalid — 32

Invalid email address list:

• Correctly recognized invalid email addresses as invalid —- 506
• Accept all — 70
• Unknown — 22
• Spamtrap — 0
• Disposable — 0
• Mistakenly recognized invalid as valid — 2

Our score

Bounceless showed quite mediocre test results. While the invalid list checkup results are comparable to other email list cleaners, the valid list test results are some of the worst. We can’t recommend this tool since the number of errors verifying the valid email list exceeds the number of other tools’ errors by 10-30 times. 

We recommend considering other services because neither simple registration, the chance to test the tool for free, a relatively user-friendly interface, nor other advantages can compensate for the low quality of the results. 

We can’t rate the service higher than 3.8 points.

Voila Norbert

With this cold outreach platform, you can validate emails, as well as find contacts and send email campaigns. It offers no free verification credits, but you can upload the email list and get brief information about it even if you are not a registered user. 

Brief overview

+ Simple registration, no business email required.
+ Brief information about the list can be obtained for free and without registration.
+/- You can upload lists only in the CSV format or using built-in Voila Norbert integrations.
– Validation of all emails is paid, including the catch-all category.
– The results are incorrect, regardless of whether you paid for verification or used a free checkup. We wanted to ignore the results we got when using the service for free. In this case, you are not charged immediately. Instead, you are given some statistics on the number of valid and invalid emails. However, you can’t see or download the verified lists. Somehow, our lists of 600 emails turned into lists of over 600 addresses… We hoped that paying for verification would bring us different results, but this didn’t happen; we still had extra emails. 

See it for yourself.

Results

Valid email address list:

• Recognized valid email addresses as valid — 542
• Risky — 43
• Mistakenly identified valid as invalid — 52

Although we see the number “600” in the “Emails” tab, it turned out to be 637.

Invalid email address list:

• Recognized invalid email addresses as invalid — 529
• Risky — 41
• Mistakenly identified invalid as valid — 69

And again, we have 639 emails instead of 600.

Our score

We can’t recommend this service. None of Voila Norbert’s competitors have shown such strange results. We’ve dedicated our time so that you don’t waste yours. Simple registration, integrations, and brief information about email statuses for unregistered users won’t cover all the inconveniences that are inevitable when using this email validator. 

We rate this service at 2 points.

Hunter.io

Like Snov.io and FindThatLead, Hunter.io offers not only email verification but also an email finder and trigger mailings. It differs from other services in that it is the only email validator that doesn’t check free webmail (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.).

There is a free plan with 50 credits that are replenished monthly. 1 verification costs 1 credit. 

Brief overview

• Unfortunately, there was only one significant plus — the opportunity to test the service for free before buying.
• You won’t be charged for Disposable and Unknown email addresses. Also, credits are not charged for webmail, but this is not surprising since the service doesn’t check it.
• This is the only service we tested that doesn’t check freemail. During the verification process, it’s simply placed in a separate category and remains untouched.
• The highest cost of verification.
• Below average results.
• No grey-listing technology.

Results

Valid email address list:

• Recognized valid email addresses as valid — 414
• Catch-all — 72
• Webmail — 32
• Disposable — 2
• Unknown — 30
• Mistakenly recognized valid as invalid — 50

Invalid email address list:

• The service correctly recognized invalid email addresses as invalid — 457
• Catch-all — 72
• Webmail — 32
• Disposable — 2
• Unknown — 28
• Mistakenly recognized invalid as valid — 9

Our score

Hunter.io showed some of the worst results. Besides, the service is more expensive than other competitors — the cost of testing is more than 10 times higher than the cost of testing using Snov.io. And it’s more than 3 times higher than the cost that the second most expensive verifier — FindThatLead — offers. 

All things considered, we can’t recommend this service and can’t rate it higher than 1 point.

Now let’s systematize our test results

We decided to include not only the test results but also the verification cost because the price is one of the most crucial factors when choosing a service. 

Let’s have a look at the verification cost comparison for 1 verified email (given that you need about 100,000 verifications):

• Bounceless — $ 0.00299 (or roughly 0.3 cents per email).
• Voila Norbert — $ 0.003 (0.3 cents per email).
• Snov.io — $ 0.00369. Credits are not charged for catch-all emails, and this is an impressive saving.
• ZeroBounce — $ 0.0039 (roughly 0.4 cents per email).
• NeverBounce — $ 0.004 (0.4 cents per email).
• Kickbox — $ 0.008 (0.8 cents per email).
• BriteVerify — $ 0.01 (1 cent per 1 email).
• FindThatLead — $ 0.0113 (about 1.1 cents per email).
• Hunter.io — $ 0.0396 (about 4 cents per email).

Now let’s compare test results. We started from the email verification service that either made no mistakes or coped with the least number of errors. Here are the valid list results:

And these are the test results for an invalid list:

What is the best free email cleaner?

As you can see, from all tested services that can be used for free, the top email list cleaners are ZeroBounce and Snov.io. Platforms that showed satisfactory results are NeverBounce and FindThatLead. Other verification results were below average.

Among all the tested email validation services, Snov.io not only has perfectly coped with the test but also offers one of the lowest verification costs. And don’t forget that pricing plans also include a triggered mailing tool for using which credits are not charged, and a free CRM.

But you can also try using other services that showed decent results, especially if they offer free validations.

Best practices to keep your list clean

No matter which email list cleaner you’ll choose, keep in mind that you should practice email cleaning regularly. Here are some actionable tips on how to ensure your consistent email list hygiene:

1. Regularly remove inactive subscribers and those who haven’t engaged with your emails.
2. Use double opt-in to ensure subscribers confirm their interest in your emails.
3. Encourage subscribers to update their preferences and profile information.
4. Implement a re-engagement campaign to win back inactive subscribers.
5. Monitor and remove email addresses that consistently bounce.
6. Segment your list to deliver targeted content.
7. Stay compliant with data protection regulations.
8. Monitor and analyze engagement metrics to identify and address potential issues promptly.

We hope this test of the best email validation tools will help you to choose the one up to your taste. 

We wish you a low bounce rate!