Frequently Asked Questions — MailScout Email Verification
Quick answers to the most common questions about email verification
Below are the most frequently asked questions about MailScout and email verification in general. If you don't find what you're looking for, feel free to reach out via our About page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Email verification is the process of checking whether an email address can actually receive messages — without sending anything. MailScout runs a 7-step pipeline: syntax validation, DNS MX lookup, SMTP handshake, catch-all detection, SPF/DMARC/DKIM analysis, RBL blacklist check, and Gravatar detection. The entire process takes under 2 seconds.
A single verification typically completes in 1–2 seconds. If the result is already in our database cache (verified within the last 7 days), it returns instantly. Batch verification of 25 emails takes roughly 5–15 seconds depending on server response times.
The trust score is a 0–100 rating that combines multiple signals: SMTP validation result, domain security configuration (SPF/DMARC/DKIM), domain age, ESP provider, RBL blacklist status, catch-all confidence, and email prefix patterns. Higher scores indicate more trustworthy addresses. A score below 30 suggests high risk.
No. MailScout never sends actual emails to any address. We only perform DNS queries and SMTP handshake simulations — essentially asking the mail server 'does this mailbox exist?' without delivering any message. Your privacy is fully protected.
A catch-all (or accept-all) domain accepts mail for any address, even if the specific mailbox doesn't exist. This means we cannot confirm whether a particular email is real. MailScout detects catch-all behavior by sending probe emails to random addresses and measuring server responses.
Our batch verification tool supports up to 25 emails per request. Simply enter one email per line and submit. Results include status, trust score, and domain security analysis for each address.
Verification results are cached for 7 days. During this period, repeated checks of the same email return the cached result instantly without re-running the full verification pipeline. After 7 days, a fresh verification is performed.
An 'unknown' status means the mail server could not be reached or did not respond clearly to our SMTP handshake. This is common with strict firewalls, rate-limited servers, or temporary network issues. It does not mean the email is invalid — just that we couldn't confirm it at that moment.