ZeroBounce is one of the most popular email verification services, but it costs $16+ per month for just 2,000 verifications. If you need a free alternative that actually works, CheckMail1 is the answer.
| Feature | ZeroBounce | CheckMail1 |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | 100/month | 300/day |
| Gmail verification | Limited | Full support |
| iCloud verification | No | Yes |
| QQ / Naver / Yandex | No | Yes |
| Price for 10,000 | $45 | $9 |
| API integration | Yes | Yes |
CheckMail1 uses provider-specific verification logic instead of generic SMTP probing. This means it correctly handles Gmail (which blocks standard SMTP probes), iCloud, Yahoo, and 150+ other providers that ZeroBounce marks as UNKNOWN.
curl 'https://checkmail1.com/api/verify?email=test@gmail.com' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY'