# PricklyMails > PricklyMails is an EU-hosted email verification API and MCP server. Each verification runs syntax and MX checks, probes the mailbox over SMTP where the provider allows it, flags disposable and role addresses, and returns an honest verdict: unknown rather than a fabricated valid when a mailbox cannot be confirmed. Submitted addresses are never retained; only a keyed hash is stored, and a check that ends without an answer is refunded automatically. Billed per check from a prepaid token wallet, callable from the REST API or as a single tool call over the Model Context Protocol. ## Docs - [API overview](https://pricklymails.com/docs/overview): A map of the PricklyMails email verification API: base URL, bearer and OAuth authentication, request conventions, and where to go next. - [Getting started](https://pricklymails.com/docs/getting-started): Verify your first email address with the PricklyMails API in a few minutes: create a key, submit a job, and read the verdict and score. - [Authentication](https://pricklymails.com/docs/authentication): Authenticate to the PricklyMails API with a bearer API key, or an OAuth 2.1 PKCE flow for an AI agent acting on your behalf. - [API keys](https://pricklymails.com/docs/api-keys): Create, list, update, and revoke live and test API keys from the dashboard, each scoped to its own rate limit and environment. - [Verify an email](https://pricklymails.com/docs/verify): Submit an address, poll the job, and read its checks, honest verdict, and confidence score: inconclusive checks are refunded automatically. - [Batches](https://pricklymails.com/docs/batches): Submit thousands of addresses for bulk verification in one batch, then poll the aggregated results without checking each job by hand. - [MCP server](https://pricklymails.com/docs/mcp): Connect an AI agent to PricklyMails over the Model Context Protocol and verify email deliverability as a single tool call, no glue code. - [Webhooks](https://pricklymails.com/docs/webhooks): Receive a signed HTTP notification the moment a verification job finishes, instead of polling the API for a result that is not ready yet. - [Automate with n8n or Make](https://pricklymails.com/docs/automations): Verify the contacts another tool stores, on a schedule: send them as one batch with their IDs, wait for it, then write each recommendation back. - [Billing](https://pricklymails.com/docs/billing): Plans, the prepaid token wallet, and how each verification check is priced, including refunds for checks that end without an answer. - [Rate limits](https://pricklymails.com/docs/rate-limits): How PricklyMails enforces a per-API-key rate limit by plan, the headers it returns, and how to back off correctly after a 429. - [Errors](https://pricklymails.com/docs/errors): The shape of every PricklyMails API error response, the stable translation key each one carries, and how to handle each status code. ## Guides - [Why emails bounce, and what it costs](https://pricklymails.com/guides/why-emails-bounce): Hard bounces, soft bounces, what each one costs your sender reputation and your sending account, and the habits that keep your bounce rate low. - [How to clean an email list](https://pricklymails.com/guides/clean-email-list): A practical method for cleaning an email list before a send: gather it, drop what you already know, verify every address, sort by recommendation, decide on the doubtful ones, and send in stages. - [Catch-all domains: what they are](https://pricklymails.com/guides/catch-all-domains): What a catch-all domain is, why the mail server's answer cannot confirm a mailbox behind one, what PricklyMails returns instead, and what to do with those addresses. - [ZeroBounce alternative: comparison](https://pricklymails.com/guides/zerobounce-alternative): PricklyMails and ZeroBounce compared on verifiable points: pricing model, price per 1,000 addresses, free tier, credit expiry, unknown results, catch-all handling, data retention and hosting, API, and MCP. - [What dead email addresses really cost](https://pricklymails.com/guides/cost-of-dead-email-addresses): Most email tools stop billing an address once it bounces. The real cost is elsewhere: a suspended account, a tier paid until renewal, and your sender reputation. ## API reference - [OpenAPI specification (JSON)](https://api.pricklymails.com/api/openapi.json): The OpenAPI 3 specification of the PricklyMails REST API: every endpoint a client calls, with its errors. - [OpenAPI specification (YAML)](https://api.pricklymails.com/api/openapi.yaml): The same specification as YAML. ## MCP for AI agents - [Connect an AI agent over MCP](https://pricklymails.com/docs/mcp): Connect an AI agent to PricklyMails over the Model Context Protocol and verify email deliverability as a single tool call, no glue code. ## Pricing - [Pricing](https://pricklymails.com/#pricing): Pick a monthly plan and choose which checks to run. You pay for the checks, not the email count. ## Integrations - [Integrations](https://pricklymails.com/integrations): Verify the addresses from Shopify, Brevo, HubSpot, Mailchimp and your forms. Through the API, through MCP, or from a plain export. - [Verify the email addresses in an Airtable table](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/airtable): Airtable email verification in three steps: export a view as CSV, verify the file in PricklyMails, then merge each recommendation back onto its record. - [Verify each Auth0 signup before the account exists](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/auth0): Refuse an Auth0 signup whose address cannot receive mail: a Pre User Registration Action asks PricklyMails about it before the user is created. - [Verify your BigCommerce customer emails before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/bigcommerce): BigCommerce email verification in three steps: export your customers, verify the file in PricklyMails, then turn off marketing emails for the ones to remove. - [Verify your Brevo email list before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/brevo): Brevo email verification in three steps: export your contacts, verify the file in PricklyMails, then blocklist the addresses to remove. - [Verify your Campaign Monitor list before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/campaignmonitor): Campaign Monitor email verification in three steps: export your list, verify the file in PricklyMails, then delete and suppress the addresses to remove. - [Verify email addresses from ChatGPT with MCP](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/chatgpt): Add PricklyMails to ChatGPT as a custom MCP server, then ask it to verify an address or a whole list in a conversation, on a Business or Enterprise workspace. - [Verify email addresses from Claude with MCP](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/claude): Connect Claude to the PricklyMails MCP server once, then ask it to verify an address or a whole list on the web, in the desktop app or in Claude Code. - [Verify the email addresses of your Clerk users](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/clerk): Clerk email verification in three steps: export your users, verify the file in PricklyMails, then delete the accounts whose address cannot receive mail. - [Verify the email addresses in a ClickUp CRM List](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/clickup): ClickUp email verification for a CRM List: export the view as CSV, verify the file in PricklyMails, then tag the clients with an address to remove. - [Verify email addresses from Cursor with MCP](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/cursor): Add the PricklyMails MCP server to Cursor in one click or a few lines of mcp.json, then ask its agent to verify the addresses your code works with. - [Refuse Firebase signups whose address cannot receive mail](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/firebase): Add a blocking function to Firebase Authentication that checks each new address with PricklyMails and refuses the account when it cannot receive mail. - [Verify your Ghost member list before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/ghost): Ghost email verification in three steps: export your members, verify the file in PricklyMails, then unsubscribe the addresses to remove from your newsletters. - [Verify your Gmail contacts before you email them](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/gmail): Gmail email verification in three steps: export a label from Google Contacts, verify the file in PricklyMails, then take the addresses to remove off it. - [Verify each Google Forms response address](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/googleforms): A script bound to the response sheet asks PricklyMails about the address of each new Google Forms response and writes its recommendation beside it. - [Verify the email addresses in a Google Sheets list](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/googlesheets): Google Sheets email verification in three steps: export the address column, verify it in PricklyMails, then filter out the rows to remove. - [Verify your Gumroad customers and followers before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/gumroad): Gumroad email verification in three steps: export your customers and followers, verify the file in PricklyMails, then stop emailing the addresses to remove. - [Verify your HubSpot contacts before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/hubspot): HubSpot email verification in three steps: export your contacts, verify the file in PricklyMails, then opt out the addresses to remove. - [Verify your Intercom contacts before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/intercom): Intercom email verification in three steps: export your users and leads, verify the file in PricklyMails, then archive the addresses to remove. - [Verify your Kit subscribers before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/kit): Kit email verification in three steps: export your subscribers, verify the file in PricklyMails, then unsubscribe the addresses to remove. - [Verify your Klaviyo email list before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/klaviyo): Klaviyo email verification in three steps: export your profiles, verify the file in PricklyMails, then suppress the addresses to remove. - [Verify your lemlist leads before you launch them](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/lemlist): lemlist email verification in three steps: export your campaign leads, verify the file in PricklyMails, then unsubscribe the addresses to remove. - [Verify your Lemon Squeezy subscribers before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/lemonsqueezy): Lemon Squeezy email verification in three steps: export your subscribers, verify the file in PricklyMails, then archive the addresses to remove. - [Verify your Loops contacts before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/loops): Loops email verification in three steps: export your audience, verify the file in PricklyMails, then unsubscribe the addresses that cannot receive mail. - [Clean your Mailchimp list before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/mailchimp): Mailchimp email list cleaning in three steps: export your audience, verify the file in PricklyMails, then archive the addresses to remove. - [Verify your Mailjet contacts before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/mailjet): Mailjet email verification in three steps: export your contact list, verify the file in PricklyMails, then exclude the addresses to remove. - [Verify your Mailtrap contacts before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/mailtrap): Mailtrap email verification in three steps: export your contacts, verify the file in PricklyMails, then suppress the addresses that cannot receive mail. - [Verify email addresses in Make scenarios](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/make): Call the PricklyMails API from Make's HTTP app: verify the address a webhook brings in one request, or a whole list as a batch over two scenarios. - [Verify email addresses in n8n workflows](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/n8n): Call the PricklyMails API from an n8n HTTP Request node: verify the address a form brings in one request, or a whole list as one batch. - [Verify the contacts in your Notion database](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/notion): Notion email verification for a contacts database: export it as CSV, verify the file in PricklyMails, then mark the addresses to remove in a property. - [Verify your Odoo mailing lists before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/odoo): Odoo email verification in three steps: export a mailing list, verify the file in PricklyMails, then blacklist the addresses to remove. - [Verify your Outlook contacts before you email them](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/outlook): Outlook email verification in three steps: export your contacts to a CSV file, verify it in PricklyMails, then delete the contacts that cannot receive mail. - [Verify the email addresses of your Paddle customers](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/paddle): Paddle email verification in three steps: export your customers through a report, verify the file in PricklyMails, then fix or archive the addresses to remove. - [Verify your PrestaShop customer emails before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/prestashop): PrestaShop email verification in three steps: export your customers, verify the file in PricklyMails, then unsubscribe the addresses to remove. - [Verify your Resend contacts before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/resend): Resend email verification in three steps: export your contacts, verify the file in PricklyMails, then suppress the addresses that cannot receive mail. - [Verify your Shopify customer emails before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/shopify): Shopify email verification in three steps: export your customers, verify the file in PricklyMails, then unsubscribe the addresses to remove. - [Verify your Squarespace mailing list before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/squarespace): Squarespace email verification in three steps: export a mailing list, verify the file in PricklyMails, then remove the addresses that cannot receive mail. - [Verify your Stripe customer emails](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/stripe): Stripe email verification in three steps: export your customers, verify the file in PricklyMails, then replace the addresses that cannot receive mail. - [Verify your Substack subscribers before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/substack): Substack email verification in three steps: export your subscriber list, verify the file in PricklyMails, then remove the addresses that cannot receive mail. - [Verify Supabase signups before the user is created](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/supabase): An Edge Function on Supabase's Before User Created hook asks PricklyMails about each new address and refuses the signup when it cannot receive mail. - [Verify your Wix contacts before you send](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/wix): Wix email verification in three steps: export your contacts, verify the file in PricklyMails, then delete the addresses that cannot receive mail. - [Refuse WordPress signups whose address cannot receive mail](https://pricklymails.com/integrations/wordpress): Add a must-use plugin to WordPress that checks each new registration with PricklyMails and refuses the account when its address cannot receive mail. ## Free tools - [Free tools](https://pricklymails.com/tools): Free tools that answer one question about your email list from the rules sending platforms publish, with every source linked. No account needed. - [Email bounce calculator](https://pricklymails.com/tools/email-bounce-calculator): See what dead addresses cost your next send: a higher contact tier, a suspended account, a campaign at risk, at Brevo, Mailchimp, HubSpot and more. ## Privacy and zero retention - [Privacy policy](https://pricklymails.com/privacy): How PricklyMails collects, uses, and protects your data: zero retention on verified email addresses, and 100% EU-hosted infrastructure. - [Data Processing Agreement (DPA)](https://pricklymails.com/dpa): The data processing agreement under Article 28 of the GDPR that governs how PricklyMails verifies your email lists as your processor. ## About - [About PricklyMails](https://pricklymails.com/about): Who builds PricklyMails, the email verification API hosted in Germany: where the project comes from, its principles, its milestones, and how to reach us.