Email validation

Email validation has no formal standard definition, and the industry uses it loosely. In the narrow sense, validation means checking that an address is well formed: it follows the email syntax rules of RFC 5322, the domain exists in DNS, and the domain publishes MX records (or an address record mail can fall back to). These checks happen without talking to the recipient's mail server.

Email verification, in the narrow sense, goes one step further and asks the mail server whether the specific mailbox exists. In practice many tools, including those calling themselves validators, do both, and people search for the two terms interchangeably. The honest answer is that the words overlap; what matters is which checks a tool actually runs.

A web form that rejects jane.doe@acme without a top-level domain is doing validation. A service that tells you [email protected] is accepted by the server but sits on a catch-all domain is doing verification.

Syntax and domain checks catch typos and dead domains, but they can't tell you whether [email protected] is a real person's inbox. A list that only passed validation can still produce plenty of hard bounces. When you compare tools or read a vendor's claims, ask whether a mailbox-level check is included.

Skrap.ai runs both layers in one check: syntax, domain and MX records, then a mailbox check over SMTP without sending an email, plus catch-all detection. You get one of four statuses (Valid, Risky, Invalid, Unknown), and Invalid and Unknown results are free. Paste an address into the free email verifier to see each step.