Verify a Single Email Address in Real-Time

Single verification lets you check one email address on demand and get a result immediately. It’s the right choice when you’re working one address at a time — for example, validating an address in a tool like Clay, or enriching a record the moment it’s retrieved.

When to use single verification

Clay and similar tools — when your tool doesn’t support our bulk verification endpoint.
Real-time enrichment — add deliverability data to a record the moment it’s retrieved or created.

Validating more than one address? Use bulk verification. Bulk jobs run in the background, so OrbiSearch can spend more time per address — and retry greylisted servers for up to 30 minutes — to return more definitive results than a single timed request. Use synchronous verification only for ad-hoc, single-address checks, or when your tool (such as Clay) doesn’t support bulk.

Making a request

To verify an email, send a GET request to /v1/verify with your email address as a query parameter. Include your API key in the X-API-Key header.

Get your API key

Send the request

Call GET /v1/verify?email=<address> with your key in the request header.

curl --request GET \
  --url "https://api.orbisearch.com/v1/verify?email=jane.doe@acme.com" \
  --header "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://api.orbisearch.com/v1/verify",
    params={"email": "jane.doe@acme.com"},
    headers={"X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
)

result = response.json()
print(result["status"], result["substatus"])

const response = await fetch(
  "https://api.orbisearch.com/v1/verify?email=jane.doe%40acme.com",
  {
    headers: {
      "X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
    },
  }
);

const result = await response.json();
console.log(result.status, result.substatus);

Read the response

The API returns a JSON object with the verification result. Use the status field to decide what to do with the address.

{
  "email": "jane.doe@acme.com",
  "status": "safe",
  "substatus": "deliverable",
  "explanation": "The mailbox exists and is accepting mail.",
  "email_provider": "Google Workspace",
  "mx_record": "aspmx.l.google.com",
  "is_domain_catch_all": false,
  "is_secure_email_gateway": false,
  "is_disposable": false,
  "is_role_account": false,
  "is_free": false
}

Interpreting the response

Every response includes a status and a more specific substatus. Use status for the primary decision, and substatus for additional detail.

`status`	What it means	Recommended action
`safe`	The mailbox exists and is accepting mail.	Include in outreach and workflows.
`risky`	Deliverability is uncertain (e.g., catch-all domain or policy block).	Review based on your use case.
`invalid`	The address will bounce.	Remove from your list.
`unknown`	A transient error prevented verification.	Retry the next day.

For a full breakdown of every substatus value and what it means, see Handling Results.

Response fields

Field	Type	Description
`email`	string	The email address that was verified.
`status`	string	Top-level deliverability verdict: `safe`, `risky`, `invalid`, or `unknown`.
`substatus`	string	The specific reason behind the status.
`explanation`	string	A plain-English description of the result.
`email_provider`	string	The detected email provider (e.g., `Google Workspace`, `Gmail`).
`mx_record`	string \| null	The main mail server the domain uses to receive email.
`is_domain_catch_all`	boolean \| null	Whether the domain accepts mail for any username (catch-all).
`is_secure_email_gateway`	boolean	Whether the domain is protected by a secure email gateway (Proofpoint, Mimecast, Barracuda, Trend Micro).
`is_disposable`	boolean \| null	Whether the address uses a known disposable email service.
`is_role_account`	boolean \| null	Whether the address is a role account (e.g., `support@`, `info@`).
`is_free`	boolean \| null	Whether the address uses a free email provider (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo).

is_domain_catch_all, is_disposable, is_role_account, and is_free may be null when OrbiSearch cannot determine the value with confidence.

The `timeout` parameter

By default, OrbiSearch waits up to 97 seconds for a response from the destination mail server. You can adjust this with the timeout query parameter (minimum 3, maximum 97, in seconds).

curl --request GET \
  --url "https://api.orbisearch.com/v1/verify?email=jane.doe@acme.com&timeout=10" \
  --header "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Use a short timeout (3–10 seconds) when you need a quick answer. Use the default or a longer timeout when accuracy matters more than speed. A shorter timeout increases the likelihood of an unknown result for slow mail servers.

Rate limits

The single verification endpoint allows up to 20 requests per second per API key. If you exceed this limit, the API returns a 429 Too Many Requests response. Add a retry with exponential backoff to handle this gracefully. For higher throughput, use the bulk verification endpoint, which processes large lists asynchronously without rate limit concerns.

Credit cost

Each email verification costs 0.2 credits. You can check your current credit balance at any time via the API or the OrbiSearch dashboard.

Get Started

Core Concepts

Guides

Verify a Single Email Address in Real-Time

When to use single verification

Making a request

Interpreting the response

Response fields

The `timeout` parameter

Rate limits

Credit cost

​When to use single verification

​Making a request

​Interpreting the response

​Response fields

​The timeout parameter

​Rate limits

​Credit cost

When to use single verification

Making a request

Interpreting the response

Response fields

The `timeout` parameter

Rate limits

Credit cost