WizLeads
TL;DR
- ZeroBounce: approved the most, 888, but 33 bounced (3.72%). $129 per 10,000 pay as you go.
- WizLeads: kept 852 with 5 bounces (0.59%), the most of the tools under 1%. About $20 per 10,000, pro-rata.
- LeadMagic: 822 kept, 0.85%. $49.50 per 10,000, pro-rata. Suits Clay workflows.
- NeverBounce: 711 kept, 0.56%, but it rejected 289. $50 per 10,000. A strict gate for lists that are cheap to replace.
- MillionVerifier: 709 kept, 0.99%. $39 per 10,000. Strict and low priced, for collected lists.
- Debounce: 670 kept, the lowest bounce rate at 0.15%, and it rejected 330. $25 per 10,000.
- BounceBan: not send-tested. $40 per 10,000, bills only successful checks, aimed at catch-alls.
- Bouncer, Emailable and Kickbox: not send-tested. $60, $60 and $70 per 10,000, for cleaning existing lists.
In April 2026 we ran 1,000 decision-maker emails for US real-estate agencies, exported from Apollo, through ZeroBounce and five alternatives on the same day. Then we sent a plain-text message to every address each tool approved and counted what came back.
To see the gap on your own list, run your accept_all rows through WizLeads and compare them with ZeroBounce's verdicts.
What we ranked on
Two failure modes pull against each other. A verifier can approve an address that does not exist, and you take a hard bounce against your sending domain. Or it can reject an address that works, and you lose a lead you paid to source.
Five of the six tools held bounces under one percent on their own approved list. ZeroBounce did not. So the ranking below is by the second number: how many of the 1,000 addresses each tool let you keep while staying under that bar.
The scoreboard
| Provider | Approved | Bounced | Bounce rate | Rejected | 10,000, pay as you go |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WizLeads | 852 | 5 | 0.59% | 148 | about $20, pro-rata |
| ZeroBounce | 888 | 33 | 3.72% | 112 | $129 |
| LeadMagic | 822 | 7 | 0.85% | 178 | $49.50, pro-rata |
| NeverBounce | 711 | 4 | 0.56% | 289 | $50 |
| MillionVerifier | 709 | 7 | 0.99% | 291 | $39 |
| Debounce | 670 | 1 | 0.15% | 330 | $25 |
Bounce rate is bounces divided by the addresses that tool approved, because we only sent to each tool's approved list. The WizLeads and LeadMagic prices are pro-rata on their entry plans. Several vendors sell a cheaper subscription, so read each tool's section for its other route.
Why ZeroBounce approved 888 and bounced 33
Its own documentation sets the bar at under 2%
ZeroBounce's status code reference describes a valid result as safe to email, with "a very low bounce rate of under 2%". Our list came back at 3.72% on the addresses it approved, 6.3 times the WizLeads rate on the same list. Judge it against the number the vendor publishes.
Catch-all domains get a verdict, and the verdict leans yes
ZeroBounce resolves catch-alls instead of handing the problem back to you, which three of the five alternatives here do not. The same reference explains how. Domains on ZeroBounce's internal accept-all list come back as valid with an accept_all sub-status, because long-term sending data shows them bouncing under 2%. Domains not on the list come back as catch-all, which the docs call impossible to validate without sending a real email.
Our list held 212 catch-all addresses out of 1,000 (21.2%), a heavy share. Real-estate agencies are a hard test case, and on a list with fewer catch-alls the gap between tools would narrow. The failures followed a consistent pattern on Google-hosted catch-alls.
A domain-level reputation signal suits a newsletter list where owners typed the addresses in. It suits a prospecting list less, where the local part was guessed from a name pattern, because the domain accepts mail either way.
We ran the test in April 2026, so re-test on your own list before you decide.
Verify+ is free, and it works by sending mail
ZeroBounce's answer is Verify+, an optional add-on that costs no extra credits. Its docs say that during validation it sends an email to check for bounces. Switching it on triggers a second pass, Catch-all Email Validation, which runs only when a list holds at least 10 catch-all addresses and can take up to 12 hours. ZeroBounce's own docs advise caution with addresses marked valid after that step.
A 12-hour second phase suits a weekly list-cleaning job. It does not suit a real-time API call in front of a signup form or a Clay table.
What ZeroBounce costs
ZeroBounce sells two routes, both on its pricing page. Pay as you go starts at $39 for 2,000 credits, and ZeroBounce ONE is a subscription at $99 a month.
| Credits | Pay as you go |
|---|---|
| 2,000 | $39 |
| 5,000 | $69 |
| 10,000 | $129 |
| 25,000 | $274 |
| 100,000 | $649 |
ZeroBounce ONE starts at 10,000 credits for $99 a month, or $948 billed annually. A free account on a business domain gets 100 verifications a month, and unknown results are not billed. Email Finder queries draw on the same pool at 20 credits per successful lookup, so 500 finds is 10,000 credits.
On expiry, read the label and the Terms side by side. The pricing page lists "Credits never expire", with a tooltip that limits this to an active ZeroBounce ONE subscription. The Terms (last revised 5 May 2026) say credits bought by customers who registered after 1 June 2026 expire two years after their most recent purchase, and never during an active ONE subscription.
Third-party pages disagree on price too. Sparkle's NeverBounce-alternatives list, which ranks second for this search, shows ZeroBounce "From $20 / 2,000", while ZeroBounce's own page says $39.
At 10,000 addresses, ZeroBounce's $129 is the highest pay-as-you-go price of the tools on this page, with Kickbox next at $70. At 100,000 the gap narrows: $649 against $500 for Kickbox and $420 for Emailable. MillionVerifier ($149) and Debounce ($135) stay far below.
The five alternatives
Each one gets the same four slots in the same order: what it did on the list, what explains that result, what 10,000 verifications cost, and who it suits.
1. WizLeads
On the list. 852 approved, 5 bounces, 0.59%, 148 rejected. The most addresses kept of any tool that stayed under one percent.
What explains it. WizLeads classifies catch-all addresses as valid or invalid instead of flagging them and handing them back. The public API returns a status, the mail provider and a catch-all flag on every check, so a catch-all domain looks like {"email":"...","status":"valid","provider":"Google","catchall":"YES"}. You can act on the status and still know the domain accepts everything.
WizLeads' classifier flagged 212 catch-alls and 159 addresses behind a secure email gateway. Of the six tools, only NeverBounce and Debounce surfaced nothing about the gateway.
Price. The Freelancer plan is $39 a month for 10,000 credits. Verification costs half a credit per email processed, whatever the result, so the plan covers 20,000 verifications, about $20 per 10,000 pro-rata. Credits roll over for one billing period, and the free tier is 500 credits once, which is 1,000 verifications. Verification shares one credit pool with Sales Navigator scraping and work-email enrichment.
Who it fits. Cold outbound where each contact cost money to source, and B2B lists with heavy corporate catch-all coverage. Less relevant for an opt-in consumer newsletter, where catch-alls barely appear and the cheap tools do the job.
2. LeadMagic
On the list. 822 approved, 7 bounces, 0.85%, 178 rejected.
What explains it. LeadMagic resolves catch-all addresses when its signals support a determination and leaves the rest as unknown. Unknown results are not billed. That keeps its approved pool close to WizLeads' while holding bounces under one percent.
Price. Validation costs 0.25 credits per address. The Essential plan is $99 a month for 5,000 credits on LeadMagic's pricing page, so 10,000 validations spend 2,500 credits and work out at $49.50 pro-rata. Monthly plans roll credits over up to twice the monthly allocation, and annual plans do not. LeadMagic gives no free credits.
Who it fits. Teams that build lists in Clay, where LeadMagic is one of the email validation actions.
3. NeverBounce
On the list. 711 approved, 4 bounces, 0.56%, 289 rejected. That is the second lowest bounce rate in the test.
What explains it. NeverBounce kept its bounce rate low by rejecting 289 addresses, nearly twice WizLeads' 148. It flagged 137 catch-alls on our list and resolved none of them. We sent only to approved addresses, so the test cannot say how many of those rejections would have delivered.
Price. NeverBounce's pricing page shows $50 for 10,000 pay-as-you-go credits, which expire 12 months after purchase. The Growth subscription is $49 a month for the same 10,000. At 100,000, pay as you go is $400 and the subscription is $159 a month. NeverBounce's sign-up page offers 10 free credits to a business account.
Who it fits. Warm lists that are cheap to replace. NeverBounce is owned by ZoomInfo, which matters mainly if you already buy data there. Skip it if rejecting 289 of 1,000 sourced contacts costs more than the occasional bounce.
4. MillionVerifier
On the list. 709 approved, 7 bounces, 0.99%, 291 rejected.
What explains it. MillionVerifier is as strict as NeverBounce, with a bounce rate just under one percent. Of its 291 rejections, 170 carried a catch_all label with no verdict. MillionVerifier flags catch-alls without saying whether they are valid or invalid, so those labels stay unresolved.
Price. MillionVerifier's homepage shows $39 for 10,000, $149 for 100,000 and $449 for a million credits. Credits never expire, and new accounts get 100 free. The homepage promises a "Full refund on any email we can't verify with certainty", while its Terms call the refund a "discretionary promotional goodwill programme". Read both before you count on it.
Who it fits. Large newsletter and CRM databases of collected addresses, where a false rejection costs you a subscriber. It is a poor fit for cold outbound, because 291 rejections on 1,000 sourced contacts is a real bill.
5. Debounce
On the list. 670 approved, 1 bounce, 0.15%, 330 rejected. The lowest bounce rate in the test.
What explains it. Debounce flagged 201 addresses as Accept All and resolved none of them, so 201 of its 330 rejections were Accept All flags. Debounce's help centre puts its deeper catch-all check at 10 credits on top of the 1-credit standard check, 11 in total, while its pricing page lists "Catch-all Validation 10 credits per validation". We did not run it. At 11 credits, 200 catch-alls cost 2,200 credits to answer 200 questions.
Price. Debounce's pricing page lists $25 for 10,000 credits, $75 for 50,000 and $135 for 100,000. The homepage's "From $0.00045 per Check" is the rate near the top of that ladder, which runs to 5 million credits; at 10,000 it is $0.0025. As at MillionVerifier, credits never expire and new accounts start with 100 free.
Who it fits. Shared IPs, strict bounce thresholds at your ESP, and lists that cost you nothing to rebuild.
Four more that show up on ZeroBounce shortlists
We have not send-tested these, so there are no bounce numbers to give you. Prices come from each vendor's own page.
BounceBan makes its case on catch-all addresses. Its FAQ says it "supports over 90% of catchall emails with an accuracy rate exceeding 97%". BounceBan also says a small share of checks take one to six minutes. BounceBan's pricing page sets $40 per 10,000 pay as you go, or $34 on a monthly subscription, and it charges only for successful verifications.
Bouncer sells 10,000 verifications for $60, or $48 a month on its subscription toggle, with a 1,000-credit minimum purchase, credits that never expire and 100 free for new accounts. Bouncer's pricing page also sells Shield as an add-on, priced per shield.
Emailable charges $60 for 10,000, $38 for 5,000 (its minimum) and $420 for 100,000, with 250 free credits on its pricing page. Its Terms bar using it to "send or validate any form of unsolicited communication, including ... unsolicited marketing", so read them before you point it at a cold list. Accounts inactive for 12 months can be deleted with credits forfeited.
Kickbox charges $70 for 10,000 and $500 for 100,000, with 100 free credits, on its pricing page. It does not bill unknown results. Its terms expire credits one year after purchase. Kickbox states that it is SOC II certified and GDPR compliant, with verification in the US and the EU.
What actually breaks when you switch
Your credits do not come with you
ZeroBounce's Terms call credit sales final and non-refundable, and the expiry rule above applies. Spend the balance on lists you already hold before you close the account.
The status vocabulary changes underneath you
ZeroBounce returns seven top-level statuses and a sub_status field with roughly thirty values. NeverBounce, for one, returns five result codes. Anything your pipeline branches on will need remapping.
| ZeroBounce status | What it covers | What to do after you move |
|---|---|---|
valid | Includes the accept_all, alias_address, alternate, gold and ai_agent_mailbox sub-statuses | Split accept_all out before you compare anything |
catch-all | Domains not on ZeroBounce's accept-all list | WizLeads and LeadMagic return a verdict. NeverBounce, MillionVerifier and Debounce return the same shrug under a different label |
unknown | greylisted, timeout_exceeded, antispam_system and five more. Not billed | Check whether your new tool charges for these. Kickbox and LeadMagic do not |
spamtrap, abuse | Suppress on sight | Check whether your new tool has an equivalent label |
do_not_mail | role_based, disposable, toxic, global_suppression, possible_trap, mx_forward, role_based_catch_all | Export this list first |
Your suppression rules were doing more work than you noticed
The do_not_mail bucket has been pulling role-based addresses, disposable domains, global suppression matches and possible traps out of your sends. Not every verifier separates these: WizLeads returns only a status, the provider and a catch-all flag, and Kickbox folds role and disposable addresses into Risky. Before you cancel, export everything ZeroBounce marked do_not_mail and load it into your sequencer's blocklist, or the first campaign after the switch goes out with info@ and sales@ addresses in it.
The API contract is different
A ZeroBounce response carries status, sub_status, free_email, mx_found, mx_record, smtp_provider and catchall_domain. If your logic reads catchall_domain or smtp_provider, check the replacement returns an equivalent. Test real-time speed separately from bulk. A tool that handles a CSV well can still be too slow in front of a form.
Some of what you pay for is not verification
ZeroBounce ONE also bundles warmup, inbox placement tests, blacklist monitoring and a DMARC monitor. Two alternatives here sell part of that as add-ons. Bouncer's Deliverability Kit (from $25 a month on its pricing page) runs inbox placement, blocklist and DMARC tests. Emailable sells inbox reports and blacklist monitors.
Compare against your whole bill.
On compliance, ZeroBounce publishes SOC 2 Type 2 (since March 2022), ISO/IEC 27001:2022, HIPAA-readiness with a BAA available, PCI DSS and Data Privacy Framework participation. It deletes uploaded files within 30 days.
On public clouds its own pages disagree. Its trust page says it does not store customer data on Amazon Web Services, Azure or other public clouds. Its facts page says validation files "may be stored with Amazon Web Services" for regional data residency.
If your security review asks for a SOC 2 report or a BAA, that list settles the question.
A switch that does not cost you a campaign
Four steps, and none of them need you to move your whole database on day one.
- Export before you cancel. Pull your recent ZeroBounce results with the
statusandsub_statuscolumns intact. That file is your baseline and your suppression list. - Isolate the
accept_allrows. ZeroBounce called these valid on the domain's track record, not on evidence about the mailbox. Run only that subset through the new tool. It is where the two tools will disagree. - Send to the disagreements. Take a few hundred addresses the new tool calls invalid and ZeroBounce called valid. Send to them from a throwaway subdomain and count the bounces. You have your answer in 72 hours.
- Rebuild the filters you inherited. Load the old
do_not_mailexport into your blocklist, and add role-based and disposable-domain rules if the new verifier does not flag them.
The other option: stop paying anyone
In February 2026 an n8n thread on Reddit, with a score of 210, argued that a verifier is an MX lookup followed by an SMTP handshake. The poster rebuilt it as a workflow. The reasoning holds, and if you verify a few hundred addresses a month it will work.
The thread also surfaced a gap. Yahoo, AOL and iCloud refuse SMTP verification, so a self-built checker has only DNS and guesswork there.
A live probe also cannot tell you the mailbox bounced for someone else last month. That history is the part you cannot rebuild, and on a catch-all domain it is most of the answer.
How to choose
Choose by which mistake costs you more, a bounce or a lost lead.
If a bounce costs more, because you send from shared IPs or your platform enforces a hard bounce threshold, take a strict tool and accept the losses. Debounce at $25 per 10,000 came in at 0.15% and NeverBounce at $50 came in at 0.56%. They got there by rejecting 330 and 289 of the 1,000.
If a lost lead costs more, because you paid to source every contact, a tool that leaves catch-alls undecided pushes that cost onto you. That is the case our test was built around. The two alternatives that resolve catch-all addresses kept 822 and 852 of the 1,000, while the strict tools kept 670 to 711.
If you stay with ZeroBounce, turn Verify+ on and treat the accept_all group as a segment separate from your clean list.
