Compare phone and e-mail verification APIs

Compare phone and e-mail verification APIs by the job you need done, then by dated public facts: the list price at your volume, whether unknown results are billed, what one request returns, and how the provider handles your data. This hub explains how our comparison pages are built, which question each one answers, and where to check the facts yourself.

#How are these comparisons built?

Every comparison page follows the same rules, so you can judge it the same way:

1. Dated public prices only. Each price comes from the provider's own public pricing page, with the currency, the fetch date and a link. Where a price isn't public, or a page couldn't be read, the cell says so. We never estimate a price.
2. Criteria before products. Each page lists what matters for the job, and why, before any product appears.
3. "When to choose them instead". Every provider we name gets at least one concrete situation where it is the better choice.
4. A "where MobileValidate doesn't fit" row. We make MobileValidate, so each page says plainly where it is the wrong tool.
5. No accuracy scores for anyone, including us. We don't publish test results on other providers' APIs. You get a test script to run on your own data instead.
6. Links, not copies. We paraphrase facts and link to the source. No logos, no copied tables, no affiliate links.
7. A correction path. Every page has a "Report a correction" link. We check reports against the provider's public page and update the page and its date.

We re-check prices every quarter, and sooner when a provider tells us about a change. The "Last verified" date at the top of each page is the day we last checked its facts.

#Which question does each comparison answer?

The published pages are listed at the top of this page. New pages appear there on their publication date.

#What should you compare first?

Start with the job, because the same API can suit one job and not another.

• Sign-up forms (real time). You need a single-request API that answers in a second or two, clear unknowns, and no charge for them. For phone numbers, line type is the key field. For e-mail, typo suggestions and a disposable-domain flag help.
• List cleaning (bulk). Price per 1,000 at your volume matters most, then whether unknown and catch-all results are billed, then how long the provider keeps your list.
• Carrier and routing. What one lookup returns decides the value: a routing number (LRN), the network code (MCC/MNC), line type, porting status or live reachability.
• Fraud screening. Ownership signals such as SIM swap or reassigned numbers need specialist providers. A cheap lookup is a first filter, not a replacement.
• Channel choice. To choose between SMS and a messaging app, you need to know whether the number is registered on that app, from a consented list.

Our phone number validation API buyer's guide walks through each criterion for phone checks, and the e-mail verification guide does the same for e-mail.

#How do I compare prices fairly?

A list price per request isn't the whole cost. Three adjustments make prices comparable:

1. Price at your volume, not the headline rate. Most providers sell credit packs or plans with falling unit prices. Compare the smallest published option that covers your volume.
2. Price per conclusive answer. If a provider bills unknown results, divide the list price by your share of conclusive answers. At 20% unknowns, a billed unknown adds 25% to the cost of each useful answer (1 ÷ 0.8 = 1.25).
3. What one request returns. A lookup that returns only a routing number isn't the same product as one that returns line type and porting. Compare like with like.

Prices on our comparison pages are list prices on the stated date, before discounts, taxes and promotions. Check the provider's page before you buy.

#How do I test providers myself?

Run the same labelled sample through each candidate on the same day, and record four numbers: conclusive rate, agreement with your labels, latency and billed rows. Use data you're allowed to process and whose outcome you already know, such as confirmed sign-ups and addresses that hard-bounced. Never build a sample by guessing numbers or addresses: that's enumeration, which our acceptable use policy forbids, and you wouldn't know the right answers anyway.

Each comparison page includes a short script you can adapt. Our own results in your test are billed like any other request, and unknown results are free.

#Where does MobileValidate fit, and where doesn't it?

Our prices are on the pricing page and come from the same live catalog as the API.