Disposable Email CheckFree
GET /v1/emails/disposable
- Looks only at the domain. No mail server is contacted.
- Answers one question: is this a temporary email domain?
- 0 credits, so you can run it on every signup.
Free0 credits per check, whatever the result
Disposable Email Check API
Find out if an email address belongs to a temporary inbox before you create the account, send the welcome email, or hand out free credits. Send one address and get the domain and a true or false answer back. Every check is free.
Opens in the API playground. No credits used.
Try
- Price per check
- 0 credits
- You send
- One email address
- You get
- Domain + true or false
Background
What is a disposable email address, and why check at signup?
A disposable email address, also called a temporary, throwaway, or burner email, comes from a service that hands out an inbox to anyone for a few minutes or hours with no signup. People use one to get past an email gate without sharing a real address. Once the inbox expires, there is no way to reach that person again.
That shows up as trial abuse, duplicate free accounts, welcome emails that bounce, and CRM records nobody can follow up on. The Disposable Email Check API tells you, at the moment of signup, whether the domain belongs to one of these services. It costs no credits, so you can run it on every form without thinking about the bill.
Request and response
What you send and what you get back
Only the domain after the @ is checked against the current disposable-domain list. No message is sent and no mail server is contacted.
curl -G "https://api.envoapi.com/v1/emails/disposable" \ --data-urlencode "[email protected]" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $ENVO_API_KEY"email- Required. 3 to 254 characters. Only the domain after the @ is checked, so capital letters and plus-addresses make no difference.
Authorization- Bearer token with your API key.
X-RateLimit-*- Every successful response tells you your limit, how many requests you have left, and when the window resets.
X-Request-Id- Returned on every response. Quote it when you contact support.
{ "data": { "domain": "mailinator.com", "isDisposable": true }, "meta": { "creditCost": 0 }}domain- The domain we checked, lowercased and normalized. Log it so you know exactly what was matched.
isDisposable- true when the domain is on the current disposable-domain list, false when it is not.
creditCost- Always 0, whether the domain is listed or not.
Integration
Add it to your signup flow in three steps
The check is one GET request from your server. Here is the same call in Node.js, Python and cURL.
Create a free API key
Sign up, copy the key from your dashboard, and keep it on the server. The check runs from your backend, never from the browser.
Call the endpoint when the form is submitted
Send the address your user typed as the email query parameter. Only the domain after the @ is used.
Branch on
isDisposableWhen it is true, ask for another address, hold free credits, or flag the lead. When it is false, carry on as usual.
const url = new URL("https://api.envoapi.com/v1/emails/disposable");url.searchParams.set("email", form.email);const response = await fetch(url, { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.ENVO_API_KEY}` },});const { data } = await response.json();if (data.isDisposable) { // Ask for a work or personal address instead.}import osimport requestsresponse = requests.get( "https://api.envoapi.com/v1/emails/disposable", headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['ENVO_API_KEY']}"}, params={"email": form["email"]},)data = response.json()["data"]if data["isDisposable"]: # Ask for a work or personal address instead. ...curl -G "https://api.envoapi.com/v1/emails/disposable" \ --data-urlencode "[email protected]" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $ENVO_API_KEY"Use cases
Where teams use it
Signup forms
Run the check when the form is submitted. If the domain is disposable, ask for a work or personal address instead of creating the account.
Free trials and credits
Stop one person from opening ten trials with ten temporary inboxes. Send disposable signups through extra verification before you grant credits or trial days.
Imports and CRM hygiene
Flag disposable addresses as leads arrive from forms, imports, and partners. Sales stops chasing inboxes that will be gone next week, and reports count only real contacts.
Gated content and demo requests
People use temporary inboxes to grab a PDF and vanish. Check the address before you send the asset, so your follow-up list holds real prospects.
Waitlists, giveaways and referrals
Keep contest entries and referral rewards for real people. One check per entry costs nothing, so there is no reason to skip it.
Bounce rate and sender reputation
Temporary inboxes expire and then bounce. Drop them before a campaign goes out instead of after the bounces come back.
Disposable check vs. email verification
Which check do you need?
Use the disposable check on every form, because it is free. Use Verify Email when you need to know the mailbox is real, such as before a campaign or a sales handoff.
Verify Email
GET /v1/emails/verify
- Asks the recipient's mail server whether the mailbox exists, without sending a message.
- Returns valid, invalid or unverifiable with a reason code.
- Also reports
isCatchAllandisDisposable. Uses credits.
Response codes
What each status code means
Every error carries a code, a message, a retryable flag, and meta.requestId so support can find the request.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
200 | The check ran. Read data.domain and data.isDisposable. |
400 | The email parameter is missing or invalid. |
401 | Your API key is invalid or inactive. |
403 | Your API key or account cannot access this endpoint. |
405 | Use GET for this endpoint. |
406 | The format in your Accept header is not supported. |
415 | The Content-Type in your request is not supported. |
429 | Too many requests. Wait for the Retry-After header. |
500 | A server error stopped the request. Retry later. |
503 | The domain list or a required dependency is unavailable. Retry after the Retry-After header when one is sent. |
FAQ
Common questions
What is a disposable email address?
A disposable, temporary, or burner email address comes from a service that gives anyone an inbox for a few minutes or hours with no signup. People use them to get past email gates without sharing a real address. Accounts created with them are hard to recover, rarely convert, and often bounce later.
Does this check that the mailbox exists?
No. It checks only whether the domain after the @ is a known disposable email domain. It does not check that the mailbox exists or that mail will be delivered. Use the Email Verification API for that.
What does a check cost?
Nothing. Every successful response reports a creditCost of 0, whether the domain is disposable or not. Your plan's rate limits still apply.
Can I check a domain instead of a full email address?
The endpoint takes an email address, but only the domain is used. Send any address on that domain, such as [email protected], and read data.domain in the response.
Does it handle uppercase letters or plus-addressing?
Yes. The domain is lowercased and normalized before the check, and everything before the @ is ignored. [email protected] and [email protected] give the same result.
What counts as a match?
An exact match on the normalized domain. The domain after the @ is either on the current disposable-domain list or it is not. The response returns that domain so you can log what was checked.
Does a free check count against my rate limit?
Yes. It costs no credits, but each request counts toward your rate limit. If you go over it you get a 429 with a Retry-After header.
Are results cached?
No. Every response is sent with Cache-Control: private, no-store, so each request reflects the current domain list.
What happens if the service is unavailable?
The API returns 503 when the domain list or a required dependency is unavailable, with a Retry-After header when a retry time is known. Until it recovers, treat the address as unknown, not as safe.
Should I block disposable signups?
That is your call. Many teams ask for a different address and let the user continue, which keeps conversion high and cuts abuse. Others allow the signup but hold free credits or trial features until a real address is confirmed.
Start checking signups today
Create an API key, add one GET request to your form handler, and stop temporary inboxes from turning into fake accounts. Every check is free.