Kickbox vs ZeroBounce

Kickbox sells verification as a flat pay-as-you-go ladder, from $10 for 1,000 checks to $2,999 for a million. ZeroBounce starts at $39 for 2,000 credits and wraps the verifier in a deliverability suite. Both skip the charge on unknown results. They differ on credit expiry, on what comes back with each address, and on what surrounds the check.

	Kickbox	ZeroBounce
1,000 checks	$10	$39 buys 2,000 credits
10,000 / 100,000	$70 / $500	Pay-as-you-go ladder or the ONE monthly plan
1,000,000	$2,999	See ZeroBounce's own pricing page
Free checks	100, once	100 every month
Credit expiry	One year from purchase	Roll over while the subscription runs
Unknown results	Don't count against your balance	Not charged
Extra signal	Sendex quality score, 0 to 1	Catch-all score, 1 to 10
Accuracy claim	None published; a 95% deliverability guarantee	99.6% on most domains

Figures read from each vendor's own page in September 2026.

Where each one is stronger

What each vendor does that the other does not, stated as capability rather than advice.

Kickbox strengths

Kickbox prints its whole ladder: $10 for 1,000, $70 for 10,000, $500 for 100,000 and $2,999 for a million. You start with 100 free checks. Unknown addresses don't count against your balance, per its docs. Every result carries a Sendex score from 0 to 1, built from signals such as free versus company domain and role addresses. Addresses you download as Deliverable are covered by a 95% deliverability guarantee.

ZeroBounce strengths

ZeroBounce gives you 100 free checks every month, not once, and $39 buys 2,000 credits. Unknowns are not charged, per its facts page, and each catch-all address gets a score from 1 to 10. Inbox placement tests, blacklist monitoring and DMARC tools sit in the same account. Subscription credits roll over while the plan is active, and ZeroBounce's security page lists SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA and PCI.

What separates Kickbox from ZeroBounce

Kickbox credits expire one year from purchase, and that clause can outweigh every price row. Buy 100,000 for a migration, use 60,000, and the rest lapse on a date nobody put in a calendar. ZeroBounce ties rollover to an active subscription instead, so you keep credits by staying on the plan. Match the model to how often you clean. Do verification credits expire? lists which vendors set a clock.

Each vendor adds a different number to the verdict. Kickbox's Sendex score runs from 0 to 1 and grades how good an address looks, drawing on the domain type and role accounts. ZeroBounce scores only catch-all addresses, from 1 to 10. If you build send rules on Sendex thresholds, those rules won't port to another vendor, so budget time to rebuild them if you ever move. Should you remove catch-all emails? helps you set a cut-off on either scale.

On price, Kickbox is easier to plan with. Every step from 500 to a million is printed, so you can cost a job before signing up. ZeroBounce's $39 entry covers 2,000 credits, and its larger options sit on its pricing page beside the ONE monthly plan. Neither charges for unknowns, so the printed rate is close to what you pay. How much it costs to verify a million emails sets Kickbox's $2,999 against the market.

What Kickbox and ZeroBounce both run into

Vendor accuracy percentages in this category count how often a returned verdict was right. They are calculated after the catch-alls and the servers that refuse to answer have left the denominator. Hunter tested 15 verifiers on 3,000 real business addresses (3 November 2025) and measured 31.2% to 70.0% overall. Both kinds of figure are real and they are not measuring the same thing.

Questions about Kickbox and ZeroBounce

How much does Kickbox cost?

Kickbox charges $10 for 1,000 checks, $70 for 10,000, $500 for 100,000 and $2,999 for a million, read on kickbox.com in September 2026. You get 100 free checks first. Credits expire one year from purchase.

Do Kickbox credits expire?

Yes, one year from the purchase date. ZeroBounce subscription credits roll over while the plan stays active. Buy Kickbox credits in amounts you'll use within 12 months.

What is the Kickbox Sendex score?

Sendex is Kickbox's quality score from 0 to 1 on each address. It draws on signals such as free versus company domains and role accounts. ZeroBounce's nearest equivalent is a 1 to 10 score on catch-all addresses only.

Do Kickbox and ZeroBounce bill unknown results?

Neither does. Kickbox says unknown addresses don't count against your balance, and ZeroBounce's facts page says unknowns are not charged. Both bill catch-all results.

Find your last Kickbox purchase date and the balance left on it, then price the next job on both ladders. Read the ZeroBounce review, see how a verification check works, or see every head-to-head comparison.