Is ZapBounce more accurate than Bouncer?

Compare coverage before accuracy. On accuracy, Bouncer's entry reads: None published. Vendor accuracy claims in this market are calculated after unknown and catch-all addresses leave the denominator. ZapBounce reports coverage, the share of the list with a definite verdict, so the rest is visible, labeled and never billed.

Why switch from Bouncer to ZapBounce?

Lower at every published tier: $5 against $8 for 1,000, $25 against $60 for 10,000, and $139 against $400 for 100,000. At a million addresses, $949 against Bouncer's $2,000, with the same no-expiry credits. 100 free credits every month, recurring, with no card, so a small weekly batch may never need a purchase. Coverage reported on every list: the share with a definite verdict is a number you read, not one you work out. Our own SMTP check on port 25, closed before DATA, so no message is ever sent to the addresses you verify.

ZapBounce vs Bouncer

Bouncer and ZapBounce agree on the rules that matter. No accuracy percentage without its context, no charge for duplicates or unresolved results, and credits that never expire. With the rules level, the comparison comes down to the rate, and ZapBounce's is lower at every tier Bouncer publishes.

	ZapBounce	Bouncer
Accuracy reporting	Coverage stated: the share of your list with a definite verdict	None published
1,000 addresses	$5	$8
10,000 addresses	$25	$60
100,000 addresses	$139	$400, and 1,000,000 for $2,000
Free tier	100 a month, no card	100 credits
Credit expiry	Never	Credits never expire
Billed for unknowns	No	No

Bouncer figures read from their own pricing page in September 2026.

How Bouncer prices it

Bouncer sells credits pay-as-you-go: $8 for 1,000, $60 for 10,000, $400 for 100,000 and $2,000 for a million (its pricing page, read 24 September 2026). ZapBounce's ladder has the same shape at $5, $25, $139 and $949. It also offers a monthly plan that costs 15% less than the same credits bought pay-as-you-go.

Why teams pick ZapBounce over Bouncer

What changes when your list runs through ZapBounce instead.

The short version

Lower at every published tier: $5 against $8 for 1,000, $25 against $60 for 10,000, and $139 against $400 for 100,000.
At a million addresses, $949 against Bouncer's $2,000, with the same no-expiry credits.
100 free credits every month, recurring, with no card, so a small weekly batch may never need a purchase.
Coverage reported on every list: the share with a definite verdict is a number you read, not one you work out.
Our own SMTP check on port 25, closed before DATA, so no message is ever sent to the addresses you verify.

Moving off Bouncer

The rate at volume, almost always. Bouncer's ladder is easy to read, and it runs from $8 for 1,000 to $2,000 for a million. You'd pay $5 and $949 for the same work at ZapBounce, under the same no-charge rule for duplicates and unknowns.

Your budget rules don't change. Both vendors leave duplicates and unknowns off the bill and neither expires credits. A rule built on Bouncer's toxicity score gets rewritten against ZapBounce's four results and its role, disposable and free_provider flags. Upload the same CSV to both and compare the unknown rows before you move a larger file.

The hard addresses, and how they come back

Catch-alls, Yahoo, cloud blocks and traps

Bouncer's toxicity check reads a domain's history. An accept-all domain is a different question: the server answers yes to every recipient by design, so no probe can confirm a mailbox there. ZapBounce sends a second probe to a random address at the same domain, and when that is accepted too, the row comes back as catch_all.

A domain signal is also not trap detection. A pristine trap sits on a clean domain with no history at all, which is the entire point of it. No domain score or SMTP check can pick one out.

Yahoo and AOL accept every recipient deliberately to stop enumeration, and Gmail and Microsoft 365 rate-limit or refuse probes from cloud addresses. ZapBounce returns what those servers will not settle as unknown and never bills it, the same rule Bouncer follows, at a lower rate per address.

Role and disposable addresses are flags on ZapBounce, not verdicts. An info@ address can still be a valid mailbox, so the flag sits beside the result and your own rules decide whether to mail it.

Questions people ask about Bouncer

Bouncer publishes no accuracy figure. Is that a weakness?

No. A number with no denominator beside it tells you very little, so declining to print one is defensible. ZapBounce goes a step further and reports coverage, the share of your list with a definite verdict, on every file you run.

What does moving to ZapBounce change?

The rate, at every tier. At 100,000 addresses Bouncer lists $400 and ZapBounce lists $139. At a million it is $2,000 against $949. The billing rules stay exactly where they were.

Does either charge for duplicates?

Neither does. At ZapBounce a repeated address in the same batch is checked and billed once, and an unknown result is not billed at all.

Is ZapBounce cheaper than Bouncer?

At 100,000 addresses we list $139 and they list $400, and 1,000,000 for $2,000. Compare the per-address rate rather than the headline, and check what each side does with unknowns: ours are never billed.

Can I test both before deciding?

Yes, and you should. Run the same sample of a few thousand addresses through each and compare how many came back unresolved. That difference matters more than either accuracy claim.

Bouncer and ZapBounce share the rules on duplicates, unknowns and expiry. The difference is the per-address rate, and ZapBounce's is lower at every tier Bouncer publishes.

Run the same sample through us and Bouncer

100 free checks a month, no card, and the unknowns come back labeled.

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