Is ZapBounce more accurate than IPQS?

Compare coverage before accuracy. On accuracy, IPQS's entry reads: Not stated as a percentage on its email verification page. 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 IPQS to ZapBounce?

Built for list owners and senders: each row returns valid, invalid, catch_all or unknown, with the reason, in plain terms. Pay-as-you-go prices on one page: $5 for 1,000, $25 for 10,000 and $139 for 100,000, with no plan or demo. Unknown results and duplicate rows are never charged, and the pricing page says so. Credits never expire, and 100 free credits arrive every month with no card. Our own SMTP check on port 25, closed before DATA, so no message reaches the addresses you check.

ZapBounce vs IPQS

IPQS is a fraud-prevention platform, and its email check returns a risk score with abuse and complainer flags. ZapBounce is a list verifier: one result per address, a reason, and a coverage figure for the file, from $5 for 1,000 checks. The question is whether you're screening signups for fraud or cleaning a list to send.

	ZapBounce	IPQS
Accuracy reporting	Coverage stated: the share of your list with a definite verdict	Not stated as a percentage on its email verification page
1,000 addresses	$5	See their pricing page
10,000 addresses	$25	See their pricing page
100,000 addresses	$139	See their pricing page
Free tier	100 a month, no card	See their pricing page
Credit expiry	Never	See their pricing page
Billed for unknowns	No	Not stated

IPQS prices change, so confirm theirs on their own pricing page. Ours are fixed and published on /pricing.

How IPQS prices it

IPQS offers a free monthly lookup allowance, paid plans above it, and a demo route for enterprise volume (read September 2026). Its email page doesn't say whether unused lookups carry over or how an unreachable address is counted. ZapBounce states both: credits never expire, and unknowns are free, from $5 for 1,000.

Why teams pick ZapBounce over IPQS

What changes when your list runs through ZapBounce instead.

The short version

Built for list owners and senders: each row returns valid, invalid, catch_all or unknown, with the reason, in plain terms.
Pay-as-you-go prices on one page: $5 for 1,000, $25 for 10,000 and $139 for 100,000, with no plan or demo.
Unknown results and duplicate rows are never charged, and the pricing page says so.
Credits never expire, and 100 free credits arrive every month with no card.
Our own SMTP check on port 25, closed before DATA, so no message reaches the addresses you check.

Moving off IPQS

IPQS scores an address the way a fraud team would: risk score, abuse history, complainer flags. If your job is sending a newsletter or a cold sequence, those scores still leave you deciding which rows to mail. ZapBounce gives each row one of four results and a reason, so you filter your send list on one column.

Export your list from the IPQS dashboard, or start from the source file, and upload the CSV to ZapBounce. Rows come back with your columns plus result, reason and a billed flag. If your signup form calls the IPQS API, point that step at POST /v1/verify, and keep IPQS on the fraud checks it already runs for you.

The hard addresses, and how they come back

Catch-alls, Yahoo, cloud blocks and traps

IPQS reports a fraud score, and a catch-all domain still answers 250 at the SMTP level for any address. ZapBounce sends one probe to a random address at the domain, labels the row catch_all and bills it once, so you know how much of the list rests on the domain alone.

Yahoo and AOL accept every recipient on purpose, to stop address harvesting. ZapBounce returns those rows as unknown with the reason attached, and you're never billed for an unknown.

Gmail and Microsoft 365 throttle probes from cloud IP ranges. When a server holds back a clear answer, ZapBounce marks the row unknown, charges nothing and counts it in your coverage figure.

IPQS lists spam-trap and honeypot detection. Pristine traps look like live mailboxes on the wire, so ZapBounce reports what the mail server answered and leaves trap control to confirmed signups.

Questions people ask about IPQS

Is IPQS an email verifier or a fraud tool?

Both, from a fraud angle. IPQS's email verification page pairs SMTP and DNS checks with fraud scoring, abuse history and complainer flags (read September 2026). ZapBounce focuses on the verdict a sender needs: valid, invalid, catch_all or unknown.

Can I run IPQS for fraud and ZapBounce for list cleaning?

Yes. Keep IPQS scoring signups for fraud, and send the list you mail through ZapBounce by CSV or API. You pay ZapBounce only for valid, invalid and catch_all rows.

Does ZapBounce need a demo call for large lists?

No call is needed. ZapBounce publishes $139 for 100,000 and $949 for 1,000,000 on its pricing page, and you buy credits by card whenever a list arrives.

Is ZapBounce cheaper than IPQS?

Ours is $5 for 1,000 and $139 for 100,000, published, with no minimum. Credits never expire, and unknowns and duplicates are never billed, so the rate you see is the rate you pay.

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.

Keep IPQS on fraud if it earns its place, and price the list you actually send at $25 for 10,000 checks with unknowns free.

Run the same sample through us and IPQS

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

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