Stop Paying for Email Verification APIs — A Zero-Cost DNS Approach Most email verification APIs charge $0.005-0.01 per check. At 10,000 signups a month, that's $50-100 — before you've made a cent. Here's the thing: you don't need them. DNS already has the answers. How Email Verification Actually Works When you type user@gmail.com , three things matter: Syntax — is it even a valid email format? Domain — does gmail.com have MX records? (DNS) Mailbox — does user exist on that server? (SMTP) Steps 1 and 2 cost you nothing. Step 3 requires an SMTP handshake, but most services skip it anyway — it's slow, unreliable, and many servers don't even respond. So 80% of "verification" is just DNS queries. The DNS Trick dig gmail.com MX +short # 10 alt1.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com. # 20 alt2.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com. Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode No MX records? The domain can't receive email. That's a definitive bounce.…