Email validation · Trueguard vs Kickbox

Comparison

Trueguard vs Kickbox: email verification API compared.

Trueguard is a Kickbox alternative for email verification by API: $49.99 a month covers 50,000 validations, then $0.001 each. Kickbox sells the same 50,000 as a one-time credit pack for $275 at list price. This page maps Kickbox's JSON response to Trueguard's, field by field.

Trueguard publishes this page. Every Kickbox figure comes from kickbox.com and docs.kickbox.com, read 2026-11-10, at list price before any promo code. 'Not listed' means we did not find it on those pages, not that it does not exist. Last reviewed: 2026-11-10.

Get your free API key See Trueguard pricing

50,000 validations

$49.99/mo

$0.001 per extra validation. 100 validations a month free, no credit card.

Trueguard, 50,000 a month$49.99

Kickbox, 50,000 credits$275

Trueguard per validation$0.001

Kickbox per check at 50,000$0.0055

Start on the free tier

No credit card required.

Check an address with Trueguard.

No key needed. 10 free checks a day, and the response is the same shape the endpoint returns.

Or try

Why teams switch from Kickbox.

$49.99 against $275 for 50,000.

Kickbox's 50,000-credit pack is $275 at list price, $0.0055 a check. The Trueguard Standard plan is $49.99 a month for 50,000, then $0.001 each.

100,000 a month: $99.99 against $500.

That is $49.99 plus 50,000 at the $0.001 overage, against Kickbox's 100,000 pack. At 10,000 a month it is $49.99 against $70.

Role addresses keep their verdict.

Kickbox's docs classify every role address as risky. Trueguard returns quality.isRole and quality.isFree as flags and leaves the status alone, so support@ on a working mailbox comes back safe.

Catch-all mailboxes can come back safe.

Kickbox classifies accept-all addresses as risky. Trueguard's advanced catch-all detection can validate a mailbox on a catch-all domain and return safe with isCatchall true. If it cannot, the address is risky.

The price for the same 50,000 verifications.

Trueguard

$49.99/mo

50,000 validations

$0.001 per extra validation. 100 a month free, no card.

Kickbox

$275 one-time

50,000 credits

List price for the 50,000 pack, $0.0055 a check. Kickbox refunds the credit for unknown results.

At Kickbox's list price, Trueguard costs $225.01 less for the same 50,000. Past 50,000, Trueguard adds $0.001 a validation. Kickbox's next pack up is 100,000 for $500.

Kickbox vs Trueguard, feature by feature.

Every row as it stands today. Partial means it exists with a caveat, and the caveat is written out.

Pricing	Trueguard	Kickbox
10,000 per month	$49.99 / month Inside the Standard plan, 40,000 to spare.	$70 for a 10,000 pack $0.0070 a check.
50,000 per month	$49.99 / month $0.0010 a validation.	$275 for a 50,000 pack $0.0055 a check.
100,000 per month	$99.99 / month $49.99 plus 50,000 × $0.001.	$500 for a 100,000 pack $0.0050 a check.
500,000 per month	$499.99 / month $49.99 plus 450,000 × $0.001 at the published overage. Plans list 500,000+ as Custom, so ask for a quote.	$1,800 for a 500,000 pack $0.0036 a check. Above 1,000,000 is custom.
Free tier	100 validations every month, no card	First 100 verifications free A monthly refill and a card requirement are not listed.
Billing	Monthly plan Overage is $0.001 a validation at every size.	One-time credit packs Auto-recharge is in the docs. A subscription is not listed on the pricing page.
What uses a check	Every request	Every result except unknown Unknown results are refunded.

Email verification	Trueguard	Kickbox
Verdict values	safe, risky, invalid, unknown	deliverable, undeliverable, risky, unknown
Catch-all detection	Yes. Safe with isCatchall true when it validates the mailbox, risky when it cannot.	Yes (accept_all) Accept-all addresses are classified risky.
Disposable detection	Yes (quality.isDisposable). Sets risky.	Yes (disposable). Classified risky.
Role addresses	Yes (quality.isRole). The status is left as is.	Yes (role). Classified risky.
Free-mail addresses	Yes (quality.isFree). The status is left as is.	Yes (free)
Domain age	Yes (domain.age)	Not listed (as of 2026-11-10)
High-risk TLD	Yes (domain.isRisky). Sets risky.	Not listed (as of 2026-11-10)
Inbox full and disabled mailbox	Yes (deliverability.isInboxFull, isDisabled)	Not listed (as of 2026-11-10)
Sub-address (plus tag)	Yes (quality.isSubaddress)	Not listed (as of 2026-11-10)

API	Trueguard	Kickbox
Request	POST, JSON body	GET, email in the query string
Authentication	X-API-KEY header	apikey query parameter or Bearer header
Bulk	One address per request	Batch API Up to 1,000,000 addresses or 250MB per job.

Fraud prevention platform	Trueguard	Kickbox
Browser fingerprinting	Yes	Not listed (as of 2026-11-10)
Network fingerprinting (JA4 / HTTP/2)	Yes	Not listed (as of 2026-11-10)
IP intelligence (VPN, proxy, Tor, datacenter)	Yes	Not listed (as of 2026-11-10)
Device intelligence	Yes	Not listed (as of 2026-11-10)
Event scoring and custom signals	Yes	Not listed (as of 2026-11-10)

The JSON response, field by field.

A Trueguard response next to the example in Kickbox's docs (read 2026-11-10), then each Kickbox field and where it lives in Trueguard.

Trueguard, a safe address

{
  "email": "founder@yourcompany.com",
  "rawEmail": "founder@yourcompany.com",
  "syntax": { "isValid": true },
  "deliverability": {
    "status": "safe",
    "isSmtpValid": true,
    "isMxValid": true,
    "isCatchall": false,
    "isInboxFull": false,
    "isDeliverable": true,
    "isDisabled": false,
    "mxRecords": ["mx1.yourcompany.com", "mx2.yourcompany.com"]
  },
  "domain": {
    "name": "yourcompany.com",
    "age": 2841,
    "isLive": true,
    "isRisky": false
  },
  "quality": {
    "isDisposable": false,
    "isFree": false,
    "isRole": false,
    "isSubaddress": false
  }
}

Kickbox docs example, an undeliverable typo

{
  "result": "undeliverable",
  "reason": "rejected_email",
  "role": false,
  "free": false,
  "disposable": false,
  "accept_all": false,
  "did_you_mean": "bill.lumbergh@gmail.com",
  "sendex": 0.23,
  "email": "bill.lumbergh@gamil.com",
  "user": "bill.lumbergh",
  "domain": "gamil.com",
  "success": true,
  "message": null
}

Response fields	Trueguard	Kickbox
Verdict	deliverability.status (safe, risky, invalid, unknown)	result (deliverable, undeliverable, risky, unknown)
Why	syntax.isValid, deliverability.isMxValid, deliverability.isSmtpValid One boolean per check.	reason One of 11 codes, such as rejected_email or invalid_domain.
Catch-all	deliverability.isCatchall	accept_all
Disposable	quality.isDisposable	disposable
Role	quality.isRole	role
Free mail	quality.isFree	free
Normalized address	email rawEmail keeps the input.	email
Domain	domain.name	domain
Local part	Not returned Split email at @.	user
Typo suggestion	No equivalent field	did_you_mean
Quality score	No equivalent field Branch on deliverability.status.	sendex 0 to 1.
Request status	HTTP status code Errors return statusCode and message.	success, message
Only in Trueguard	domain.age, domain.isRisky, domain.isLive, quality.isSubaddress, deliverability.isInboxFull, isDisabled, mxRecords	Not in the documented response (as of 2026-11-10)

How each API decides risky.

Kickbox

Kickbox's docs classify accept-all, disposable and role addresses as risky, and add a Sendex quality score from 0 to 1 that the docs say should not be used alone. Unknown means the mail server did not answer. Kickbox suggests retrying after about 5 minutes and refunds the credit (read 2026-11-10).

Trueguard

Trueguard sets risky for a disposable domain, a high-risk TLD, or a catch-all domain where the mailbox could not be validated. When the catch-all detection validates the mailbox, the status is safe with isCatchall true. Role and free-mail addresses keep their status and carry quality.isRole and quality.isFree, so your code decides what to do with them.

Testing before you pay.

Kickbox, read 2026-11-10

Sandbox keys start with test_ and live keys with live_, and a key cannot switch modes. Sandbox calls cost no credits and return mock results, deliverable by default, unless the address matches a trigger such as rejected-email@. The first 100 live verifications are free.

Trueguard

The free plan gives 100 validations every month on the production endpoint, with no card. Results are real, and the response has the same shape on every plan. For one-off checks, the free email verifier runs 10 a day with no key.

Get your free API key

Switching from Kickbox.

Kickbox single verification

curl "https://api.kickbox.com/v2/verify?email=founder%40yourcompany.com&apikey=$KICKBOX_KEY"

Trueguard

curl -X POST https://api.trueguard.io/v2/email/validation \
  -H "X-API-KEY: $YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email":"founder@yourcompany.com"}'

// Kickbox
const url = new URL("https://api.kickbox.com/v2/verify");
url.searchParams.set("email", email);
url.searchParams.set("apikey", process.env.KICKBOX_KEY);
const { result } = await (await fetch(url)).json();
if (result === "undeliverable") { /* reject */ }

// Trueguard
const res = await fetch("https://api.trueguard.io/v2/email/validation", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { "X-API-KEY": process.env.TRUEGUARD_KEY, "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({ email }),
});
const { deliverability } = await res.json();
if (deliverability.status === "invalid") { /* reject */ }

Map deliverable to safe, undeliverable to invalid, risky to risky and unknown to unknown. If you filtered role addresses through Kickbox's risky result, check quality.isRole instead.

To try a handful of addresses first, use the free email verifier. To call it from your own code, see the email verification API.

Why teams pick Trueguard.

Choose Trueguard

You verify every month and want 50,000 checks for $49.99, then $0.001 each.

You want role and free-mail addresses flagged, not downgraded to risky.

You want domain age and a risky-TLD flag in the same response.

You want browser, network, device and IP signals beside the email verdict, from the same account.

The three Trueguard plans.

No credit multipliers, and overage at the same rate as the plan.

Free

$0 forever

100 validations / month

Overage: n/a

Get started free

Standard

Popular

$49.99 / month

50,000 validations / month

Overage: $0.001 per validation

Get your API key

Custom

500,000+ validations / month

Overage: Negotiated

Talk to us

Frequently asked questions

Something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.

What is the best Kickbox alternative for an email verification API?

Trueguard, if you verify addresses by API every month. It covers 50,000 validations for $49.99 a month, against $275 for a 50,000-credit Kickbox pack at list price (2026-11-10). Every plan returns the same response: deliverability status, catch-all, disposable, role and free-mail flags, domain age and a risky-TLD flag.

How much does Kickbox cost?

Kickbox sells one-time credit packs. On 2026-11-10 its pricing page listed 10,000 verifications for $70 ($0.007 each), 50,000 for $275 ($0.0055), 100,000 for $500, 500,000 for $1,800 ($0.0036) and 1,000,000 for $2,999, with custom pricing above that. Packs start at 500 for $5, and the first 100 verifications are free. These are list prices before promo codes.

Is Trueguard cheaper than Kickbox?

From 10,000 checks a month, yes. 10,000 is $49.99 on Trueguard against $70 for a Kickbox pack, 50,000 is $49.99 against $275, and 100,000 is $99.99 against $500. At 5,000 a month a Kickbox pack is $40, which is $9.99 less than the Trueguard Standard plan. Kickbox refunds the credit for unknown results, and Trueguard counts every request.

Does Kickbox charge for unknown results?

No. Kickbox's pricing page says it refunds the credit when it cannot give a definitive result, and its docs suggest retrying after about 5 minutes (read 2026-11-10). The page lists the refund for unknown results only. Trueguard counts every request against the plan, whatever the result.

Does Kickbox have a free plan?

Kickbox gives the first 100 verifications free. Its pricing page does not list a monthly refill or say whether a card is needed (as of 2026-11-10), and sandbox keys return mock results without spending credits. Trueguard's free plan is 100 validations every month on the production endpoint with no card, plus 10 checks a day on the free email verifier.

How do I test Trueguard without paying?

Use the free plan. It gives 100 validations a month on the production endpoint with no card, and the response has the same shape on every plan, so the code you test is the code you ship. For single addresses, the free email verifier at trueguard.io/email-verifier needs no key.

How do I migrate from the Kickbox API to Trueguard?

Get a free Trueguard key. Change the GET to api.kickbox.com/v2/verify into a POST to api.trueguard.io/v2/email/validation with the address in a JSON body, and send the key in the X-API-KEY header. Map deliverable to safe, undeliverable to invalid, risky to risky and unknown to unknown. accept_all maps to deliverability.isCatchall, disposable to quality.isDisposable, role to quality.isRole and free to quality.isFree. Kickbox counts role addresses as risky and Trueguard keeps them as a flag, so check quality.isRole if you filtered them before.

Other comparisons

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Check your own list.

100 validations a month, free, no card. Run your own list through Trueguard before you pay anyone.

Get your free API key

No credit card required.

Trueguard vs Kickbox: email verification API compared.

Check an address with Trueguard.

Why teams switch from Kickbox.

$49.99 against $275 for 50,000.

100,000 a month: $99.99 against $500.

Role addresses keep their verdict.

Catch-all mailboxes can come back safe.

The price for the same 50,000 verifications.

Kickbox vs Trueguard, feature by feature.

Pricing

Email verification

API

Fraud prevention platform

The JSON response, field by field.

Response fields

How each API decides risky.

Kickbox

Trueguard

Testing before you pay.

Kickbox, read 2026-11-10

Trueguard

Switching from Kickbox.

Why teams pick Trueguard.

The three Trueguard plans.

Frequently asked questions

Check your own list.