MailTester.ninja vs Reacher (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, MailTester.ninja grades higher than Reacher: 2.2 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
MailTester.ninja grades higher on ease of use and platforms. Reacher grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money and features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
MailTester.ninja
Real-time email verifier and finder with a REST API
Which one is for you
Pick MailTester.ninja if
- Fits if you want a steady stream of live checks from an API
- Works for people who check a few addresses by hand on the free site
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you work in bursts, as requests over the daily limit are refused until the next day
- Skip it if you want credits that carry over, since plans are priced by daily limit
- Watch out: Starter is billed weekly, and the monthly plans are Pro and Ultimate
- Watch out: free API calls are 10 or 50 a day, one every 30 seconds
- Watch out: a catch-all domain's accepted address is not proof the mailbox exists
Pick Reacher if
- Fits if you can run a server and want verification inside your own system
- Works for developers who want to read and change the source
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you do not want to host and maintain a server
- Watch out: the pricing page says mail servers often limit or block checks from unknown IPs
- Watch out: catch-all checks and hosted verification are a separate service, No2Bounce
- Watch out: the SMTP proxy service is separate and paid; its prices were not read
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAMailTester.ninjaFair | 2.0GPAReacherFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPro is $23.99 a month, and the weekly Starter is $6.99, about $30 a month. The category's middle is $23. | CFree software, but you supply and run the server, which makes it a C under the ladder. The proxy service and hosted checks are priced separately and were not read. |
| Free plan and trial | COne-off checks on the site are free with no signup. The free API allows 10 checks a day, or 50 with a 7-day token, one request every 30 seconds. | BThe engine is free to download and run under MIT. It costs you a server and an IP that mail servers will accept. |
| Features | CLive mailbox check, verdict codes, finder and tools. An accepted address on a catch-all domain cannot be confirmed to exist. | CSMTP-based address check behind an HTTP backend. Catch-all checks come from a separate hosted service. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. Paste an address or call the API; the daily-limit model needs some thought. | DSelf-hosting, and an HTTP API to call it. No rating on record. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, but with a REST API, SDKs, an MCP server and a list of integrations. | CWeb only, and no integrations are listed. You get the source and an HTTP backend. |
| Best for | checking addresses through a daily-limit API | developers hosting their own email verifier |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: MailTester.ninja and Reacher. How we grade
Price against what you get
MailTester.ninja starts at $30.29 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Reacher has no paid plan and scores 1.7.
MailTester.ninja scores higher, and starts $30.29 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other email verification and deliverability tools on the chart, 7 score higher than MailTester.ninja for less, and none scores higher than Reacher for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Reacher is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
At a glance
| MailTester.ninja | Reacher | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $6.99 per week for up to 100,000 checks a day; $23.99 per month for the same limit | Free |
| Free plan | One-off checks on the website are free with no signup. The API allows 10 checks a day with key=free, or 50 a day with a free token valid for 7 days. | The open-source engine is free to download and run yourself under the MIT license. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Unlimited & Limited | Reacher |
| Price read from | mailtester.ninja | reacher.email |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
MailTester.ninja
- Free API calls are limited to one request every 30 seconds, and 10 or 50 checks a day.
- Plans are priced by a daily limit, not a credit balance: requests above it are refused until the next day.
- Starter is billed weekly; the monthly plans are Pro and Ultimate.
- An accepted address on a catch-all domain cannot be confirmed to exist.
Reacher
- You host and maintain it yourself; the pricing page says mail servers often limit or block verification traffic from unknown IP addresses.
- Hosted verification, including catch-all checks, is a separate service called No2Bounce with usage-based pricing, which was not priced on the Reacher pages.
- The Reacher site says it is owned by No2Bounce.
- The SMTP proxy service is a separate paid offering; its prices were not read.
Key features
MailTester.ninja
- Live mailbox check
- Each address is tested against the recipient's mail server (syntax, DNS, MX and an SMTP handshake). No message is sent, and the page says no copy of the address is kept.
- Verdict codes
- Results are ok, ko (invalid) or mb (unverifiable), with messages such as Catch-All, Disposable, Greylisted, Timeout and No MX.
- Email finder
- Tries common address formats such as first.last and flast for a name and company domain, and returns the first the server accepts. The Finder API needs a paid key.
- REST API, SDKs and MCP server
- Two endpoints, an OpenAPI 3.1 spec, JavaScript and Python SDKs and an MCP server for AI agents.
- Deliverability tools
- The site also offers a domain audit report, a sender score test for a sent email and a blocklist checker.
Reacher
- SMTP-based address check
- Checks whether a mailbox exists without sending an email; the GitHub project describes it as written in Rust.
- HTTP backend
- The repository comes with an HTTP backend, so the verifier can be called as an API from your own applications.
- Modifiable source
- The MIT-licensed code can be downloaded, changed and built into your own verification system.
- Port 25 SMTP proxies
- A separate Reacher service offers managed IP pools with rotation and MX-aware routing, for senders whose servers block verification traffic.
Plans
MailTester.ninja
Starter$6.99
per week, billed weekly
Up to 100,000 verifications and 100,000 API calls a day. Cancel any time.
Pro$23.99
per month, billed monthly
Up to 100,000 verifications and 100,000 API calls a day.
Ultimate$39.99
per month, billed monthly
Up to 200,000 verifications and 200,000 API calls a day. A quantity above 1 multiplies the limit, so 5 gives 1 million a day.
Reacher
Self-hosted Reacher$0
Open-source software you run on your own servers. You supply the infrastructure.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, MailTester.ninja or Reacher?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Reacher is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $30.29 a month for MailTester.ninja. MailTester.ninja starts at $6.99 per week for up to 100,000 checks a day; $23.99 per month for the same limit, and Reacher is free.
Which has a free plan, MailTester.ninja or Reacher?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both MailTester.ninja and Reacher have a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.