Description
ClearBounce Email Verification validates email addresses in real-time using the ClearBounce email verification API. Stop fake signups, reduce bounces, and protect your sender reputation.
Key Features:
- Real-time email verification via SMTP-level checks
- Block undeliverable, disposable, role-based, and risky emails
- Typo detection with “Did you mean…?” suggestions
- Smart caching to minimize API calls
- Fail-open design ensures forms always work, even during API outages
- Detailed verification logs and statistics
- Customizable error messages
- Works with WordPress registration, comments, and all major form plugins
Supported Integrations:
- WordPress Registration
- WordPress Comments
- WooCommerce (checkout and registration)
- Contact Form 7
- Gravity Forms
- WPForms
- Elementor Pro Forms
- Ninja Forms
- Fluent Forms
- Fallback mode (hooks into is_email for universal coverage)
How It Works:
- A visitor submits a form with an email address
- ClearBounce verifies the email in real-time (SMTP check, MX records, disposable detection, etc.)
- If the email fails your configured rules, the form shows a friendly error message
- Valid emails pass through normally with zero friction
What ClearBounce Checks:
- Email syntax validation
- MX record verification
- SMTP mailbox verification
- Disposable email detection
- Role-based email detection (info@, admin@, etc.)
- Free email provider detection
- Catch-all domain detection
- Typo detection with smart suggestions
Installation
- Upload the
clearbounce-email-verificationfolder to/wp-content/plugins/ - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
- Go to Settings > ClearBounce
- Enter your API key (get one at clearbounce.net)
- Click “Test Connection” to verify your key works
- Configure your block rules and integrations
- Save changes – you’re protected!
FAQ
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Where do I get an API key?
-
Sign up at clearbounce.net to get your API key. New accounts include free verification credits to get started.
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How many credits does each verification use?
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Each email verification uses 1 credit. Results are cached (24 hours by default) so repeat submissions of the same email don’t use additional credits.
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What happens if I run out of credits?
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The plugin will fail open by default, meaning emails will be allowed through without verification. You can change this behavior in settings, but we recommend keeping fail-open enabled to avoid blocking legitimate users.
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What happens if the API is down?
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With the default “fail open” setting, all emails are allowed through when the API is unreachable. Your forms will never break due to an API outage.
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Will this slow down my forms?
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The API typically responds in 1-3 seconds. Results are cached so returning visitors experience no delay. The verification happens server-side during form submission, so there’s no impact on page load speed.
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Does it work with my form plugin?
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ClearBounce supports WordPress Registration, WordPress Comments, WooCommerce, Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, WPForms, Elementor Pro Forms, Ninja Forms, and Fluent Forms. There’s also a fallback mode that hooks into WordPress core for universal coverage.
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Can I customize the error messages?
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Yes! All error messages are fully customizable from the Settings page. You can set different messages for undeliverable, disposable, risky, role-based, catch-all, and free provider emails.
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Is the plugin GDPR compliant?
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ClearBounce only sends the email address to our API for verification. No other personal data is transmitted. Verification logs stored locally can be cleared at any time from the settings page. See our privacy policy for full details.
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What is the fallback/is_email mode?
-
The fallback mode hooks into WordPress core’s
is_emailfunction to catch email validations from any source. It’s disabled by default because it affects all email processing in WordPress, including admin operations. Only enable it if you need to cover forms or plugins not listed in the supported integrations.
Reviews
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Contributors & Developers
“ClearBounce Email Verification” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
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Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.0.2
- Renamed all internal prefixes from
clearbounce_/ClearBounce_/CLEARBOUNCE_tocbev_/CBEV_to follow WordPress plugin naming conventions and prevent conflicts with other plugins. - Added a one-time migration that moves existing settings and the logs table from the legacy prefix to the new prefix on first load — upgrades from 1.0.x are seamless and no settings are lost.
- Fixed
load_plugin_textdomain()to use the correct text domain (clearbounce-email-verification) so translations load properly. - Added
wp_unslash()to$_POSTand$_GETdata before sanitization for stricter input handling. - No user-facing or functional changes — settings UI, integrations, and verification behavior remain identical.
1.0.0
- Initial release
- Real-time email verification via ClearBounce API
- Support for WordPress Registration, Comments, and WooCommerce
- Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, WPForms integrations
- Elementor Pro Forms, Ninja Forms, Fluent Forms integrations
- Fallback is_email hook for universal coverage
- Typo detection and suggestion
- Verification logs and statistics
- Customizable error messages and block rules
- Smart transient caching
- Fail-open design for reliability