- You want the email tested as well as the list. Kickbox shut down its spam testing, inbox placement, blocklist and DMARC tools on 15 January 2024; Unspam runs spam tests, placement across 7 providers, previews in 50+ clients and DMARC monitoring beside the verifier.
- You want duplicates free as well as unknowns. Both refund an unknown result; Unspam also never charges for a duplicate or a malformed address, and Kickbox publishes no such exemption.
- You want free checks that come back: Unspam checks 10 addresses a day with no account. Kickbox's 100 free verifications are granted once, and its paid credits expire one year after purchase.
- You work from an AI assistant: Unspam has an official MCP server with five verification tools. Kickbox is reachable from assistants only through third-party connectors.
A Kickbox alternative that verifies the list and still tests the email
Kickbox is a pay-as-you-go email verifier with a real-time API, the Sendex quality score and a Threat Score that flags known complainers, from $5 for 500 credits; it discontinued its spam testing and inbox placement suite in January 2024. Unspam verifies single addresses and whole lists, charges nothing for unknowns or duplicates, and keeps spam testing, inbox placement and client previews in the same plan, from $5/mo with 10 free checks a day.
Compared from public pricing and product pages, October 2026.
Which one fits you?
- You need a real-time check on a signup form. Kickbox's single verification API is built for the point of capture, suggests a correction for mistyped addresses and has a free sandbox mode; Unspam's API answers asynchronously.
- You want complaint and abuse signals. Kickbox's Threat Score rates each address from 0 to 5 for complainers, recycled traps and abuse, at one extra credit only when it finds a signal; Unspam has no complaint data.
- You clean lists inside your ESP or CRM. Kickbox has 18 native integrations, including HubSpot, Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Marketo and Salesforce, and nearly 30 routes counting Zapier; Unspam works from uploaded files, its API and its MCP server.
- Your lists are very large. Kickbox's batch API takes up to 1,000,000 addresses per job; Unspam takes up to 100,000 rows or 20 MB per upload.
Why teams move from Kickbox to Unspam.
Kickbox exited deliverability testing
On 15 January 2024, Kickbox discontinued Inbox Placement, Precheck spam testing, Reputation, Blocklist Monitoring and its DMARC tools, and now sells verification and consulting. Unspam verifies addresses too, and still runs spam tests, seed-list placement across 7 providers and blacklist checks across 20+ blocklists on the same plan.
Duplicates cost nothing either
Kickbox refunds the credit for an unknown result, and so does Unspam. Unspam also charges nothing for a duplicate or a malformed address in a list, so a messy export costs only its unique addresses with a definitive answer.
Free checks that come back every day
Kickbox's 100 free verifications are a one-off, and paid credits expire a year after purchase. Unspam checks up to 10 addresses a day for free, with no account and no card, and each answer comes with a status, a reason and an action.
Unspam vs Kickbox, feature by feature.
Based on public product pages and documentation. Spotted something outdated? Tell us in the chat and we'll fix it.
Feature
Unspam
Kickbox
Free plan or trial
10 checks a day, no signup
100 free verifications
First paid plan
$5/mo Custom plan minimum, from $6.40 per 1,000 addresses
$5 one-time · 500 credits
Single address checks
Yes10 a day free, no signup
Yes
Bulk list cleaning
Yesup to 100,000 rows or 20 MB
Yesupload, import or batch API up to 1M
Real-time check at signup
NoAPI answers asynchronously
Yessingle verification API and sandbox
Catch-all domains
Partialdetected and flagged for review, not resolved
Partialflagged risky as accept-all, not resolved
Unknown results not charged
Yes
Yesrefunded as a credit
Duplicates not charged
Yesmalformed addresses too
Nono published exemption
Disposable, role and risk flags
Yesdisposable, role, free provider, full inbox
Yesdisposable, role, free host, Sendex and Threat Score
Typo suggestions
Yes
Yes
ESP and CRM integrations
NoCSV, TXT, API and MCP
Yes18 native, more via Zapier
Scheduled re-verification
No
No
API access
YesCustom plan
Yes
MCP server
YesCustom plan, five tools
Partialthird-party connectors only
Pre-send email testing
Yesspam score, placement, previews
Nodiscontinued Jan 2024
DMARC report monitoring
Yesfirst domain free
Nodiscontinued Jan 2024
Compared from public pricing and product pages, October 2026.
What each one costs.
Kickbox sells pay-as-you-go verification credits with no subscription, in 12 paid volume tiers from 500 to 1,000,000. An unknown result is refunded as a credit, and Threat Score costs one extra credit per address only when it finds a signal. Credits expire one year after purchase and are non-refundable. Prices come from Kickbox's pricing page and terms of service.
- Free $0
Check up to 10 addresses a day on the verifier page, no account and no card. Each answer comes with a status, a reason and an action.
- Custom $5/mo
Upload whole lists (CSV or TXT, up to 100,000 rows or 20 MB), analysed for duplicates, typos and malformed rows before a credit is used. One credit per unique address with a definitive answer, from $6.40 per 1,000 down to $1.20 per 1,000 above 100,000; unknowns, duplicates and malformed addresses are free. REST API, MCP server, and spam tests, inbox placement and previews in the same plan.
- 500 credits $5 one-time
500 verifications ($0.010/email)
- 10,000 credits $70 one-time
10,000 verifications ($0.007/email)
- 100,000 credits $500 one-time
100,000 verifications ($0.005/email)
- 1,000,000 credits $2,999 one-time
1,000,000 verifications ($0.003/email)
- Enterprise Custom quote
Volumes above 1M verifications
Every Kickbox plan and price in full
Compared from public pricing and product pages, October 2026. Kickbox is a trademark of its respective owner. Unspam is not affiliated with or endorsed by Kickbox.
Unspam vs Kickbox, answered.
Is Unspam a full replacement for Kickbox?
For list cleaning, mostly: Unspam verifies lists of up to 100,000 rows and single addresses, also through its API and MCP server. Kickbox is ahead on a real-time signup check, 18 native integrations, batch jobs of up to a million addresses and its Threat Score. For deliverability testing, yes: Kickbox no longer offers spam testing or inbox placement at all.
How does Unspam's pricing compare to Kickbox?
Kickbox sells credits with no subscription, from $5 for 500 ($0.010 each) down to $2,999 for 1,000,000 ($0.003 each), expiring a year after purchase, with unknown results refunded. Unspam charges one credit per unique address with a definitive answer on its Custom plan, from $6.40 per 1,000 down to $1.20 per 1,000 above 100,000, with a $5 monthly minimum.
How do the two handle catch-all addresses?
Neither guesses. Kickbox classifies an accept-all address as risky, with the reason low deliverability, because it cannot guarantee delivery; Unspam returns catch-all with the action "review". A catch-all domain accepts every address during a check, so a probe alone cannot prove a mailbox exists.
Does Kickbox still test emails before sending?
No. Kickbox discontinued its spam testing and inbox placement tools in January 2024, and its free Email Spam Checker checks an address, not a message. Unspam's spam test, inbox placement across 7 providers and previews in 50+ clients come with monthly allowances on the free plan, and DMARC monitoring is on the Custom plan with the first domain free.