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Mailgun Email Validator
Kick spam with a highly advanced email validation in comment forms, user registration and contact forms using Mailgun's Email validation service.
The facts
- Rating
- 4.1★ from 25
- Active installs
- 50+
- Price
- Free
- Last updated
- 25 Nov 2017
- Added
- Oct 2013
- Requires WP
- 3.1.0
- Tested up to
- WP 4.9.31
- Downloads
- 11,668
Our analysis
AI-assistedMailgun Email Validator is a WordPress plugin designed to validate email addresses during user registration and form submissions. It checks for proper syntax, domain existence, MX records, and compliance with specific email service provider rules. This ensures that invalid email addresses are filtered out before they can be added to your database.
The plugin integrates with WordPress's is_email() function, making it compatible with various forms, including those created with Contact Form 7 and Jetpack. It requires a Mailgun Public API Key for operation and is suitable for sites that want to reduce spam and ensure valid user registrations.
Best for: This plugin is best for WordPress sites that require robust email validation to reduce spam and ensure valid user submissions.
What it does well
- ✓Validates email syntax and domain existence
- ✓Checks MX records for email domains
- ✓Ensures compliance with email service provider rules
- ✓Integrates with WordPress forms seamlessly
- ✓Reduces spam before database entry
Where it falls short
- •Requires a Mailgun Public API Key
- •Dependent on internet connectivity for functionality
- •Last updated in November 2017
Verdict
Mailgun Email Validator offers comprehensive email validation features, but its reliance on an external API and lack of recent updates may be a concern for some users.
From the developer
Jesin A's own description of Mailgun Email Validator, lightly tidied.
Most email validators look for an @ and a .(dot) some go further and blacklist certain domain names. But Mailgun’s Advanced email validation service goes deeper and looks for the existence of the domain name, presence of a MX record and the custom ESP(Email Service Provider) grammar.
The grammar here is the rules defined by each email provider. For example, Yahoo Mail addresses can only contain letters, numbers, underscores, and one period.
So user.name.abc@yahoo.com perfectly passes the is_email() function but can never exist as it contains more than one period. Such addresses can’t escape Mailgun’s Email validation.
Why use Mailgun’s email validation service?
- Performs the usual email syntax check.
- Checks the existence of the email domain. So
user@some-random-characters.comcan’t escape. - Checks if the email domain has a MX record. So
anything@example.comis caught. - Checks if the username complies with the grammar of its ESP (Email Service provider). Eg Gmail doesn’t allow usernames less than 6 characters and hyphens so
small@gmail.comandhyphen-user@gmail.comcan’t get away.
Why use this plugin?
- Integrates with the is_email() function of WordPress. So it works seamlessly with Contact Form 7, Jetpack/Grunion contact forms, WordPress registration form and any form which uses the
is_email()function. - Kicks spam before it is inserted into the database
- Ensures that the commenting process is uninterrupted even if Mailgun suffers a downtime
- Works completely transparent, nothing changes in the frontend
This plugin requires a Mailgun Public API Key which can be obtained by signing up at Mailgun.
If you’re trying out this plugin on a local WAMP/LAMP/MAMP installation make sure your system is connected to the Internet for this plugin to contact Mailgun.
Available Languages
- English
- Serbo-Croatian by Borisa Djuraskovic
- Spanish by Andrew Kurtis
Further Reading
Read about Mailgun’s email validation service.
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