PHP Email Validator

The most complete email validation & disposable email detection library for PHP. One package for Laravel, Symfony, CodeIgniter 4, CakePHP, Yii 2, Yii 3, Phalcon — and plain PHP.

$validator = HarunGecit\EmailValidator\EmailValidator::create();

$validator->isValid('john@gmail.com');                  // true  — format, disposable and MX checks
$validator->isDisposable('john@mailinator.com');         // true
$validator->checkDisposable('x@eu.mailinator.com')       // explains *why*:
          ->getMatchedDomain();                          // 'mailinator.com' (subdomain match)
$validator->validate('john@gmial.com')->getSuggestion(); // 'john@gmail.com' (with typo suggestions on)

136,700+ disposable domains from multiple sources — rebuilt daily, released weekly, and false-positive filtered (no namecheap.com, no yandex.net, no ISP domains, no public suffixes).
Explainable results — which list entry matched, whether through a subdomain, and from which list.
A full validation pipeline, not just a blocklist — RFC format modes, MX/DNS, homograph spoofing, role accounts, plus-addressing, typo suggestions, SMTP and catch-all.
Every PHP framework, natively — validation rules, constraints, services and commands that feel at home in each framework.
Fast — O(1) lookups (~2.5 µs, subdomains included); with OPcache the full domain index costs zero load time and per-request memory.
No API keys, no per-request fees — everything runs locally; network is only used for the checks you enable (MX, SMTP) and for list syncs.

Why this package?
Installation
Quick start
Disposable email detection
The disposable domain list
Keeping the list fresh (sync)
Full validation pipeline
Configuration
Framework integrations — Laravel · Symfony · CodeIgniter 4 · CakePHP · Yii 2 · Yii 3 · Phalcon · Plain PHP
Command line
Performance
Caching, rate limiting & logging
Result objects & API reference
Testing · Upgrading · Contributing · Changelog

⭐ Why this package?

	php-email-validator	Typical disposable-list package
Disposable domains	136,700+ disposable domains, multi-source, daily rebuild	one source, a few thousand to ~100k
False-positive protection	Public Suffix List, popularity, typo & allowlist filters, regression tests	none — aggregated feeds are merged blindly
Subdomain detection (`x.mailinator.com`)	✅ (configurable)	sometimes
Explains matches (entry + source)	✅ `checkDisposable()`	rarely
Runtime sync between releases	✅ append-only, atomic, locked, HTML-safe	sometimes
Format: filter / unicode / RFC 5322 / strict	✅	framework-dependent
MX / DNS, spoof (homograph), role-based, plus-addressing, typo suggestions	✅	❌
SMTP mailbox & catch-all verification	✅ (opt-in)	❌
Frameworks	Laravel, Symfony, CodeIgniter 4, CakePHP, Yii 2, Yii 3, Phalcon, plain PHP	usually one
CLI	✅ `vendor/bin/email-validator`	framework-only, if any
Caching / rate limiting / PSR-3 logging	✅ Memory, File, Redis, Memcached, PSR-16	❌
PHP versions	8.0 – 8.5	varies

Installation

composer require harungecit/php-email-validator

Compatibility

PHP 8.0 – 8.5 (runtime verified on 8.0; full test suite on 8.1 – 8.5), on Linux, Windows and macOS.
Laravel 9 – 13 · Symfony 6.4 – 8.x · CodeIgniter 4.4+ · CakePHP 4.4+ / 5.x · Yii 2.0 · Yii 3 (yiisoft/validator 2.x) · Phalcon 5.
Optional: ext-intl (IDN + spoof check), egulias/email-validator (rfc/strict format modes), ext-curl (sync), ext-redis/predis/predis/ext-memcached (cache backends), symfony/yaml (YAML config).

🚀 Quick start

use HarunGecit\EmailValidator\EmailValidator;

$validator = EmailValidator::create();          // format + disposable + MX checks

if (!$validator->isValid($email)) {
    // reject
}

// Detailed report
$result = $validator->validate('user@mailinator.com');

$result->isValid();       // false
$result->getErrors();     // ['Disposable email address']
$result->getChecks();     // ['format' => true, 'disposable' => false, 'mx' => true]
$result->getMetadata();   // ['disposable_match' => 'mailinator.com', 'disposable_source' => 'blocklist']

Just need a disposable check, no network?

$validator = EmailValidator::basic();           // format + disposable only
$validator->isValid('user@yopmail.com');        // false

🛡 Disposable email detection

$validator->isDisposable('user@mailinator.com');      // true  (email address)
$validator->isDisposableDomain('mailinator.com');      // true  (bare domain)

$check = $validator->checkDisposable('User@EU.Mailinator.com');
$check->isDisposable();      // true
$check->getDomain();         // 'eu.mailinator.com' (normalized: lowercase, trailing dot removed, IDN → punycode)
$check->getMatchedDomain();  // 'mailinator.com'
$check->isSubdomainMatch();  // true
$check->getSource();         // 'blocklist' | 'custom' | 'synced' | 'allowlist' | null
$check->isAllowlisted();     // false
$check->toArray();           // JSON-serializable

How a domain is matched

The domain and each of its parent domains are looked up, most specific first — a.b.mailinator.com, b.mailinator.com, mailinator.com — so throwaway subdomains are caught too. On each level the lists are consulted in this order (first hit wins):

Priority	List	Source label
1	Your allowlist — `lists.custom_allowlist`, `custom_allowlist_paths`, `addToAllowlist()`	`allowlist`
2	Your blocklist — `lists.custom_blocklist`, `custom_blocklist_paths`, `addToBlocklist()`	`custom`
3	Bundled allowlist (237 legitimate providers, ISPs and privacy relays)	`allowlist`
4	Synced blocklist (`lists.synced_blocklist_path`)	`synced`
5	Bundled blocklist (or your replacement via `lists.blocklist_path`)	`blocklist`

So your own decisions always win over the bundled data — e.g. you can block a privacy relay the package allows, or allow a domain the package blocks.

use HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Config\ConfigurationBuilder;

$config = ConfigurationBuilder::create()
    ->basic()
    ->withCustomBlocklist(['competitor-trials.example'])     // block more
    ->withCustomAllowlist(['partner.mailinator.com'])        // allow exceptions
    ->withCustomBlocklistFiles([__DIR__ . '/lists'])         // *.conf, *.txt, *.list, *.json files or directories
    ->withoutSubdomainBlocking()                             // optional: exact matches only
    ->build();

$validator = EmailValidator::withConfig($config);

Lists can also be changed at runtime (fluent): addToBlocklist(), addToAllowlist(), removeFromBlocklist(), removeFromAllowlist(), getBlocklist(), getBlocklistCount(), isBlocklisted(), isAllowlisted(). Runtime changes never copy the shared index.

Privacy relays (Apple Hide My Email, Firefox Relay, DuckDuckGo, SimpleLogin, Proton Pass, addy.io) forward to a real inbox and are allowed by default. To block them, add them to your blocklist.

📚 The disposable domain list

The bundled list is rebuilt every day from multiple upstream projects and released as a patch version every Monday, so a regular composer update keeps you current. Want daily freshness? See sync.

Source	Role	Treatment
disposable-email-domains	hand-curated, conservative	trusted — taken as-is
eramitgupta/disposable-email	large daily aggregator (several lists + StopForumSpam toxic domains)	untrusted — every entry is filtered
`data/blocklist.local.conf`	maintainers' additions	always included
`data/allowlist.conf`	legitimate domains	always excluded (with subdomains)

Aggregated feeds contain real companies and ISPs that were once abused by spammers. Blindly merging them would block e.g. namecheap.com, yandex.net, sutterhealth.org, Roadrunner/Spectrum ISP addresses (nyc.rr.com) or entire country zones (msk.ru, pp.ua). The build therefore drops:

Filter	Applies to	Example of what it prevents
Invalid syntax / upstream merge artifacts	all / untrusted	`btcmail.pwguerrillamail.net` (two lines glued together)
Public Suffix List entries	all	`msk.ru`, `pp.ua`, `it.com` — would block every domain below them
Allowlisted domains and their subdomains	all	`vip.126.com`, `simplelogin.co`, `nyc.rr.com`
Tranco top-100k popular domains	untrusted only	`namecheap.com`, `compaq.com`, `cafe24.com`
Typos of major providers	untrusted only	`gamil.com` → handled by typo suggestions instead of a misleading "disposable" error

On top of that the build refuses to shrink the list by more than 5% in one run, switches to an additive (remove-nothing) mode if an untrusted source is down, and CI keeps regression tests for known false positives. Build details live in data/metadata.json and in the output of email-validator stats.

Found a missing domain or a false positive? See CONTRIBUTING.md — fixes are permanent.

🔄 Keeping the list fresh (sync)

Package releases are weekly; the list on main is rebuilt daily. The synchronizer downloads remote lists into a file in your app, and every validator configured with that file blocks those domains too — no deploy needed.

vendor/bin/email-validator sync --path=var/email-validator/synced-blocklist.txt

$config = ConfigurationBuilder::create()
    ->standard()
    ->withSyncedBlocklist(__DIR__ . '/var/email-validator/synced-blocklist.txt')
    ->build();

Schedule it (cron, Laravel scheduler, Symfony scheduler, …):

15 3 * * * cd /path/to/app && vendor/bin/email-validator sync --path=var/email-validator/synced-blocklist.txt

By default the synchronizer downloads this package's own filtered list from main (Configuration::DEFAULT_SYNC_URL), so you get the same false-positive protection. Use --url= (repeatable) or the sync.urls setting to add other plain-text or JSON lists.

Safeguards — a bad download never damages your last good list:

failed requests, non-2xx responses, HTML error pages, empty responses and lists without a single valid domain are rejected before anything is written;
append-only by default; --replace only drops domains when every source succeeded;
allowlisted domains (bundled + yours, including subdomains) are never written;
only domains that are not already bundled are stored, so the file stays tiny and cheap to load;
writes go to a temp file that is atomically renamed, under an exclusive lock; an unchanged list is not rewritten.

Programmatic use:

use HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Sync\ListSynchronizer;

$result = (new ListSynchronizer($config))->sync(replace: false);
$result->isSuccessful(); $result->getAdded(); $result->getTotal(); $result->getErrors();

🔬 Full validation pipeline

validate() runs every enabled check and returns a ValidationResult:

Check	Default	What it does
`format`	✅	Syntax — see format modes
`spoof`	❌	Mixed-script / invisible characters per address part (needs `ext-intl`)
`disposable`	✅	Bundled + custom + synced lists, subdomain-aware
`mx`	✅	MX records (`checkdnsrr`), cached per domain
`role_based`	❌	`admin@`, `info@`, `support@`, … (configurable prefixes)
`subaddress`	❌	Plus addressing `user+tag@` (warning + `base_email` metadata)
`smtp`	❌	Live mailbox check (`RCPT TO`) — slow, may be blocked
`catch_all`	❌	Detects domains that accept every address
`typo_suggestion`	❌	"Did you mean `gmail.com`?" — never fails validation

Presets

Preset	Enabled checks
`minimal()`	format
`basic()`	format, disposable
`standard()`	format, mx, disposable, typo suggestion
`strict()`	format, mx, disposable, role-based, subaddress, typo suggestion, smtp, catch-all

$validator = EmailValidator::strict();   // ConfigurationBuilder::create()->strict()->build()
$validator = EmailValidator::basic();

strict() enables SMTP and catch-all verification, which open live connections and can be slow or blocked. For most applications standard() is the recommended starting point.

Format modes

Mode	Engine	Accepts
`filter` (default)	`FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL`	ASCII addresses
`filter_unicode`	`FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL` + `FILTER_FLAG_EMAIL_UNICODE`	internationalized local parts (`jörg@example.com`)
`rfc`	`egulias/email-validator` `RFCValidation`	everything RFC 5322 allows
`strict`	`egulias/email-validator` `NoRFCWarningsValidation`	RFC 5322 without warnings (no quoted local parts, …)

ConfigurationBuilder::create()->standard()->withFormatMode('rfc')->withSpoofCheck()->build();

Spoofing (homograph) detection

$validator->isSpoofed('user@xn--gmil-63d.com');   // true  — "gmаil.com" with a Cyrillic "а"
$validator->isSpoofed("p\u{0430}ypal@example.com"); // true  — mixed-script local part
$validator->isSpoofed('ivan@почта.рф');           // false — one script per part is legitimate

Individual checks

$validator->isValidFormat('user@example.com');
$validator->hasValidMX('user@example.com');        // MX records (cached)
$validator->hasValidDNS('user@example.com');       // A / AAAA records
$validator->isRoleBased('info@example.com');
$validator->isSubaddressed('user+tag@gmail.com');
$validator->getBaseEmail('user+tag@gmail.com');    // 'user@gmail.com'
$validator->isCatchAll('user@example.com');
$validator->validateSMTP('user@example.com');
$validator->getSuggestion('user@gmial.com');       // SuggestionResult: 'user@gmail.com', confidence 0–100

Batch validation

$emails = ['user1@gmail.com', 'user2@mailinator.com', 'invalid-email'];

$validator->validateBatch($emails);              // array<string, ValidationResult>
$validator->filterValid($emails, false);         // ['user1@gmail.com']  ($checkMX = false)
$validator->filterInvalid($emails, false);
$validator->getStatistics($emails, false);
// ['total' => 3, 'valid' => 1, 'invalid' => 2, 'disposable' => 1, 'invalid_format' => 1, 'no_mx' => 0]

⚙ Configuration

Use the fluent builder, an array, or a PHP/JSON/YAML file — they all produce a Configuration.

$config = ConfigurationBuilder::create()
    ->standard()
    ->withRoleBasedCheck()
    ->withFileCache(__DIR__ . '/cache', 3600)
    ->withRateLimiting(100, 60)
    ->build();

$validator = EmailValidator::withConfig($config);
$validator = EmailValidator::fromConfigFile(__DIR__ . '/config/emailvalidator.php'); // .php / .json / .yaml
$config    = Configuration::fromArray([...]);                                         // same keys

Ready-made templates: config/emailvalidator.php and config/emailvalidator.json.

All configuration keys

Key	Default	Description
`checks.format` / `mx` / `disposable`	`true`	Core checks
`checks.role_based` / `smtp` / `typo_suggestion` / `subaddress` / `catch_all` / `spoof`	`false`	Optional checks
`format.mode`	`filter`	`filter`, `filter_unicode`, `rfc`, `strict`
`lists.blocklist_path` / `allowlist_path`	`null`	Replace the bundled lists
`lists.custom_blocklist` / `custom_allowlist`	`[]`	Domains added to the lists (take precedence over bundled lists)
`lists.custom_blocklist_paths` / `custom_allowlist_paths`	`[]`	Extra list files or directories
`lists.synced_blocklist_path`	`null`	File maintained by `sync` (ignored until it exists)
`lists.block_subdomains`	`true`	Match parent domains (`x.mailinator.com` → `mailinator.com`)
`lists.role_based_path`	`null`	Custom role-prefix list file
`sync.urls`	package list on `main`	Remote lists for `sync` (text or JSON, http/https only)
`sync.timeout`	`30`	HTTP timeout in seconds
`cache.driver` / `ttl` / `prefix` / `options`	`memory`, `3600`	`memory`, `file`, `redis`, `memcached`, `psr16`, `null`
`rate_limit.enabled` / `max_attempts` / `decay_seconds`	`false`, `100`, `60`	Token-bucket limiter
`role_based.prefixes`	36 prefixes	Role-account local parts
`typo.common_domains` / `typo.mappings`	major providers	Typo suggestion data
`smtp.timeout` / `from_email` / `from_domain`	`10`, `null`, `null`	SMTP verification
`dns.timeout`	`5`	DNS timeout

🧩 Framework integrations

Every integration wraps the same core, so behaviour and configuration keys are identical everywhere.

Framework	Validation	Services	Commands / sync	Extras
Laravel 9–13	rule objects + string rules	facade, container	Artisan, scheduler	Blade directive, translations, Laravel Boost
Symfony 6.4–8	`#[NotDisposableEmail]`, `#[ValidEmail]`, `#[NotRoleBasedEmail]`	autowiring	`bin/console`	YAML config, Scheduler
CodeIgniter 4.4+	auto-registered rules	`service('emailValidator')`	CLI + cron	zero-config discovery, `.env`
CakePHP 4.4+/5	validation provider	DI plugin	CLI + cron	`Configure` key
Yii 2	model validators	app component	CLI + cron	aliases, `Yii::t()` messages
Yii 3	attribute rules	DI container	CLI + cron	—
Phalcon 5	validators	DI service provider	CLI + cron	config service section

Laravel

Supports Laravel 9–13 (rule objects need Laravel 10+). The service provider and the EmailValidator facade are auto-discovered.

php artisan email-validator:install     # publishes config/emailvalidator.php (add --translations for the messages)
php artisan email-validator:sync        # download the latest disposable domains

Validation rules

use HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\Laravel\Rules\NotDisposableEmail;
use HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\Laravel\Rules\NotRoleBasedEmail;
use HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\Laravel\Rules\ValidEmail;

$request->validate([
    'email'      => ['required', 'email', new NotDisposableEmail()],
    'work_email' => ['required', new ValidEmail()],              // every check enabled in config, first failure reported
    'billing'    => ['required', new ValidEmail(checkMx: false)], // skip DNS for this rule
    'contact'    => ['required', 'email', new NotRoleBasedEmail()],
    'other'      => ['required', new NotDisposableEmail('Please use a permanent address.')],
]);

// String rules: valid_email, not_disposable, not_role_based, has_mx, not_subaddressed, not_spoofed
$request->validate(['email' => 'required|email:rfc,dns|not_disposable']);

Messages live in the emailvalidator::validation translation group (php artisan vendor:publish --tag=emailvalidator-translations). Rule-object messages accept :attribute; NotDisposableEmail also :domain and :matched, ValidEmail also :reason and :suggestion.

Facade, Blade & commands

use EmailValidator; // HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\Laravel\EmailValidatorFacade

EmailValidator::isDisposable('user@mailinator.com');                           // true
EmailValidator::checkDisposable('user@eu.mailinator.com')->getMatchedDomain(); // 'mailinator.com'
EmailValidator::validate('john@gmial.com')->getSuggestion()?->getSuggestedEmail(); // 'john@gmail.com'
EmailValidator::getListStatistics();

@disposableEmail($user->email)
    <p>Please switch to a permanent email address.</p>
@enddisposableEmail

php artisan email-validator:check user@eu.mailinator.com example.org [--json]   # exit 1 if disposable
php artisan email-validator:validate user@example.com [--no-mx] [--json]         # exit 1 if invalid
php artisan email-validator:sync [--replace] [--json]
php artisan email-validator:stats [--json]

Configuration (config/emailvalidator.php, env-aware; the cache driver defaults to your Laravel cache store):

'format' => ['mode' => env('EMAIL_VALIDATOR_FORMAT_MODE', 'filter')],
'lists'  => [
    'custom_blocklist'      => ['my-throwaway.com'],
    'custom_allowlist'      => ['my-company.com'],
    'synced_blocklist_path' => storage_path('app/email-validator/synced-blocklist.txt'),
    'block_subdomains'      => true,
],
'sync' => [
    'urls'     => [Configuration::DEFAULT_SYNC_URL],   // EMAIL_VALIDATOR_SYNC_URLS (comma-separated)
    'schedule' => env('EMAIL_VALIDATOR_SYNC_SCHEDULE'), // null|hourly|daily|weekly|monthly|cron expression
],

Set EMAIL_VALIDATOR_SYNC_SCHEDULE=daily and the package registers email-validator:sync on Laravel's scheduler (withoutOverlapping()). AI agents using Laravel Boost get this package's guidelines automatically.

Symfony

Supports Symfony 6.4, 7.x and 8.x.

// config/bundles.php
return [
    HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\Symfony\EmailValidatorBundle::class => ['all' => true],
];

# config/packages/email_validator.yaml
email_validator:
    checks:   { mx: true, disposable: true, role_based: false, spoof: false }
    format:   { mode: filter }           # filter | filter_unicode | rfc | strict
    lists:
        custom_blocklist: ['my-throwaway.com']
        custom_allowlist: ['my-company.com']
        synced_blocklist_path: '%kernel.project_dir%/var/email-validator/synced-blocklist.txt'  # default; ~ disables
        block_subdomains: true
    sync:     { timeout: 30 }

use HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\Symfony\Validator\NotDisposableEmail;
use HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\Symfony\Validator\NotRoleBasedEmail;
use HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\Symfony\Validator\ValidEmail;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

class SignupDto
{
    #[Assert\NotBlank, Assert\Email, NotDisposableEmail]
    public string $email;

    #[ValidEmail(checkMx: false, message: 'Invalid email: {{ reason }}')]
    public string $workEmail;

    #[NotRoleBasedEmail(groups: ['registration'])]
    public string $contactEmail;
}

Message parameters: {{ value }}, {{ domain }}, {{ matched }} (NotDisposableEmail); {{ check }}, {{ reason }}, {{ suggestion }} (ValidEmail), with one error code per failed check. Services: EmailValidator (autowirable, alias email_validator), Configuration, ListSynchronizer (email_validator.synchronizer).

bin/console email-validator:check user@eu.mailinator.com [--json]
bin/console email-validator:validate user@example.com [--no-mx] [--json]
bin/console email-validator:sync [--replace] [--json]     # schedule with cron or Symfony Scheduler (RunCommandMessage)
bin/console email-validator:stats [--json]

CodeIgniter 4

Zero configuration. CodeIgniter's auto-discovery picks up the package's Config/Registrar.php and Config/Services.php: the rules are added to Config\Validation::$ruleSets and service('emailValidator') returns a shared validator.

$rules = ['email' => 'required|valid_email|not_disposable_email|not_role_based_email'];

if (! $this->validate($rules)) {
    return redirect()->back()->withInput()->with('errors', $this->validator->getErrors());
}

Rule	Fails when
`not_disposable_email`	the domain (or a parent domain) is disposable
`email_has_mx`	the domain has no MX record
`not_role_based_email`	the address is a role account (`admin@`, `info@`, …)
`not_subaddressed_email`	the address has a `+tag`
`not_spoofed_email`	it mixes scripts or has invisible characters (needs ext-intl)
`verified_email`	the full configured pipeline fails; the message names the failed check

Messages ship as language lines ({field}, {value} and per-field custom errors work); override them in app/Language/<locale>/Validation.php. Use permit_empty for optional fields.

$validator = service('emailValidator');   // shared; single_service('emailValidator') for a new instance
$validator->checkDisposable('user@eu.mailinator.com')->getMatchedDomain(); // 'mailinator.com'

To configure, create app/Config/EmailValidator.php (properties mirror the configuration keys; .env overrides such as emailvalidator.checks.mx = false work too):

namespace Config;

use HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\CodeIgniter\Config\EmailValidator as BaseEmailValidator;

class EmailValidator extends BaseEmailValidator
{
    public array $lists = [
        'custom_blocklist'      => ['competitor-temp.com'],
        'synced_blocklist_path' => WRITEPATH . 'email-validator/synced.conf',
        'block_subdomains'      => true,
    ];
}

Discovery disabled? Add \HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\CodeIgniter\EmailValidatorRules::class to Config\Validation::$ruleSets. Sync from cron: vendor/bin/email-validator sync --path=writable/email-validator/synced.conf.

CakePHP

use HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\CakePHP\EmailValidationProvider;

public function validationDefault(Validator $validator): Validator
{
    // One call: registers the "emailValidator" provider and adds the rules
    EmailValidationProvider::attach($validator, 'email', [
        'notDisposable',
        'notRoleBased' => 'Please use a personal email address.',   // custom message
    ]);

    return $validator;
}

Rules: notDisposable, notRoleBased, notSubaddressed, notSpoofed, hasMx, verifiedEmail (full pipeline). Manual use works as with any provider: ->setProvider('emailValidator', new EmailValidationProvider())->add('email', 'notDisposable', ['rule' => 'notDisposable', 'provider' => 'emailValidator']).

Register the plugin to get EmailValidator/Configuration in the DI container, configured from the EmailValidator key:

// src/Application.php
$this->addPlugin(\HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\CakePHP\EmailValidatorPlugin::class);

// config/app_local.php
'EmailValidator' => [
    'checks' => ['mx' => true, 'role_based' => true],
    'lists'  => ['synced_blocklist_path' => TMP . 'email-validator' . DS . 'synced.conf'],
    'cache'  => ['driver' => 'cakephp', 'options' => ['config' => 'default']],   // optional: use a Cake cache config
],

public function signup(\HarunGecit\EmailValidator\EmailValidator $emailValidator) { /* injected */ }

Yii 2

// config/web.php (and console.php)
'components' => [
    'emailValidator' => [
        'class'  => \HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\Yii2\EmailValidatorComponent::class,
        'config' => [
            'checks' => ['mx' => true, 'role_based' => true],
            'lists'  => ['synced_blocklist_path' => '@runtime/email-validator/synced.conf'],   // aliases are resolved
        ],
    ],
],

use HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\Yii2\NotDisposableEmailValidator;
use HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\Yii2\NotRoleBasedEmailValidator;
use HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\Yii2\VerifiedEmailValidator;

public function rules()
{
    return [
        ['email', 'required'],
        ['email', 'email'],
        ['email', NotDisposableEmailValidator::class],
        ['email', NotRoleBasedEmailValidator::class],
        ['email', VerifiedEmailValidator::class, 'messages' => ['mx' => 'The domain of {attribute} cannot receive email.']],
    ];
}

Yii::$app->emailValidator->checkDisposable('user@eu.mailinator.com')->getMatchedDomain(); // 'mailinator.com'

Messages support {attribute}, {value}, {domain}, {matched} (and {check}, {error}, {suggestion} for VerifiedEmailValidator) and go through Yii::t('app', …).

Yii 3

use HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\Yii3\NotDisposableEmail;
use HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\Yii3\VerifiedEmail;
use Yiisoft\Validator\Rule\{Email, Required};

final class SignupForm
{
    #[Required, Email, NotDisposableEmail]
    public string $email = '';

    #[VerifiedEmail(skipOnEmpty: true, messages: ['disposable' => 'Please use a permanent email address.'])]
    public string $backupEmail = '';
}

Handlers receive EmailValidator from the DI container — register it with your configuration:

// config/common/di/email-validator.php
return [
    EmailValidator::class => ['__construct()' => [Configuration::fromArray(['checks' => ['mx' => true]])]],
];

Phalcon 5

use HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\Phalcon\EmailValidatorServiceProvider;
use HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\Phalcon\Validator\NotDisposableEmail;
use HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Framework\Phalcon\Validator\VerifiedEmail;
use Phalcon\Filter\Validation;
use Phalcon\Filter\Validation\Validator\Email;

$di->register(new EmailValidatorServiceProvider([
    'checks' => ['mx' => true],
    'lists'  => ['synced_blocklist_path' => BASE_PATH . '/storage/email-validator/synced.conf'],
]));   // or no argument: reads the "emailValidator" section of the "config" service

$validation = new Validation();
$validation->add('email', new Email());
$validation->add('email', new NotDisposableEmail(['message' => 'Disposable addresses (:domain) are not allowed']));
$validation->add('email', new VerifiedEmail(['messages' => ['mx' => 'The domain of :field cannot receive email']]));

$messages = $validation->validate($_POST);

Plain PHP / any framework

The core has no framework dependency: create an EmailValidator, keep it in your container, and use vendor/bin/email-validator sync from cron. Slim, Mezzio, Laminas, Lumen, Nette, Spiral, WordPress plugins — anything with Composer works.

$validator = EmailValidator::fromConfigFile(__DIR__ . '/config/emailvalidator.php');

💻 Command line

vendor/bin/email-validator check <email|domain>...   Is it disposable? Shows the matched entry and its source
vendor/bin/email-validator validate <email>...       Full validation (format, disposable, MX, ...)
vendor/bin/email-validator sync                      Download remote lists into the synced list file
vendor/bin/email-validator stats                     List statistics

Options: --config=FILE  --path=FILE  --url=URL (repeatable)  --timeout=SECONDS
         --replace  --no-mx  --no-subdomains  --json  -h/--help  -V/--version

$ vendor/bin/email-validator check user@eu.mailinator.com gmail.com 163.com
DISPOSABLE user@eu.mailinator.com (matched mailinator.com in blocklist)
OK         gmail.com
ALLOWED    163.com (matched 163.com in allowlist)

Exit codes: 0 = nothing flagged, 1 = disposable/invalid found or sync failed, 2 = usage error — handy for shell scripts and CI (e.g. validating a CSV export).

⚡ Performance

Lookups are O(1) hash lookups; a check including the parent-domain walk takes ~2.5 µs.
With OPcache (every production PHP-FPM setup) the precompiled data/blocklist.php index is an immutable array in shared memory: loading the whole list costs nothing and adds no per-request memory.
Without OPcache (CLI, workers) the list is read with a single explode() in ~18 ms, once per process.
Runtime list changes (addToBlocklist(), custom/synced lists) are kept in small side tables, so the shared index is never copied.
MX and catch-all results are cached through the configured cache backend.

Caching, rate limiting & logging

ConfigurationBuilder::create()->withMemoryCache(3600);                       // in-process (default)
ConfigurationBuilder::create()->withFileCache('/tmp/ev-cache', 3600);        // filesystem
ConfigurationBuilder::create()->withRedisCache('127.0.0.1', 6379, null, 0);  // ext-redis or Predis
ConfigurationBuilder::create()->withMemcachedCache('127.0.0.1', 11211);      // ext-memcached
ConfigurationBuilder::create()->withPsr16Cache($anyPsr16Cache);              // any PSR-16 cache
ConfigurationBuilder::create()->withoutCache();

CacheManager::registerDriver('my-driver', MyCacheAdapter::class);           // custom drivers

Rate limiting throttles validations per address with a token bucket that shares the cache backend (works across processes with Redis/Memcached/File):

$config = ConfigurationBuilder::create()->standard()->withRateLimiting(maxAttempts: 5, decaySeconds: 60)->build();

try {
    $validator->validate($email);
} catch (RateLimitExceededException $e) {
    echo "Retry after {$e->getRetryAfter()}s";
}

PSR-3 logging: $validator->setLogger($logger) or $config->setLogger($logger) — each validate() logs a debug entry with the outcome, checks and errors.

📖 Result objects & API reference

ValidationResult

isValid, getEmail, getDomain, getLocalPart, getChecks, passed(check), getErrors, getFirstError, getWarnings, isDisposable, isRoleBased, isSubaddressed, getMetadata, getMetadataValue, hasSuggestion, getSuggestion, toArray, toJson.

Metadata keys: disposable_match, disposable_source, subaddressed, base_email.

DisposableCheckResult

getInput, getDomain, isDisposable, getMatchedDomain, getSource, isAllowlisted, isSubdomainMatch, toArray, jsonSerialize. Source constants: SOURCE_BLOCKLIST, SOURCE_CUSTOM, SOURCE_SYNCED, SOURCE_ALLOWLIST.

SuggestionResult

getOriginalEmail, getSuggestedEmail, getOriginalDomain, getSuggestedDomain, getReason, getConfidence, isHighConfidence, toArray, __toString.

EmailValidator

Method	Description
`create()` / `withConfig($c)` / `fromConfigFile($path)` / `strict()` / `basic()`	Factories
`validate($email): ValidationResult`	Full pipeline
`isValid($email, ?bool $checkMX = null): bool`	Boolean validation
`validateBatch($emails)`	`array<string, ValidationResult>`
`checkDisposable($emailOrDomain): DisposableCheckResult`	Explained disposable lookup
`isDisposable($email)` / `isDisposableDomain($domain)`	Disposable checks
`isValidFormat / hasValidMX / hasValidDNS / isSpoofed / isRoleBased / isSubaddressed / getBaseEmail / getSuggestion / isCatchAll / validateSMTP`	Individual checks
`getListStatistics(): array`	Counts, sources, last sync, index strategy
`addToBlocklist / addToAllowlist / removeFrom* / getBlocklist / getAllowlist / get*Count / isBlocklisted / isAllowlisted`	List management
`validateMultiple / validateWithDetails / filterValid / filterInvalid / getStatistics`	2.x-compatible helpers
`extractDomain / extractLocalPart / normalize / normalizeMultiple`	Utilities
`setConfiguration / getConfiguration / setLogger / setCacheEnabled / clearCache`	Runtime

ConfigurationBuilder

Presets strict/standard/basic/minimal; cache withMemoryCache/withFileCache/withRedisCache/withMemcachedCache/withPsr16Cache/withCache/withoutCache; withRateLimiting/withoutRateLimiting; checks withRoleBasedCheck/withTypoSuggestion/withSmtpCheck/withSubaddressCheck/withCatchAllCheck/withSpoofCheck/withoutMxCheck/withoutDisposableCheck; format withFormatMode; lists withBlocklist/withAllowlist/withCustomBlocklist/withCustomAllowlist/withCustomBlocklistFiles/withCustomAllowlistFiles/withSyncedBlocklist/withoutSubdomainBlocking; build().

Fetcher (list files)

loadBlocklist, loadAllowlist, loadAll, loadBlocklistIndex, loadAllowlistIndex, loadCustomBlocklist, loadCustomAllowlist, loadPaths, mergeLists, saveList, compileIndex, getMetadata, clearCache, getBlocklistPath, getBlocklistIndexPath, getAllowlistPath, getMetadataPath, blocklistExists, allowlistExists, getBlocklistCount, getAllowlistCount, isOpcacheActive.

Exceptions

All extend HarunGecit\EmailValidator\Exceptions\EmailValidatorException: RateLimitExceededException (getRetryAfter(), getMaxAttempts()), InvalidEmailException, ConfigurationException (invalid value, unsupported format, missing file or dependency), CacheException, SmtpConnectionException.

Testing

composer test           # PHPUnit: core, data integrity and every framework integration
composer test-coverage  # HTML coverage report in ./coverage
composer update-lists   # maintainers: rebuild data/ from all upstream sources

The library runs on PHP 8.0+; the test suite needs PHP 8.1+ (PHPUnit 10–12). CI runs PHP 8.1 – 8.5 on Ubuntu, Windows and macOS, the oldest supported framework versions on PHP 8.1, a PHP 8.0 runtime smoke test, and data-integrity checks on every push.

Upgrading

3.2 is backward compatible with 3.0/3.1 and the 2.x API. Worth knowing:

The bundled list grew from ~8,900 to over 136,000 domains in 3.2.0. If a legitimate domain your users rely on is now flagged, add it to lists.custom_allowlist and report it.
Your custom_blocklist / addToBlocklist() entries now override the bundled allowlist (previously the allowlist always won). The bundled blocklist still never overrides the allowlist.
EmailValidator::create() now shares the precompiled index instead of copying the list.
List files written by Fetcher::saveList() end with a newline.

Coming from 1.x? The namespace changed from PHPOrbit\EmailValidator to HarunGecit\EmailValidator, and the package from phporbit/php-email-validator to harungecit/php-email-validator.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome — missing disposable domains, false-positive reports, framework integrations and docs. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md; security issues go through SECURITY.md.

License

MIT — see LICENSE. The disposable domain data is derived from disposable-email-domains (CC0) and eramitgupta/disposable-email (MIT); thanks to their maintainers and to the Public Suffix List and Tranco projects.

Author

Harun Geçit — GitHub · LinkedIn · Email

If this package saves you from fake sign-ups, please ⭐ the repository — it helps other PHP developers find it.

Changelog

Automated weekly data releases (blocklist updates) are documented on the Releases page.

v3.2.0

136,577 disposable domains at release (up from 8,948): the blocklist is now built from disposable-email-domains (trusted) and eramitgupta/disposable-email (filtered aggregator).
False-positive filtering in the build: Public Suffix List, Tranco top-100k, typo domains, allowlist subdomains and upstream merge artifacts; allowlist expanded to 237 domains (ISPs, organisations, privacy relays such as SimpleLogin and Proton Pass).
The list is rebuilt daily on main; patch releases still ship every Monday (skipped automatically when main has unreleased code).
New checkDisposable() returning DisposableCheckResult (matched domain, source, subdomain match), isDisposableDomain(), isSpoofed() and getListStatistics(); validate() adds disposable_match/disposable_source metadata.
New configuration: lists.custom_blocklist, custom_allowlist, custom_*_paths, synced_blocklist_path, block_subdomains, sync.urls, sync.timeout, format.mode (filter, filter_unicode, rfc, strict) and the spoof check.
New list synchronizer (ListSynchronizer) with append-only/replace modes, HTML/empty-response rejection, allowlist filtering, atomic writes and locking.
New framework-agnostic CLI: vendor/bin/email-validator check|validate|sync|stats.
Precompiled OPcache index (data/blocklist.php): zero load cost and no per-request memory with OPcache; runtime list changes no longer copy the list.
Domain normalization (case, trailing dot, IDN → punycode) for every list lookup.
New integrations: CodeIgniter 4 (auto-discovered rules + service), CakePHP (validation provider + plugin), Yii 2 (component + validators), Yii 3 (attribute rules), Phalcon 5 (validators + service provider).
Laravel: rule objects, not_spoofed rule, @disposableEmail Blade directive, Artisan commands, scheduled sync, Laravel Boost guidelines. Symfony: #[NotDisposableEmail] / #[ValidEmail] constraints and console commands. Laravel 13 and Symfony 8 support.
Application lists (custom_*) now take precedence over the bundled allowlist.
Added CONTRIBUTING.md and SECURITY.md; leaner Composer dist archive.

v3.1.1

Updated the disposable blocklist to 8,900+ domains (785 new domains from upstream).
isDisposable() now detects subdomains of disposable providers (user@sub.mailinator.com) by also checking parent domains; the most specific list entry wins. Lookups use a hash index instead of a linear scan.
Added a scheduled GitHub Actions workflow that refreshes the blocklist weekly and publishes a patch release automatically.
composer update-lists now rebuilds the blocklist as upstream + data/blocklist.local.conf − allowlist instead of a keep-everything union, so upstream false-positive removals are applied (removed gmal.com, iwi.net, mailhub.pro). Added safety checks for unattended runs (malformed lines skipped, abort on a suspiciously small upstream or a >5% shrink; --force overrides).

v3.1.0

Updated the disposable blocklist to 8,100+ domains (244 new domains from the disposable-email-domains project).
Expanded the allowlist to 190+ domains (added proton.me, pm.me, hey.com, tuta.com, zohomail.com, icloud.com, duck.com, simplelogin.io, addy.io, and more). The upstream allowlist was discontinued; it is now maintained in this package.
Added composer update-lists (scripts/update-lists.php) to refresh the blocklist from upstream with a single command.
Expanded the default typo mappings and common-domain list (Proton, Tuta, HEY, Zoho Mail, GMX, Yandex, and regional Yahoo/Hotmail/Outlook domains) and synchronized them across all config templates.
Expanded the default role-based prefixes (administrator, donotreply, security, privacy, legal, compliance, notifications, and more).
Fetcher::saveList() now always writes LF line endings regardless of platform.

v3.0.1

Fixed CI failures on PHP 8.0 and 8.1.

v3.0.0

Requires PHP 8.0+ (dropped 7.4). Forward-compatible through PHP 8.5.
Added a rich ValidationResult object returned by the new validate() method, plus validateBatch().
Added Configuration and a fluent ConfigurationBuilder with strict, standard, basic, and minimal presets.
Added configuration file loading (PHP / JSON / YAML) via EmailValidator::fromConfigFile().
Added new checks: role-based detection, subaddress (plus addressing), typo suggestions (SuggestionResult), SMTP verification, and catch-all detection.
Added a pluggable cache layer with Memory, File, Redis, Memcached, PSR-16, and Null adapters.
Added token-bucket rate limiting with RateLimitExceededException.
Added PSR-3 logging support.
Added Laravel (service provider, facade, publishable config, validation rules) and Symfony (bundle, DI extension) integrations.
Updated the disposable blocklist to 7,900+ domains, synchronized with the disposable-email-domains project.
Fully backward compatible with the 2.x public API.

v2.0.0

Breaking: Namespace changed from PHPOrbit\EmailValidator to HarunGecit\EmailValidator.
Breaking: Package name changed from phporbit/php-email-validator to harungecit/php-email-validator.
Added batch validation (validateMultiple, filterValid, filterInvalid), isValid(), validateWithDetails(), getStatistics(), and the EmailValidator::create() factory.
Added a fluent interface for list management, MX record caching, hasValidDNS(), email normalization, and isAllowlisted()/isBlocklisted().
Enhanced the Fetcher with caching, custom list loading, and merge capabilities.
Added multi-platform CI (Ubuntu, Windows, macOS).

v1.0.x

Initial releases: email format validation, disposable email detection, and MX record validation.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
.claude		.claude
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
bin		bin
config		config
data		data
examples		examples
resources/boost/guidelines		resources/boost/guidelines
scripts		scripts
src		src
tests		tests
.gitattributes		.gitattributes
.gitignore		.gitignore
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
SECURITY.md		SECURITY.md
composer.json		composer.json
phpunit.xml.dist		phpunit.xml.dist

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PHP Email Validator

Table of Contents

⭐ Why this package?

Installation

Compatibility

🚀 Quick start

🛡 Disposable email detection

How a domain is matched

📚 The disposable domain list

🔄 Keeping the list fresh (sync)

🔬 Full validation pipeline

Presets

Format modes

Spoofing (homograph) detection

Individual checks

Batch validation

⚙ Configuration

🧩 Framework integrations

Laravel

Symfony

CodeIgniter 4

CakePHP

Yii 2

Yii 3

Phalcon 5

Plain PHP / any framework

💻 Command line

⚡ Performance

Caching, rate limiting & logging

📖 Result objects & API reference

Testing

Upgrading

Contributing

License

Author

Changelog

v3.2.0

v3.1.1

v3.1.0

v3.0.1

v3.0.0

v2.0.0

v1.0.x

About

Topics

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Contributing

Security policy

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Used by

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