Kavik vs ZeroBounce: pricing, accuracy and self-hosting (2026)
The short version: both services verify email addresses well. The differences are price, depth, and hosting. ZeroBounce’s published pay-as-you-go rate is $6.49 per 1,000 at the 100,000-credit tier, while Kavik’s 100,000 credit pack works out to $1.20 per 1,000. Kavik runs 28 checks per address with provider-specific oracles; ZeroBounce offers no self-hosted deployment, and Kavik sells one at $4,995 per year with unlimited volume. Both never expire credits and never charge for unknown results.
All competitor figures below are ZeroBounce’s published pricing as of August 2026.
Price by volume
| Volume | ZeroBounce | Kavik |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | Minimum purchase is 2,000 credits at $39 ($19.50 per 1,000) | Covered by any pack at $1.20 per 1,000 (min pack 25K / $30) |
| 10,000 | $129 ($12.90 per 1,000) | Starter $20/mo includes 20,000 ($1.00 per 1,000), or $30 pack |
| 100,000 | $649 ($6.49 per 1,000) | Business $150/mo includes 150,000 ($1.00 per 1,000), or $120 pack |
| 1,000,000 | $3,199 ($3.20 per 1,000) | $1,200 (1M pack, $1.20 per 1,000) |
ZeroBounce also sells a ZeroBounce ONE subscription at $99 per month for 10,000 monthly credits. Kavik subscriptions are a flat $1.00 per 1,000 from $20 per month, and credit packs a flat $1.20 per 1,000.
Where the services match
- Credits never expire. Stated by both.
- Unknown results are free. Neither charges when a verification cannot reach a definitive answer.
Where Kavik goes further
- Verification depth. 28 checks per address, including provider-specific strategies for Gmail, Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, Proton, Zoho and European ISPs, with catch-all scoring that caps unprovable mailboxes at risky instead of calling them valid.
- Self-hosting. The same engine ships as Docker images under a Deployment License at $4,995 per year, unlimited verifications, unlimited servers within one legal entity. ZeroBounce is cloud-only.
When ZeroBounce is the better pick
You want a long-established brand with a large app marketplace and team features your organization already standardized on. If your volume is small and occasional, the price difference may not matter to you.
When Kavik is the better pick
You verify at volume and price per 1,000 matters; you want unknown results free and credits that never expire; you care about provider-level accuracy more than marketplace integrations; or you need to run verification on your own infrastructure.