How old is this email address? The short answer is nobody knows
Short answer: you can't.
No tool tells you when an email address was created. Not ours. Not a paid one. Only Google knows when a Gmail account was made, and Google does not tell anyone.
So what are all these "email age checkers" returning?
They check the domain, not the address#
The domain's registration date is public. Anyone can look it up. That part is real.
The problem is what it describes. gmail.com was registered in 1995.
So checking three different Gmail addresses gives you this:
| address | "age" |
|---|---|
ada@gmail.com (made in 2004) | 30 years |
bob@gmail.com (made last year) | 30 years |
scammer@gmail.com (made four minutes ago) | 30 years |
Same answer every time.
If your signups come from Gmail, Outlook or Yahoo, domain age tells you nothing about the person at all.
Where it does work#
One case: company domains.
A business domain registered eleven days ago, already sending someone to sign up for your product, is worth a second look. Fraud rings do register domains, and fresh ones show up in abuse more than they should.
So it is useful on @somecompany.io and useless on @gmail.com. If you sell to businesses, keep the check. If you sell to consumers, it will almost never fire.
Where it goes badly wrong#
Most people want email age for one reason: catching throwaway addresses. New domain, bad news.
That sounds right. It is exactly backwards.
| throwaway provider | age |
|---|---|
mailinator.com | 23 years |
guerrillamail.com | 19 years |
10minutemail.com | 19 years |
These are older than most real companies. Older than Slack. Older than Stripe.
So a new-domain rule does not just miss them. It waves them through, then flags the genuine startup whose employee is trying to sign up.
You have built a check that protects the throwaway and punishes the customer.
The question that actually works#
Stop asking how old the address is. Ask how many accounts are behind it.
Gmail ignores dots. Anything after a + is a label. googlemail.com is the same service. Stack those together and one inbox makes unlimited addresses that all look different:
ada.lovelace@gmail.com → adalovelace@gmail.com a.d.a.lovelace@gmail.com → adalovelace@gmail.com adalovelace+shop@gmail.com → adalovelace@gmail.com adalovelace+shop2@googlemail.com → adalovelace@gmail.com AdaLovelace@Gmail.com → adalovelace@gmail.com
Every one is real. Every one delivers. Every one passes any check you throw at it.
To your database they are five customers claiming five welcome bonuses. Strip them back and they are one person, and you can see it the moment they sign up.
Other things worth checking#
All of these you can actually find out:
- Can the domain receive mail? Some throwaway domains cannot.
10minutemail.comhas no mail server at all and still gets accepted everywhere. - Does it accept any address? If so, the bit before the @ means nothing, and they have unlimited addresses.
- Is it a known throwaway? Worth checking. It catches the lazy ones, not the determined ones.
Try it yourself#
Run any address through the free email checker. No account needed.
It returns the domain age, because it is cheap and occasionally handy. But watch what happens: check a fifteen-year-old customer and a throwaway made this morning, and see how little that number moves.
The line worth reading is the one showing the real inbox behind the address.
Frequently asked questions
Can you check when an email address was created?
No. Only the provider knows, and providers do not tell anyone. Google will not say when a Gmail account was made. Neither will Microsoft or Proton. There is no paid tool that has this either, because there is no source to buy it from.
So what do email age checkers actually check?
The age of the domain, which is public. On gmail.com that is 1995, and it is 1995 for every Gmail user on earth. The number is real. It just says nothing about the person.
Is domain age ever useful?
On company domains, yes. A business domain registered last week that already has someone signing up is worth a look. On Gmail or Outlook it is worthless, because everyone shares the same number.
Does it catch throwaway addresses?
It does the opposite. mailinator.com is 23 years old. So are most of the big throwaway providers. A new-domain rule waves them straight through and flags the real startup instead.
What should I check instead?
How many accounts sit behind the same inbox. Dots and plus tags let one Gmail account create unlimited addresses that all look different and all deliver to the same place. Count the real inbox and you find the duplicates that domain age never will.
Score your own traffic
10,000 events a month on the free tier, no card. One POST to /v1/score and you get a verdict with the evidence behind it.