Mailbox provider · WEB.DE
How to verify a web.de email address
WEB.DE addresses usually come back inconclusive from a mailbox check. On 12 October 2026 the web.de mail server mx-ha03.web.de refused our checking server at the greeting stage, citing the connecting server's reverse DNS (PTR) record. A refusal like that says nothing about whether the address exists.
Mailbox checks: Hard to verify. The server refuses connections it does not trust before answering about the mailbox.
WEB.DE at a glance
| MX hosts | mx-ha02.web.de, mx-ha03.web.deObserved 12 October 2026 (dig MX) |
|---|---|
| Answer to a made-up address | Connection refused at the greeting: 554 Nemesis ESMTP Service not available. No SMTP service. Bad DNS PTR resource record.Observed 12 October 2026 (SMTP probe of a made-up recipient, no message sent) |
What WEB.DE's server says about a missing mailbox
WEB.DE's server replied 554 Nemesis ESMTP Service not available. No SMTP service. Bad DNS PTR resource record.. That refusal happened at the greeting stage, before the checking server could name any recipient, so it is a verdict on the connecting server, not on the address. SimpleVerifier returns these as risky with "Mailbox check unavailable" and never as invalid, because treating a refusal as "mailbox not found" would delete real customers from your list.
Servers screen connections this way to keep spam out: missing reverse DNS, a low sending reputation or a blocklist listing are the usual triggers. The same screen applies to every checking service that connects from a shared or new IP, which is why web.de results differ between verifiers. SMTP verification false positives explains how much to trust each answer.
mail.com's server sent the identical refusal on the same day, and GMX screens connections on reverse DNS too. WEB.DE's reply links to its postmaster pages for the explanation.
Cleaning web.de addresses you can't check
Treat inconclusive web.de results as unknown, not bad. The checks that don't need the mailbox still work: format, typo domains, duplicates and whether the domain can receive mail. The free list health check runs those in the browser.
For the rest, use the address's history. An address that signed up, bought or replied recently is very likely live. For old or bought data at web.de, send a small batch first and suppress anything that hard-bounces. If the web.de share of your list is small, it's often simpler to keep those rows out of a high-risk campaign than to guess.
Live DNS check for web.de
These are web.de's own sending records, refreshed daily. They describe mail sent from the domain, not whether a given address at it exists.
4 of 5 checks passed
80%Blocklist status
Not listed on SURBL, SpamCop
DKIM — message signing
No DKIM found on common selectors — it may use a custom one
DMARC — spoofing policy
DMARC set to quarantine — reasonable protection
Mail servers (MX)
2 mail server(s), primary mx-ha03.web.de
SPF — authorised senders
SPF present, policy redirected to _spf.web.de
Common questions
- Can I check if a web.de address exists without emailing it?
- Usually not from a checking service. On 12 October 2026 WEB.DE's server refused our checking connection at the greeting stage, before any mailbox question, so the result is inconclusive rather than valid or invalid.
- What mail servers does web.de use?
- On 12 October 2026, web.de published these MX hosts: mx-ha02.web.de, mx-ha03.web.de. You can look them up yourself with the free MX lookup tool.
- Should I delete web.de addresses that come back risky?
- No. For web.de, risky reflects how the server treats checks, not the address. Remove the ones that fail format, typo-domain and duplicate checks, then send to the rest in a small batch and suppress whatever hard-bounces.
Check a WEB.DE address
The free checker runs the mailbox check on one address and shows the server's reason, so you can see which of the cases above applies.