Bulk Gravatar checker: which emails have a Gravatar?
In short: Hash each address in your browser and ask Gravatar whether an avatar exists for it, 500 a run, with thumbnails, profile links and a CSV. A Gravatar shows someone set the address up once. Limit: A Gravatar shows the address was registered with Gravatar once; it doesn't show the mailbox works today.
A bulk Gravatar checker tells you which addresses on a list have a Gravatar, the avatar many sites show next to an email. Paste up to 500 addresses: each is trimmed, lower-cased and SHA-256 hashed in your browser, and only the hash is sent to gravatar.com, which answers whether an image exists. A Gravatar means a person registered that address with Gravatar at some point.
Price: this tool is free. Checking a whole email list is from $9/mo, and the first 100 checks are free with Google, no card. See pricing
Sample result
[email protected]: Gravatar answered 404, so no avatar is set for this address.
- Address
- [email protected]
- Request
- gravatar.com/avatar/<hash>?d=404
What this means for you
A Gravatar shows someone registered the address once; no Gravatar is normal.
- 500 addresses a run
- Thumbnails and profile links
- Addresses never leave the browser
- CSV with hash and avatar URL
- Gravatar
- Bulk
- SHA-256
By SimpleVerifier Team · Last updated
How do I check if an email has a Gravatar?
- Paste addresses or upload a CSV, up to 500 unique addresses a run. The email column is found automatically.
- Press Check for Gravatars. Each address is hashed in your browser and Gravatar's image URL is requested with d=404.
- Read which addresses have a Gravatar, with the thumbnail and a link to the public profile.
- Download the CSV with the result, the SHA-256 hash and the avatar URL for each address.
Example
- You enter
- Three addresses:
[email protected],[email protected]and[email protected]. - You get
- Each address is trimmed, lower-cased and SHA-256 hashed in the browser, and
https://gravatar.com/avatar/<hash>?d=404is requested for each. Addresses with an avatar show its thumbnail and a profile link; the others show No Gravatar. The CSV has the result, hash and avatar URL. - Limits
- Up to 500 unique addresses a run. Only the hashes are sent, to gravatar.com.
How does a Gravatar lookup work?
Gravatar finds an avatar by the hash of an email address, not the address itself. Its hash guide says to trim the address, lower-case it and take the SHA-256 hash; the image request is then https://gravatar.com/avatar/HASH. Adding d=404 tells Gravatar to return an HTTP 404 instead of a default image when no avatar is associated with the hash. The tool loads that URL for every address and reads which come back as images.
Because only the hash is sent, the addresses themselves never leave your browser. A hash can still be matched by anyone who already has the address, which is how Gravatar works on every site that shows one, so don't run lists you aren't allowed to process.
Does a Gravatar mean the email address is real?
It means the address was real enough for someone to register it with Gravatar, usually through WordPress.com, a WordPress comment or a developer tool. It doesn't mean the mailbox still accepts mail: people leave jobs and close accounts, and the Gravatar stays. And most real people never create one, so "No Gravatar" says nothing against an address. Treat a Gravatar as a weak sign of a real person, useful for sorting signups or leads, and use a mailbox check for the question of whether mail will arrive.
Who uses this tool, and for what?
- SaaS signups
- Sort new signups into those with a Gravatar and those without when reviewing suspected fake accounts, alongside a disposable check.
- Community managers
- See which members already have an avatar before asking everyone to add a profile photo.
- Developers
- Pre-check which users will show a Gravatar before switching an app to Gravatar avatars.
What can’t this tool tell you?
- A Gravatar shows the address was registered with Gravatar once; it doesn't show the mailbox works today.
- No Gravatar is normal for real people and says nothing against an address.
- Only addresses registered with Gravatar can match; it doesn't search other sites.
- Up to 500 unique addresses a run; lookups that time out show as No answer.
Common questions
- Does Gravatar still use MD5 hashes?
- Gravatar's current docs use SHA-256 of the trimmed, lower-cased address, and that's what this tool sends.
- Is a Gravatar check private?
- Your addresses stay in your browser. Gravatar receives the hashes and your browser's IP address, as it does whenever a page shows an avatar.
- Why is the limit 500 a run?
- To keep the lookups light on Gravatar. Run larger lists in batches.
- Can it find a person's name or photo for an email?
- Only what the person published on their public Gravatar profile, linked from each result. The tool doesn't look anywhere else.
- Is the bulk Gravatar checker free?
- Yes, it's a free tool with no account needed.
Sources
A tidy list can still be full of dead addresses.
Extracting, deduplicating and syntax checks all work on the text of an address. None of them can tell whether the mailbox exists. Only the server that hosts it can answer that, through an SMTP check, and that is what the paid product does.
- Upload the cleaned file as it is: CSVs up to 100,000 rows
- A real SMTP mailbox check on every row, with catch-all detection
- Small list? Starter at $9/mo covers 2,500 emails a month, cancel anytime
Plans from $9 a month, cancel anytime, no contract. Sign in with Google and your first 100 email checks are free, no card. The free tools stay free either way.