Comparison
Publish Now Email Validation vs Hunter
Hunter charges you credits even on syntax fails. Publish Now doesn't charge anything. If you're not already paying Hunter for the email finder, there's no reason to pay for their verifier either.
Side by side
Pricing from Hunter's public page. Accuracy figures from the LeadMagic 2026 benchmark and vendor claims.
| Feature | Publish Now | Hunter |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Bundled with Hunter plans, $49 to $499/mo. Per-email cost $0.005 to $0.01 depending on tier. |
| Free tier | Unlimited (rate-limited) | 25 free verifications per month that count against the shared Hunter free quota. |
| Accuracy | 70–90% (MX + DoH) | 95%+ (their claim). |
| Signup required | ||
| API available | — (roadmap) | |
| SMTP probing | ||
| Catch-all handling | Limited | Yes |
| Best for | Free first-pass list cleanup before send | Teams already paying Hunter for the email finder who want one bill and one dashboard. |
Pick Hunter if…
- ▸You're already on a Hunter plan for prospecting and the verifier credits are included.
- ▸You need a Chrome extension that verifies as you prospect inside Gmail and LinkedIn.
- ▸You want one vendor for finding addresses and verifying them in the same workflow.
Pick Publish Now if…
- ▸You don't need an email finder, just a way to clean a list you already have.
- ▸You don't want to burn 25 monthly credits on a one-off CSV cleanup.
- ▸You'd rather not get charged a credit when an obvious syntax fail shows up.
Frequently asked
Is Publish Now as accurate as Hunter's verifier?
On the MX and DoH layer, our results match what Hunter returns for the same addresses. Hunter adds deeper SMTP probing on top, which catches a few extra borderline mailboxes. For most senders the gap is small enough that running us first is the right move.
Why is Publish Now free when Hunter charges per credit?
Hunter bundles verification with prospecting infrastructure - finder credits, Chrome extension, CRM sync - and prices it as a suite. We only ship the verifier, so we don't have to charge for everything else.
I already have a Hunter subscription. Should I bother with Publish Now?
Yes, if you want to save your Hunter credits for finder lookups. Pre-clean your CSV with us for free, then use Hunter credits for the borderline addresses that survive. Your credit balance lasts longer.
Does Publish Now have a Chrome extension or Gmail integration?
No. We're a CSV-drop tool in the browser. If you need verification inline while prospecting, Hunter's extension is the better fit.
Will Publish Now charge me even if an address is obviously malformed?
It can't - it's free. We flag syntax issues, MX failures, and DoH problems in the same export without metering anything. Hunter's credit model charges per check regardless of whether the address ever had a chance.