Catch-All Emails 2025 Risks and Safer Alternative

Catch-all domains accept every email sent to a company, even ones with typos. A message marked “delivered” may never reach a real person and that uncertainty raises bounce rates, lowers engagement, and cuts into the tighter 2025 deliverability limits. This guide explains how catch-alls work, shows the data behind their impact, and details why Emarketnow blocks them to keep your lists clean and your emails in the inbox.

TL;DR

• Verifiers label these domains as “Catch-All” because they can’t confirm whether a mailbox actually exists.

• They’re risky. Higher bounces, lower engagement, and tighter 2025 thresholds leave little room for error.

• In Hunter.io's test, catch-all emails bounced 27% compared to a 1% bounce rate for valid addresses.

• Emarketnow excludes catch-alls so you get higher deliverability, fewer bounces, and cleaner analytics.

If you want a list that lands in real inboxes, start with clean, human-verified contacts and leave catch-alls out.

What Is a Catch-All Email Domain?

A catch-all, or accept-all, domain accepts email sent to any address under it, even if that mailbox does not exist. So emails to sarah@company.com, a typo like sarra@company.com or even random@company.com are all received instead of bounced.

Think of a large office where the receptionist signs for every package, even if the name is not in the directory. The courier still gets a “received” stamp, but some boxes go to the right desk, some stay in a shared closet, and some never get delivered.

That’s what happens with catch-alls. The server accepts the message, so it looks delivered, but there is no guarantee that anyone may ever see it. Email checkers mark these addresses as Catch-All, meaning they are neither “valid” nor “invalid”, and they appear often enough in real mailing lists to affect results. MailerCheck’s data shows that catch-alls make up about 8.6 percent of real mailing lists, making them a small but important source of risk.

Why Are Catch-Alls a Problem?

Firstly, they inflate delivery rates but reduce inbox placement. Acceptance at the mail server only means the message was received, not that it reached an inbox. Catch-alls often route to a shared mailbox or get filtered, which lowers engagement signals that providers use to score future sends.

Secondly, they raise bounce and complaint risk. Gmail and Yahoo now allow almost no margin for spam complaints. A small group of weak addresses can push a sender over the limit.

Lastly, catch-alls also distort results. They count as “delivered,” but many never reach an inbox. Your reports then include emails that no one could open or answer. This lowers open and reply rates and makes A/B tests seem weaker than they are.

What Percentage of Catch-Alls Are Usually Deliverable?

There is no single number, since behavior varies by domain. Still, reliable testing gives a clear baseline to work from.

Hunter.io ran a controlled test and found that accept-all addresses bounced 27% of the time, compared with 1% for valid ones. That means about 73% of the accept-alls were delivered to some folder, but that is far worse than the performance of the valid addresses. This difference captures the whole risk. If you’re interested in learning more about how much bounces can cost you, check out our email bounce cost calculator here.

Two important footnotes: First, “delivered” does not mean “seen.” Even if about 73% are accepted, many never reach a person’s inbox. Second, most credible email service providers recommend keeping bounce rates in the low single digits, so 27% on catch-alls is much higher than safe limits.

Example Math of How Catch-Alls Spike Your Campaign Bounce Rate

Let’s look at an example campaign to see the actual effect of accept-alls.

• Campaign size: 2,000 contacts.

• Catch-all share: 25%. So 500 addresses labeled Catch-All.

• Bounce rates: using Hunter’s result for accept-alls of 27% and a conservative 1% for the valid cohort.

Bounces from catch-alls: 500 × 27% = 135

Bounces from valid cohort: 1,500 × 1% = 15

Total bounces: 135 + 15 = 150 = 7.5% campaign bounce rate

With catch-alls included, your bounce rate is about seven times higher than with only valid emails, and you haven’t counted the lost engagement from accepted catch-alls that no one sees. Remove those 500 catch-alls and your bounce rate returns to about 1 percent, which is a very healthy level.

Why Emarketnow Does Not Include Catch-Alls

We do not include catch-all emails in our B2B lists due to several reasons.

First, without catch-alls, you immediately gain higher deliverability. Excluding catch-alls removes most preventable bounces and complaints, so providers build trust faster and place more of your emails in inboxes.

Second, you get cleaner analytics. When you email only verified inboxes, each open and reply comes from a real person. Catch-all domains accept mail even when no one reads it. Some messages go to shared or inactive inboxes, others get filtered or dropped. They still count as “delivered,” but they can’t drive engagement and that false signal lowers open and reply rates and skews A/B tests.

Third, you get better results. A clean list builds a stronger sender reputation, reaches more real people, and drives steadier growth in meetings and revenue.

Should You Send to Catch-All Emails in 2025?

Don’t send to catch-all addresses by default. As previously explained, a catch-all server accepts any address at @domain.com, so delivery can appear successful even when no one reads the email. This in turn lowers engagement and harms your reputation. Keep catch-alls in a separate list and send to them only after they show real activity.

What to do instead

1) Segment and suppress by default Place every address your email verifier marks as “Catch-All” in a separate list and do not include that list in your first round of cold emails.

2) Re-verify on a schedule Run checks every 30, 60, and 90 days. If an address is still a catch-all after 90 days, remove or replace it.

3) Set clear release rules. One of these must be met:

• The mailbox is human-verified, either manually or by a trusted provider, or

• The domain shows recent engagement, such as a reply or meeting from the same company, or

• The domain has strong health signals: clean MX records, active website, and no role inbox.

4) Send carefully after release Limit daily volume for each recipient domain, use only warmed sending pools, and set automatic pauses if you see deferrals, bounce spikes, or complaints.

5) Track results by cohort Show two lines on your weekly dashboard, one with catch-alls suppressed and one released after verification. If the released group falls below your performance baseline by a set margin, stop sending to it automatically.

Copy and paste these rules into your ESP (Email Service Provider) or CRM:

• Segment: Tag any record where verification_status == "Catch-All" and exclude these records from all cold campaigns.

• Fielding: Set send_release_flag = false by default. No catch-all record should be sent until it meets release rules.

• Re-verify: Run checks at +30, +60, and +90 days. If a record is still a catch-all after 90 days, then remove it.

• Release gate: set send_release_flag = true only if the mailbox is human-verified, the domain has replied or booked a meeting recently, or if the domain has strong health like a clean MX, active website, and is not a role-based email.

• Safety: Apply a daily cap for each domain and pause sending automatically if complaint or bounce rates rise.

• Reporting: Each week, compare results for suppressed vs released catch-alls. If released records fall below your performance baseline, put them back to suppression.

FAQ

Are catch-alls ever safe to send?

No. They’re unpredictable by design. Some may deliver, others will bounce, and most won’t reach anyone. If you must send, keep them separate, test small batches, and track every bounce and complaint closely.

Why do some tools still suggest “scoring” catch-alls?

Scoring only ranks domains that appear active, but it can’t fix the core uncertainty. The safer choice is to leave catch-alls out of cold outreach and confirm real contacts through other channels.

If catch-alls “deliver” ~73% of the time in a test, why exclude them?

Because success isn’t about delivery alone. Bounce and complaint rates decide sender health. A 27% bounce rate in any segment can destroy your reputation. It’s better to focus on verified inboxes that reach real people.