---
title: "Email verification score vs evidence - Emvero"
description: "Compare a confidence score with status, action, checks and reason codes. See what Emvero’s evidence score means and how to use it without assuming delivery."
url: https://emvero.io/compare/score-vs-evidence/
language: en
updated: 2026-10-08
---

Compared

# Email verification score versus evidence

A confidence score summarises evidence about an email address. The status, recommended action, checks and reason codes explain what happened and help you decide what to do next.

| What you want to know | Score alone | Score with verification evidence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What you receive | One numeric summary | The score alongside status, action, checks and reason_codes |
| Catch-all versus greylisting | Does not identify which condition produced the score | ACCEPT_ALL_DOMAIN describes domain behaviour; SMTP_GREYLISTED describes a temporary SMTP response |
| Decision rule | A threshold has no explanation of the underlying observation | Status and action guide handling; reason codes explain the evidence |
| Meaning over time | Depends on how the service weights the observations | Codes name observations; handling still follows the current product policy |
| Checking a failure | Cannot identify the stage or why it stopped | Checks and reason codes help distinguish an input problem, remote restriction or service failure |
| What confidence measures | A value from 0 to 1, without a delivery probability | An evidence score with supporting fields; evidence has no separate feature surcharge |

## What confidence can tell you

Emvero’s `confidence` is an evidence score from 0 to 1. It is not a calibrated probability that a message will arrive. A value of `0.8` does not mean that eight out of ten such addresses receive mail, that the mailbox has an owner, or that the next message will reach the inbox.

The score can help you sort results for review. For a decision to allow, confirm or reject an address, read `status` and `action` together with `checks` and `reason_codes`. A threshold alone cannot say which stage ran, which observation mattered or whether the result is still inconclusive.

## Two reasons need different follow-up

A [catch-all domain](https://emvero.io/glossary/catch-all-domain/) can accept arbitrary recipients. `ACCEPT_ALL_DOMAIN` explains why that acceptance leaves the individual mailbox uncertain; with usable domain evidence, the current policy reports `risky` and `allow_with_email_confirmation`. A new probe may add nothing when the domain’s behaviour is already established.

`SMTP_GREYLISTED` means the destination temporarily deferred the session. That can leave `unknown` and justify checking later. The [greylisting definition](https://emvero.io/glossary/greylisting/) explains the mechanism. A single score does not show which of these observations occurred.

## Use the evidence without turning it into a guarantee

Reason codes are machine-readable names for observations. They help you distinguish a temporary `SMTP_CONNECT_TIMEOUT` from established catch-all behaviour, for example. They are not instructions to send mail or promises that a decision policy can never change. Retain the result’s action and factual limits when you build your own rules.

Keep an inconclusive result separate using the [unknown versus undeliverable comparison](https://emvero.io/compare/unknown-kept-apart/). For a complete example of the response fields, read the [verification result guide](https://emvero.io/blog/reading-a-verification-result/). The API returns the supporting evidence alongside the score without a separate feature surcharge.

## Where this shows up in a result

Reason codes from the closed vocabulary in the API response. These are the exact strings an integration writes an `if` against.

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| `ACCEPT_ALL_DOMAIN` | Domain accepts every recipient |
| `SMTP_GREYLISTED` | Temporary SMTP deferral; a later check may help but does not guarantee a conclusive result. |
| `SMTP_RCPT_ACCEPTED` | Recipient accepted |

## Related terms

### Catch-all domain

A domain that accepts arbitrary recipient names, so an accepted address may have no individual mailbox.

### Ambiguous rejection

A negative recipient reply whose cause is unclear, leaving the mailbox check inconclusive.

### Codes that describe us, not the address

Reasons that explain omitted or incomplete work within Emvero, without establishing a missing mailbox.

[All comparisons](https://emvero.io/compare/)

## Read a verification result.

See an example of status, recommended action and check evidence. Sign in to check your own address.

See an example check

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