Benefits of a Phone Number Verification API
Validating phone numbers has become a crucial part of the onboarding process for most websites, web and mobile apps in the last few years. Apps are defaulting to phone number first approaches to user auth, allowing passwordless login, or offering login via phone alongside traditional login methods like providing an email and password, because a mobile phone number is one of the most secure ways to authenticate a user.
Another use case for phone number verification is enriching your user data. Weeding out invalid phone numbers from your contact list or user database ensures that your lead-generation efforts and marketing campaigns reach the right people.
Features to Look for in a Phone Number Verification API
A phone number validation API should take the work out of validating phone numbers for you. Here are the key features we think you should look for in a phone number verification API:
- clear, intuitive interface
- Rest JSON API
- handles international phone numbers
- offers both real-time API requests and bulk upload option
- 98% or better accuracy
- 99% or better uptime
- reliable customer service
- easy to integrate into your app or website
- reasonable price
Top 8 Reliable Phone Number Validation APIs
We tested some of the most commonly used APIs on the market to find the best ones for your business. These were our favorites based on functionality, pricing, and available features.
1. AbstractAPI
The AbstractAPI Free Phone Number Validation API is quick to get started with and easy to use. Sign up for a free account by providing an email address and password, and you can start making requests right away. We liked the clear, simple dashboard, with links to documentation and a testing sandbox.
Data is returned in JSON format:
Pros
- quick and easy to get started
- free-for-life tier
- code snippets provided for popular programming languages
Cons
- customer support is reported to be subpar
- accuracy questionable
Pricing
The free tier allows up to 250 API calls per month at 1 request/second. From there, pricing starts at $17/month for up to 30,000 requests per year at 5 requests/second and increases up to $391/month for up to 3 million requests per year at 200 requests/second.
2. Numverify
Numverify’s real-time phone number verification API supports lookup in over 230 countries, providing carrier information, line type detection, and country and location data. You can easily get started by signing up for a free account.
Numverify provides handy code examples for all the major languages in their documentation, which you can access without even logging in:
Pros
- quick and easy setup
- clear documentation with excellent guides
- generous free tier
Cons
- costly
Pricing
Numverify offers a free tier with up to 1000 API calls per month and no customer support. The next tier up is $14.99/month for up to 5000 requests with support, then $59.99/month for up to 50,000 requests, and $129.99/month for up to 250,000 requests.
3. Numlookup API
The Numlookup API is trusted by over 15,000 companies, including Coca-Cola and Heineken. They boast 100% uptime in the last 90 days and they guarantee a 24-hour turnaround for customer support (on paid plans only.)
The free tier is easy to get started with, although some customer reviews report that rate limits are hit very quickly when testing the free tier (we did not find this to be the case.)
Pros
- SDKs for the most popular languages (Python, Ruby, Node.js, and PHP)
- basic tier is the cheapest option on this list for paid plans
- higher paid tiers allow multiple API keys
Cons
- free tier rate limits are hit quickly
- some customers report not being able to get all promised user data on the free plan
Pricing
Numlookup API’s free tier allows up to 100 requests at 10 requests/minute. Their basic plan is $9/month for up to 7000 requests. Plans increase to $44/month for up to 65,000 requests and $89/month for up to 300,000 requests.
4. Neutrino
Neutrino offers several different APIs, including a Bad Word Filter and HTML sanitizer. Their Phone Validate API allows you to parse, validate, and get location information for a phone number. They also offer SMS verification.
We found their interface to be cluttered and confusing, and the docs were difficult to parse at first glance. They do provide an example response but do not appear to offer SDKs or code snippets for any popular languages.
Pros
- quick and easy to get started
- very cheap
- tech support for all tiers
Cons
- confusing interface
- tech support only available through an online contact form or email
Pricing
Free tier rates are unclear online, but Neutrino states that depending on the API you can make between 10-50 API calls per day. Rates then start at $10/month for up to 10,000 requests per day, $50/month for up to 100K requests, and $250/month for up to 1 million requests.
5. Mocean
Mocean offers advanced phone number validation via SMS as well as a regular JSON response API that returns phone number data. Their number lookup API also does formatting to keep your contact list compliant, as well as carrier detection.
They offer helper libraries for major languages, including Python, Ruby, Node, PHP, and Java:
Pros
- offers both SMS verification and number lookup
- quick and simple startup
- pay-as-you-go pricing means you only pay for what you use
Cons
- Pricing structure is somewhat confusing
Pricing
Mocean does their pricing per each API call, rather than based on a monthly subscription. Pricing starts at $0.0037 per request for phone number lookup, and $0.0138 per SMS verification sent. If you do 5000 lookups in one month, that works out to around $18.50/month (on par with AbstractAPI.)
6. Vonage (Nexmo Verify API)
Vonage (formerly known as Nexmo) offers a verification API that handles authentication via SMS, voice-to-text, WhatsApp, email, and silent authentication.
We found their website to be confusing and overwhelming, and it appeared that what they were offering was overkill for the purposes we were testing for this article (basic phone number lookup and validation.)
Pros
- streamlined user authentication via several methods
- best for enterprise and large businesses
Cons
- overwhelming interface
- cost is on the high side (and the pricing structure is confusing)
Pricing
Vonage handles their pricing per API call. Prices start at $0.005 per request for number lookup, and $0.05 for verification (although it was unclear if this was per SMS sent, or some other method of verification. It was also unclear if there would be an additional charge for each SMS on top of the initial verification charge.)
7. BytePlant
BytePlant offers several APIs aimed at verifying and validating addresses, email verification, and phone number validation. Their phone number validator supports over 240 countries and offers both real-time and bulk validation of phone numbers.
The website was cluttered and had a lot of annoying pop-ups to get through before you could test the product, but the interface itself was fairly intuitive.
Pros
- bulk validation
- flexible pricing (pay-as-you-go or monthly)
Cons
- expensive
Pricing
BytePlants pricing works out to be around $390/month for up to 10,000 requests if you purchase credits by the month, or $400/month for up to 10,000 requests if you pay as you go.
Summary: Top Phone Verification APIs compared
Choosing the Right Phone Number Verification API for Your Business
When it comes to choosing the right phone number validation API, the most important factors to consider are ease of use, uptime/accuracy, and customer service. It’s important that the API be easy to integrate into your website or app, and that if you encounter any problems, tech support is available to help you.
While you may be tempted to opt for the cheapest option available, a low price often comes with the caveat that customer service will be unavailable or slow, which can end up costing you more in the long run.
How to Integrate a Phone Number Verification API
Let’s take a look at how to verify a number and get phone data from an API, using AbstractAPI’s Free Phone Number Validation API as an example.
Acquire an API Key
Go to the API home page and click the “Get Started” button. You’ll be taken to a page where you’re asked to input your email and create a password, then you’ll land on the API dashboard.
Make an API Request Using Node.js
The AbsctractAPI provides a code snippet that we can simply copy into our app and use to make the request.
- Navigate to the API dashboard
- Select the “Node.js” tab above the sandbox
- Click “Copy Code,” or highlight and right-click to copy the provided code snippet
- Paste the snippet into the Javascript function that handles sending the post request, replacing the API_KEY parameter with your API key, and the phone number with the phone number to verify
Use the Validated Data
Once you’ve gotten your JSON response object back from the API, you can process it and do whatever else you need to do with it. The response should look something like this:
The most common use case will be pulling the valid boolean field from the object and returning that information to the client so the client can either proceed using the validated number or alert the user that the number was invalid.
Conclusion
Choosing a phone number validation API is an important step in setting up passwordless user auth, or verifying contact data in your database or mailing list. We hope this article has illuminated some of the processes and helped you make the right decision for your business.
FAQs: Phone Number Verification APIs
What are the main benefits of using a Phone Number Verification API?
A Phone Number Verification API offers several benefits, including enhanced user authentication, improved accuracy of contact data, and efficient weeding out of invalid phone numbers. This is crucial for businesses to ensure their lead-generation efforts and marketing campaigns are effective and reach the right audience.
What key features should I look for in a Phone Number Verification API?
When choosing a Phone Number Verification API, look for features like a clear and intuitive interface, REST JSON API support, ability to handle international phone numbers, options for both real-time API requests and bulk uploads, high accuracy (98% or better), excellent uptime (99% or better), reliable customer service, easy integration with your app or website, and reasonable pricing.
How do I get started with AbstractAPI's Free Phone Number Validation API?
To start using AbstractAPI's Free Phone Number Validation API, go to their API home page and click the “Get Started” button. You'll need to provide an email address and create a password. After registration, you'll access the API dashboard where you can find documentation, a testing sandbox, and code snippets for integration. The free tier allows up to 250 API calls per month.
