MailCleanup vs SalesQL: Verifier or Finder?
The MailCleanup vs SalesQL comparison trips people up because both tools touch "email data" - but they do completely different jobs. SalesQL finds email addresses from LinkedIn profiles. MailCleanup verifies emails you already have. One fills your list; the other cleans it.
Most outbound teams need both capabilities, and the real question is whether you should run two separate tools or find one that handles the whole pipeline.
The 30-Second Verdict
SalesQL is an email finder - it pulls contact data from LinkedIn profiles at $39/mo for 2,000 credits. MailCleanup is a verifier - it cleans lists you already have at $5 per 1,000 emails, no subscription required. They don't compete.
What SalesQL Actually Does
SalesQL is a Chrome extension that extracts emails and phone numbers from LinkedIn profiles - 1st, 2nd, and 3rd+ degree connections. It pulls 40+ data points per contact and supports bulk extraction, commonly 25 profiles at a time with a beta that can handle 100-200 at once.
G2 reviewers give it 4.5/5 across 166 reviews, praising ease of use and quick setup. Trustpilot sits at 3.8/5 across 9 reviews, and one reviewer calls the emails around 90% accurate - solid for a finder at this price point. Recruiters on Reddit describe it as a cheap LinkedIn-only sourcing tool and highlight the 25-at-a-time bulk scraping workflow.
Best for teams that need a fast, affordable way to grab emails during profile-heavy prospecting. Paid plans include 5,000-20,000 email verification credits per month through a built-in verifier, but it's designed for quick deliverability screening: format, email type, server status/MX records, and email status.
Skip this if you need reliable phone numbers. A common complaint on Trustpilot is phone quality - one reviewer says only 5-10 out of 100 contacts had real phone numbers, with many "work phones" being the company's main line.
What MailCleanup Actually Does
MailCleanup runs 12+ verification checks on email lists you upload - SMTP verification, MX records, disposable email detection, catch-all detection, spamtrap risk indicators, and anti-greylisting technology. Upload a CSV, it processes, you download the cleaned results. That's it.
G2 reviewers rate it 5.0/5 across 4 reviews. Trustpilot sits at 4.3/5 across 8 reviews, with users consistently praising speed and support. MailCleanup delivers up to 99% verification accuracy across its checks - the depth difference versus a lightweight in-finder verifier is substantial.
Pay-as-you-go pricing starts at $5 for 1,000 verifications and scales to $500 for 1M emails. No subscription, no auto-renewal.
Skip this if you don't have emails yet. MailCleanup doesn't find contacts - you need a finder upstream.
Running SalesQL into MailCleanup means two tools, two credit systems, and CSV handoffs for every batch. Prospeo finds emails across 300M+ profiles and verifies them in real time with 5-step verification - catch-all handling, spamtrap removal, and honeypot filtering included. 98% accuracy, no second tool needed.
One platform. One credit. Find and verify in the same click.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| SalesQL | MailCleanup | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary function | Email/phone finder | Email verifier |
| Pricing model | Monthly subscription | Pay-as-you-go credits |
| Starting price | Free (100 credits) | $5 / 1,000 emails |
| Email accuracy | ~90% | Up to 99% |
| Verification depth | Format + type + server status + MX | 12+ checks |
| Integrations | Chrome extension + CSV export | CSV upload |
| Best for | Finding new contacts | Cleaning existing lists |
The cost math tells the story. Verifying 10,000 emails through MailCleanup runs $15. The same volume through NeverBounce costs about $80, and ZeroBounce runs roughly $100. For pure verification, MailCleanup wins on price by a wide margin.
SalesQL tiers: Free (100 credits), Basic ($39/mo, 2,000), Professional ($79/mo, 5,000), Organization ($119/mo, 12,000). Annual billing drops those by roughly 25%.
When You Need Which
We've seen three patterns play out repeatedly:
You have a list and need to clean it before sending. Exported contacts from your CRM, bought a list, scraped a directory. These emails are stale. MailCleanup. Upload the CSV, pay $5-15, send with confidence.
You need to find emails for prospects you've identified. Target account list, no contact data. SalesQL. Install the extension, extract emails from profiles, export to CSV.
You exported 2,000 contacts from SalesQL and hit a 15% bounce rate. This is the scenario nobody plans for. A lightweight in-finder verifier catches obvious issues, but it's not the same as running a dedicated list-cleaning pass with catch-all detection, spamtrap risk indicators, and anti-greylisting. Industry benchmark: keep total bounces below 2%, hard bounces under 1%. If you're at 15%, your domain reputation is already taking damage.
Skip the Two-Tool Stack
Here's the thing: if your outbound volume is above 500 emails a month, running a separate finder and verifier is a waste of time. The SalesQL-to-CSV-to-MailCleanup workflow adds 10-15 minutes per batch, and you're managing two credit systems for no reason.
We've tested this exact workflow with our own outbound campaigns, and the friction adds up fast - especially when you're running multiple campaigns per week.
The cost comparison: SalesQL runs $39/month, and a typical MailCleanup pack for 5,000 verifications is $10 when you need it. Prospeo covers both for around $20/mo - one platform, one credit system. When weighing MailCleanup vs SalesQL, the smarter move is skipping the two-tool juggle entirely.
If you're building lists from scratch, start with a repeatable lead generation workflow and tighten your sales prospecting techniques before you scale volume.
SalesQL's ~90% accuracy means 1 in 10 emails bounce. MailCleanup catches those - but only after you export, upload, and pay again. Prospeo delivers 98% email accuracy at $0.01 per email with built-in verification that runs before the email ever hits your list. 75 free emails/month, no card required.
Skip the bounce-then-clean cycle. Get verified emails from the start.
FAQ
Does SalesQL verify emails?
Yes. Free users get 100 verification credits per month; paid plans include up to 20,000. It checks format, email type, server status, and MX records - useful for quick screening, but not deep bulk list cleaning with catch-all or spamtrap detection.
Is MailCleanup a subscription?
No. It uses pay-as-you-go credits with no recurring charges. Pricing starts at $5 for 1,000 verifications and scales to $500 for 1M emails - one of the cheapest per-email rates among dedicated verification tools.
Can one tool replace both?
Yes. Prospeo combines email finding across 300M+ profiles with real-time 5-step verification at 98% accuracy - one credit system, one workflow, no CSV handoffs.
What's the biggest risk of skipping verification?
Bounce rates above 2% signal poor list hygiene to inbox providers. Hit 5%+ consistently and you'll start landing in spam - or get your sending domain blacklisted entirely. The Mailgun deliverability guide breaks this down well.