NumVerify alternative: phone validation plus 150 endpoints

You're paying NumVerify $14.99/month to validate phone numbers. One endpoint. When your checkout form also needs email validation and your fraud pipeline needs IP geolocation, you'll add two more subscriptions, two more API keys, and two more billing dashboards. NumVerify is part of the APILayer family (same parent as ipstack, mailboxlayer, Fixer.io), and each product bills separately.

Botoi's /v1/phone endpoint validates and normalizes phone numbers from 30+ countries into E.164 format. It's one of 150+ endpoints included in every plan. Phone validation, email verification, IP geolocation, DNS lookups, VPN detection; all under a single key starting at $0/month.

Side by side: NumVerify vs botoi

NumVerify uses a GET request with the API key as a query parameter. The free tier is HTTP-only; HTTPS requires a paid plan. Botoi uses a POST request with Bearer auth over HTTPS on every tier, including free.

NumVerify request

curl "http://apilayer.net/api/validate?access_key=YOUR_KEY&number=14155552671"

Response:

{
  "valid": true,
  "number": "14155552671",
  "local_format": "4155552671",
  "international_format": "+14155552671",
  "country_prefix": "+1",
  "country_code": "US",
  "country_name": "United States of America",
  "location": "California",
  "carrier": "AT&T Mobility LLC",
  "line_type": "mobile"
}

Botoi request

curl -X POST https://api.botoi.com/v1/phone \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"phone": "+14155552671"}'

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "phone": "+14155552671",
    "valid": true,
    "country_code": "+1",
    "country": "United States / Canada",
    "e164_format": "+14155552671",
    "national_format": "4155552671"
  }
}

Response field comparison

Both APIs return validity, country, and formatted numbers. The key difference is what NumVerify includes that botoi doesn't, and what botoi's broader platform adds.

Field	NumVerify	Botoi
Valid flag	Yes	Yes
E.164 format	Yes (international_format)	Yes (e164_format)
National format	Yes (local_format)	Yes (national_format)
Country code	Yes	Yes
Country name	Yes	Yes
Location (state/region)	Yes	No
Carrier name	Yes	No
Line type (mobile/landline/VoIP)	Yes	No
HTTPS on free tier	No	Yes
HTTP method	GET (key in URL)	POST (Bearer auth)

NumVerify returns carrier and line type, which matters for SMS routing. Botoi returns the same validation and formatting fields but skips carrier data in favor of covering 150+ other endpoint categories under the same key.

UK number example

curl -X POST https://api.botoi.com/v1/phone \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"phone": "+442071234567"}'

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "phone": "+442071234567",
    "valid": true,
    "country_code": "+44",
    "country": "United Kingdom",
    "e164_format": "+442071234567",
    "national_format": "2071234567"
  }
}

Pricing comparison

Plan	NumVerify	Botoi
Free	100 req/month, HTTP only, phone only	100 req/day, HTTPS, all 150+ endpoints, no signup
Basic / Starter	$14.99/mo, 5,000 req, phone only	$9/mo, 300,000 req, all endpoints
Pro	$49.99/mo, 50,000 req, phone only	$29/mo, 1,000,000 req, all endpoints
Enterprise	$99.99/mo, 250,000 req, phone only	$49/mo, 3,000,000 req, all endpoints

NumVerify's $14.99/month Basic plan gives you 5,000 phone validation requests. Botoi's $9/month Starter plan gives you 300,000 requests across phone validation, email verification, IP geolocation, DNS lookups, and every other endpoint. The math gets more lopsided as you add capabilities.

What else you get with one botoi key

NumVerify gives you one API for phone validation. A botoi key unlocks 150+ endpoints. Here are the ones most relevant to the same workflows where you'd use phone validation:

• Email validation (/v1/email/validate) checks syntax, verifies MX records, and flags disposable providers. The same signup form that validates a phone number can validate the email in the same request batch.
• Disposable email detection (/v1/disposable-email/check) catches throwaway addresses from Guerrilla Mail, Mailinator, and 5,000+ other providers.
• IP geolocation (/v1/ip/lookup) returns city, region, country, coordinates, and timezone for the caller's IP. Use it for currency defaults and GDPR compliance checks.
• VPN detection (/v1/vpn-detect) flags VPN, proxy, Tor, and datacenter connections with a risk score. Important for fraud prevention at signup.
• DNS security (/v1/dns-security/spf-check, /v1/dns-security/dmarc-check) audits email authentication records for any domain.

On NumVerify's pricing model, adding email validation means subscribing to mailboxlayer ($14.99/month). Adding IP geolocation means subscribing to ipstack ($9.99/month). Each new capability is a new API key, a new dashboard, and a new line item on your invoice. With botoi, it's the same key and the same monthly bill.

Migration: swap NumVerify for botoi in Express

Here's a typical signup route using NumVerify, followed by the same route using botoi. The migration involves three changes: HTTP method (GET to POST), URL, and response field names.

Before (NumVerify)

// BEFORE: NumVerify (GET, HTTP only on free tier)
app.post("/signup", async (req, res) => {
  const phone = req.body.phone.replace(/[^0-9]/g, "");
  const numverify = await fetch(
    `http://apilayer.net/api/validate?access_key=${NUMVERIFY_KEY}&number=${phone}`
  ).then((r) => r.json());

  if (!numverify.valid) {
    return res.status(422).json({ error: "Invalid phone number" });
  }

  await db.users.create({
    phone: numverify.international_format,
    carrier: numverify.carrier,
    country: numverify.country_name,
  });

  res.status(201).json({ ok: true });
});

After (botoi)

// AFTER: Botoi (POST, HTTPS, no API key needed for free tier)
app.post("/signup", async (req, res) => {
  const phone = req.body.phone;
  const botoi = await fetch("https://api.botoi.com/v1/phone", {
    method: "POST",
    headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
    body: JSON.stringify({ phone }),
  }).then((r) => r.json());

  if (!botoi.data.valid) {
    return res.status(422).json({ error: "Invalid phone number" });
  }

  await db.users.create({
    phone: botoi.data.e164_format,
    country: botoi.data.country,
  });

  res.status(201).json({ ok: true });
});

The botoi version drops the regex sanitization step because the API handles spaces, dashes, and parentheses in the input. You send the raw user input with a + prefix and get back a clean E.164 string. The carrier field is gone; if you were storing it but not using it for routing decisions, you won't miss it.

Combine phone, email, and fraud checks in one function

The single-key model pays off when a signup form needs multiple validations. This function runs four checks in parallel with one API key:

const BOTOI = "https://api.botoi.com/v1";
const headers = {
  "Content-Type": "application/json",
  "Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.BOTOI_API_KEY}`,
};

async function validateSignup(email, phone, ip) {
  const [emailCheck, phoneCheck, disposableCheck, vpnCheck] =
    await Promise.all([
      fetch(`${BOTOI}/email/validate`, {
        method: "POST",
        headers,
        body: JSON.stringify({ email }),
      }).then((r) => r.json()),

      fetch(`${BOTOI}/phone`, {
        method: "POST",
        headers,
        body: JSON.stringify({ phone }),
      }).then((r) => r.json()),

      fetch(`${BOTOI}/disposable-email/check`, {
        method: "POST",
        headers,
        body: JSON.stringify({ email }),
      }).then((r) => r.json()),

      fetch(`${BOTOI}/vpn-detect`, {
        method: "POST",
        headers,
      }).then((r) => r.json()),
    ]);

  return {
    emailValid: emailCheck.data.valid,
    disposable: disposableCheck.data.disposable,
    phoneValid: phoneCheck.data.valid,
    phoneE164: phoneCheck.data.e164_format,
    phoneCountry: phoneCheck.data.country,
    vpn: vpnCheck.data.isVpn,
    riskScore: vpnCheck.data.riskScore,
  };
}

// One key, four checks, one billing dashboard
const result = await validateSignup(
  "buyer@company.io",
  "+14155552671",
  "203.0.113.42"
);
console.log(result);

On NumVerify + mailboxlayer + ipstack, this function would need three API keys from three dashboards. On botoi, it's one key, one bill, one quota that covers all four endpoints.

When to stay with NumVerify

NumVerify is the better choice in two scenarios:

• You need carrier detection for SMS routing. If your app picks between Twilio and a local SMS gateway based on the carrier (e.g., routing AT&T numbers through one provider and T-Mobile through another), NumVerify's carrier and line_type fields are essential. Botoi doesn't return carrier data.
• You need line type classification. If your product charges differently for mobile vs landline vs VoIP numbers (common in telecommunications billing), NumVerify's line_type field drives that logic. Botoi tells you the number is valid but not whether it's a mobile or landline.

If your use case is "validate the format, normalize to E.164, and detect the country," botoi covers it. If your use case is "determine the carrier and line type for routing decisions," NumVerify has deeper data for that axis.

You can also mix both: use botoi for the 150+ endpoints where it matches or exceeds NumVerify's coverage, and keep NumVerify for carrier-specific lookups if that data drives business logic in your app.

Key points

• NumVerify charges $14.99/month for 5,000 phone validation requests over a single endpoint. Its free tier caps at 100 requests/month with no HTTPS.
• Botoi's /v1/phone endpoint returns the same validation and E.164 formatting. The free tier includes 100 requests/day over HTTPS with no signup.
• Botoi's $9/month plan includes 300,000 requests across all 150+ endpoints. NumVerify's $14.99/month plan includes 5,000 requests for phone validation only.
• NumVerify returns carrier name and line type. Botoi doesn't. If carrier detection drives SMS routing in your app, NumVerify is more specialized.
• The bigger win is consolidation. Phone validation, email verification, IP geolocation, VPN detection, DNS security, and 145 more endpoints under one API key and one invoice.