EVA Self-Hosted vs Reacher: One-Time License or €699 Every Month

Last updated: August 4, 2026

Reacher is an open source email verification engine written in Rust. Its core library, check-if-email-exists, is free to self-host under the AGPL-3.0 license, which requires you to open source any service you build on it. Companies that cannot accept AGPL terms buy Reacher's Commercial License at €699 per month, which comes to €8,388 per year for as long as you run it. EVA Self-Hosted takes a different approach: a one-time Deployment License at $4,995 that covers unlimited verifications on your own servers, with no recurring fee required. The license includes the full production stack, bulk processing, provider-specific verification for Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, ProtonMail, Zoho, and Mail.ru, plus 12 months of updates and priority support. Over three years, EVA costs $4,995 to $6,985 depending on optional update renewals, while Reacher's commercial license totals €25,164.

Total Cost of Ownership

What You Pay Over 1, 2, and 3 Years

Reacher's Commercial License is a subscription: €699 per month, every month, per its pricing page. The EVA Deployment License is paid once. Both prices exclude your own server costs, which are similar for either product.

Cumulative cost
EVA Deployment License $4,995 one-time
Reacher Commercial License €699/month
Year 1 $4,995 €8,388
Year 2 $5,990 €16,776
Year 3 $6,985 €25,164
If you stop paying Software keeps running forever Commercial rights end

EVA years 2 and 3 include the optional $995/yr update renewal. Skip it and the total stays $4,995; your licensed version keeps working. Reacher figures are €699 x 12, 24, and 36 months. Reacher pricing verified August 2026 at app.reacher.email/en/pricing and docs.reacher.email.

Side by Side

Feature Comparison

Reacher is a verification engine with a REST API. EVA Self-Hosted ships the engine plus the product around it.

Feature EVA Self-Hosted Reacher
License model One-time, perpetual AGPL-3.0 free, or €699/mo commercial
Commercial self-host price $4,995 one-time €699/month recurring
Verification volume Unlimited Unlimited
Engine language Go Rust
Checks per email 28 Syntax, MX, SMTP, disposable, and more
Provider-specific SMTP strategies Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, ProtonMail, Zoho, Mail.ru SMTP-based, see Reacher docs
Web dashboard included Yes No, REST API backend
Bulk CSV/XLSX processing with UI Yes, up to 50,000 emails per job No UI
Catch-all scoring and deliverability grade Yes Catch-all detection
Monitoring included Prometheus metrics + Grafana dashboards Bring your own
Deployment Docker Compose, PostgreSQL + Redis Docker
Support included Priority email support, 12 months With commercial license
Hosted SaaS option Yes, from free (300/mo) Yes, $69/mo for 10,000 emails

Reacher details from github.com/reacherhq/check-if-email-exists, reacherhq/backend, and app.reacher.email/en/pricing, checked August 2026. Verify current details on Reacher's site before purchasing.

When Reacher Is the Better Choice

This page is written by the EVA team, so read it as a vendor comparison. There are real cases where Reacher is the right pick.

You can live with AGPL-3.0. If your project is itself open source, or you are comfortable publishing the source of the service you build on top of the engine, the core check-if-email-exists library is free to self-host. No commercial license needed, and you pay nothing but server costs. That is a genuinely good deal that EVA does not match, since EVA has no free tier for self-hosting.

You want to read the engine source before paying anything. Reacher's code is public on GitHub with an active community around it. EVA's Deployment License ships compiled Docker images; full source requires the OEM license.

You prefer Rust or want to embed a library, not run a product. check-if-email-exists can be used as a Rust crate inside your own software. Reacher's self-hosting documentation is solid, with an install guide that gets a container running quickly.

Your volume is small and predictable. Reacher's hosted SaaS at $69 per month for 10,000 verifications avoids self-hosting entirely. At low volume, no self-hosted license from anyone pays for itself quickly.

Where EVA is the better fit: you want a complete product (dashboard, bulk jobs, monitoring) rather than an engine, you need provider-specific verification depth, you cannot open source your stack, and you would rather pay once than €8,388 every year. See the full self-hosted buyer's guide for how both compare against every other option.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Reacher free to self-host?

Reacher's core engine, check-if-email-exists, is open source under AGPL-3.0, so you can self-host it for free if you comply with AGPL terms, which require making your service's source code publicly available. Companies that cannot accept those terms need Reacher's Commercial License at €699 per month.

How much does Reacher's commercial self-hosted license cost per year?

€699 per month comes to €8,388 per year. It is a recurring subscription, so the cost continues for as long as you run the software commercially. Servers are purchased separately.

How much does EVA Self-Hosted cost?

The Deployment License is $4,995 one-time: unlimited verifications, unlimited servers within one legal entity, production Docker images, 12 months of updates, and priority email support. Renewing updates after year one is optional at $995/yr. An OEM Source License with the full Go source starts at $29,995 one-time. Details on the license page.

Does EVA Self-Hosted charge per verification?

No. After the one-time license fee there are no per-email charges. Verify 10 emails or 10 million per month at the same cost.

Is check-if-email-exists the same as Reacher?

check-if-email-exists is the open source Rust library that powers Reacher. Reacher is the commercial product built around it: a hosted SaaS API plus a self-hostable REST backend. Both are AGPL-3.0, with a paid commercial license for proprietary use.

Do I get source code with an EVA license?

The Deployment License ships production Docker images, which is everything needed to run unlimited verifications. The OEM Source License, from $29,995 one-time, adds the complete Go source with the right to modify, extend, and embed it in your own product under a signed agreement.

Pay Once, Verify Forever

EVA Self-Hosted licenses start at $4,995 one-time with unlimited verifications. Or try the cloud API free with 300 verifications per month.