{"id":217,"date":"2022-01-22T08:02:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-22T08:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogtesting.mailercloud.com\/the-anatomy-of-email-bounce-rate-what-is-it-how-to-reduce-it-for-better-email-deliverability\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T04:48:58","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T04:48:58","slug":"hard-bounce-vs-soft-bounce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mailercloud.com\/blog\/hard-bounce-vs-soft-bounce","title":{"rendered":"Hard Bounce vs Soft Bounce: What Each One Means and What to Do About It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last updated: September 2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A hard bounce is permanent: the address doesn’t exist, so it will never accept mail. A soft bounce is temporary: the address is real, but the mailbox was full or the server was busy at the moment you sent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That single distinction decides what you do next. Hard bounces come off your list immediately. Soft bounces get retried, then removed if they keep failing. Getting this backwards is one of the fastest ways to damage a sending reputation you spent months building. The simplest way to prevent hard bounces is to run new and old lists through one of the best email verification services<\/a> before you send.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Quick Answer:<\/strong> A hard bounce<\/strong> is a permanent delivery failure — the address or domain does not exist, or the server has permanently refused your mail (SMTP code 5.x.x<\/strong>). A soft bounce<\/strong> is temporary — a full mailbox, a server that is down, or throttling (SMTP code 4.x.x<\/strong>). Remove hard bounces after one failure; retry soft bounces for a few sending cycles, then remove them too. Keep total bounces under 2%<\/strong> and hard bounces under 1%<\/strong>. Mailercloud suppresses hard-bounced addresses automatically so they cannot be mailed again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n

Table of Contents<\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n