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Use EmailPal mailboxes with Instantly, Smartlead or lemlist

Export SMTP and IMAP credentials for EmailPal mailboxes and connect them to Instantly, Smartlead, lemlist or any sequencer. Hosts, ports, limits and what stays in EmailPal.

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The short answer

Export SMTP and IMAP credentials as a CSV from the Mailboxes page, or with GET /api/public/v1/mailboxes/export and an admin-scoped API key, then add each mailbox to Instantly, Smartlead, lemlist or any sequencer that accepts custom SMTP and IMAP accounts. In the API reference the mailboxes use SMTP on port 587 with STARTTLS and IMAP on port 993 over SSL. Set the sequencer to 15 cold emails a day per inbox, because EmailPal enforces a hard ceiling of 100, and leave the sequencer’s own warm-up off. Plans start at $69 a month with 50 mailboxes.

EmailPal gives you the domains, the DNS, the hosted mailboxes, warming and list verification. Your sequencer runs the campaigns and reads the replies over SMTP and IMAP. The credentials come only from an export, which needs an admin-scoped key in the API and is audited on every call; passwords are never on mailbox reads or listings. The export sets the sequencer’s warm-up columns to off, because EmailPal keeps warming the same mailbox and warming volume does not count toward the cold cap. EmailPal’s own sequencer is optional, and its launch check and auto-pause only cover campaigns you run there.

How it works, step by step

  1. Step 1

    Put the mailboxes on ready domains and keep warming on

    Create the domains and mailboxes in EmailPal first (the setup walkthrough covers it): 4 to 6 mailboxes per domain, DNS verified, warming enabled at $0.60 per inbox per month. A new domain should have 14 days of warming before it carries cold email, whichever sequencer sends it. The export includes only mailboxes that have finished provisioning and are warming, active or paused.

  2. Step 2

    Choose how to export

    Dashboard: Mailboxes, select the rows, pick a format and choose Export. The dashboard export takes up to 500 selected mailboxes at a time. API: GET /mailboxes/export needs an admin-scoped key, which you create under API keys; a key with only write scope cannot read passwords. Filter with domain_id or a comma-separated mailbox_ids.

    GET /api/public/v1/mailboxes/exportbash
    curl "https://www.emailpal.io/api/public/v1/mailboxes/export?format=generic&domain_id=dom_91af22" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $EMAILPAL_ADMIN_KEY" \
  -o emailpal-mailboxes.csv

  3. Step 3

    Pick the CSV layout for your sequencer

    format=smartlead and format=instantly match those tools’ bulk-import column layouts. lemlist has no dedicated layout, so use format=generic, which carries every field and spells out the security modes. EmailPal also ships layouts for a number of other tools, listed in the API reference. Vendors change their templates, so check the vendor’s current import docs against the file.

    format=generic, header row and one mailboxtext
    email,display_name,first_name,last_name,smtp_username,smtp_password,smtp_host,smtp_port,smtp_security,imap_username,imap_password,imap_host,imap_port,imap_security,daily_limit
ada.lovelace@outbound-atlas.com,Ada Lovelace,Ada,Lovelace,ada.lovelace@outbound-atlas.com,x7Kp...,smtp.authorityking.io,587,STARTTLS,ada.lovelace@outbound-atlas.com,x7Kp...,imap.authorityking.io,993,SSL,15

  4. Step 4

    Add the mailboxes as SMTP and IMAP accounts

    In the sequencer, use the option for connecting a custom or generic SMTP and IMAP account, not the Google or Microsoft sign-in button. The username is the full email address. Use the host, port and security mode from the CSV for each mailbox, and the same password for SMTP and IMAP. Follow the vendor’s own docs for the exact screens, and confirm that your plan with them accepts custom SMTP accounts.

  5. Step 5

    Set the daily limit to 15 and turn the sequencer’s warm-up off

    Set 15 cold emails a day per mailbox in the sequencer. Several layouts pre-fill a daily-limit column from the mailbox’s cold limit (15 by default) and set their warm-up columns to off; the Smartlead layout has no limit column, so set it in the tool. Do not run a second warming service on the same mailbox. EmailPal keeps warming it, and two systems ramping one address double the volume.

  6. Step 6

    Check unsubscribe, tracking and replies, then send a test

    The sequencer owns the campaign headers, so it must add the unsubscribe link and the one-click List-Unsubscribe headers itself. Leave open tracking off, and clear any tracking-domain value in the CSV unless you have set up a tracking host in that tool. Send a test to a seed address you control and confirm the reply is detected before importing the real list.

  7. Step 7

    Verify the list in EmailPal before importing it

    EmailPal’s list verification works for lists you will send from another tool. Upload in the dashboard or use POST /lists/verify, then import only the valid addresses into the sequencer. EmailPal’s sequencer reads each lead’s verification result; another tool does not know it, so filter the file before importing.

    POST /api/public/v1/lists/verifybash
    curl -X POST https://www.emailpal.io/api/public/v1/lists/verify \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $EMAILPAL_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"filename": "q4-prospects.csv", "content": "email\npriya@acme.example\nsam@example.org"}'

01

What stays in EmailPal and what the other tool does

EmailPal keeps the infrastructure: buying or connecting domains, SPF, DKIM, DMARC and MX, the hosted mailboxes, warming and its measured inbox rate, and list verification. Mail leaves through EmailPal’s mail servers, so the domain’s authentication is EmailPal’s, and replies come back to the same mailbox, where the sequencer reads them over IMAP and EmailPal’s Unibox also shows them.

The other tool keeps the campaign: sequences, schedules, variants, sending windows, rotation across mailboxes, unsubscribe handling, tracking and its own reply detection. EmailPal’s launch check, campaign auto-pause on bounces and lead tracking apply only to campaigns run in EmailPal’s sequencer.

One thing you lose: per-campaign analytics. Mail another tool sends over SMTP with exported credentials never passes through EmailPal’s API, so there is no per-campaign record in EmailPal. Read campaign statistics in the sequencer, and use EmailPal for mailbox health, warming placement and domain DNS.

02

How credentials are issued, and what is never returned

There is one place passwords come from: an export. GET /mailboxes/export returns text/csv, not JSON, and is the only public endpoint that returns plaintext passwords. It requires the admin scope on its own rather than inheriting from write, so a key handed to a tool that only creates mailboxes cannot read them. Every call is written to the audit log, the response is marked no-store, and the dashboard export is audited too.

Mailbox reads (GET /mailboxes and GET /mailboxes/{id}) return the SMTP and IMAP host and port and never the password. Pre-warmed catalog listings never include passwords either; leased inboxes export the same way after the claim job has rotated them. The response carries X-EmailPal-Exported with the row count, and X-EmailPal-Skipped when a row could not be decrypted.

The CSV is UTF-8 with a byte order mark and CRLF line endings. Salesforge’s layout is semicolon-separated, and Snov’s importer takes 100 accounts per file, so split a large export for those two. The API has no stated row cap beyond what the request URL can carry for mailbox_ids, and every call counts against the 1,000 requests an hour budget. If you rotate a password in the dashboard, the old one stops working immediately, so re-export and update the sequencer the same day or sends fail.

03

Host, port and security values

Each mailbox row stores its own SMTP and IMAP host and port, so read them from the CSV or from the smtp and imap objects on GET /mailboxes/{id} rather than typing them in. The API reference shows SMTP on port 587 and IMAP on port 993. The generic export labels the SMTP connection STARTTLS and the IMAP connection SSL, and several vendor layouts set an SSL flag for both. The username for both protocols is the full email address, and one password covers both.

Some sequencers ask only for host, port, username and password; others also ask for a security mode. Use what the CSV states. If a vendor’s connection test fails, check the host and port first, then that the password has not been rotated, then that the mailbox has not been paused for rejections.

04

Cold volume: 15 a day recommended, 100 a day enforced

EmailPal recommends 15 cold emails a day per inbox. The export carries that figure as the daily limit, and it is a recommendation, not a setting EmailPal enforces on another tool. What EmailPal enforces is a flat ceiling of 100 cold messages a day per sending address at the mail server, whatever the sequencer is set to. Past the ceiling, mail is delayed until the next day rather than bounced.

The sequencer’s SMTP traffic counts as cold. So do replies you send from Unibox or the inbox API from the same mailbox, because a receiver cannot tell a reply from a cold open. A separate per-inbox pacing guard smooths bursts: two messages at once, then about one every 30 seconds. A sequencer that spaces sends by a few minutes never meets it. Do not raise the limit because a sequencer defaults to 50 or 200. Add mailboxes across more domains instead.

05

Warming while you send

Warming keeps running on the mailbox while another tool sends campaigns. The two volumes are separate: warming tops out at 20 messages a day per inbox and is counted apart from cold mail at the mail server, so warming does not use your cold allowance and a full day of cold sends does not stop warming. An inbox can carry at most 100 cold and 20 warming messages in a day, but 15 cold is the figure to plan on.

The export sets every warm-up column to off and the warm-up limit to zero, even for mailboxes where EmailPal warming is on. That is deliberate: do not turn on the sequencer’s warm-up, and do not add an outside warming service on the same address. Layouts for outside warming services exist in the export list, and each says to turn EmailPal’s warming off first; use one warming service per mailbox.

Warming also keeps the placement measurement current: GET /warming shows the inbox rate and health score per mailbox, and GET /mailboxes/{id} shows sending_pause. Watch those when a campaign in the other tool underperforms. Warming is a conversation with other real inboxes, so that mail arrives at the same mailbox; Unibox hides it by default, and how an IMAP client treats it depends on the tool, so confirm the sequencer attributes replies correctly during the test send.

06

Authentication, unsubscribe and tracking

SPF, DKIM and DMARC stay EmailPal’s, because EmailPal is the sending server. A domain-health test inside another tool may look for that tool’s own DKIM selector and report it missing. That is a vendor check for the vendor’s own mail path, not a fault on an EmailPal domain. Do not add a second SPF record or the vendor’s records to the domain to satisfy it. Confirm the records with dig against a public resolver, as in the setup walkthrough.

Gmail and Yahoo expect a working unsubscribe path and, for bulk senders, one-click unsubscribe headers. EmailPal’s sequencer adds them by default. Another tool sets its own, so check that it does. Open tracking adds a pixel and a tracking host to each message; EmailPal’s own sequencer does not offer open tracking, and the first email goes out as plain text by default. Treat open and click tracking in another tool as a deliverability choice, and configure any tracking domain in that tool.

A few vendor layouts pre-fill a tracking-domain column with the mailbox’s own domain. EmailPal does not set up a tracking host for that name through the export, so clear or replace the value unless you have created the matching record in the sequencer.

07

Pauses and sender bounces

EmailPal pauses a mailbox when 5% of its cold mail is rejected by receiving servers, and sends a warning email at 3%. While a mailbox is paused, new SMTP mail from it is refused with a permanent failure, which the sequencer will report as a failed send or a sender bounce. GET /mailboxes/{id} returns sending_pause with the counts to resend. Fix the list or copy before you resume, because the pause protects the domain.

A sender bounce means your mailbox was not allowed to send, not that the recipient was invalid. The usual causes with another tool are a rotated or deleted mailbox with an old password still saved, a paused mailbox, or DNS that no longer verifies. Export fresh credentials, confirm the mailbox exists and check the domain before resuming volume.

08

EmailPal’s own sequencer is optional

You do not need any of this to send from EmailPal mailboxes: Engage, the sequencer, runs campaigns from the mailboxes you pick in campaign settings, with no credentials entered anywhere. It went live on 5 October 2026 and is included on every plan, along with Unibox and the CRM. It is also the only path where the launch check, pause rules and per-campaign analytics cover the mail. If you move over later, the mailboxes, domains and warming do not change.

The numbers

Limits, prices and names, in one table

The figures this page relies on, so you do not have to hunt for them.

Credential exportGET /api/public/v1/mailboxes/exportReturns text/csv. Needs an admin-scoped key. Audited on every call.
Dashboard exportMailboxes, then ExportUp to 500 selected mailboxes per export.
Passwords on mailbox readsNeverGET /mailboxes and GET /mailboxes/{id} return host and port only.
SMTPPort 587, STARTTLSAs shown in the API reference and the generic export. Read host and port from the CSV.
IMAPPort 993, SSLUsername is the full email address for both protocols.
Dedicated export layoutsInstantly, Smartlead and 19 otherslemlist has no dedicated layout; use generic.
Cold sends per inbox15/day recommended; 100/day hard ceilingCeiling applies at the mail server to every sequencer. Over it, mail waits for the next day.
Warming volumeUp to 20/day, counted separatelyDoes not use the cold allowance.
Warm-up columns in the exportOffEmailPal keeps warming; do not run a second warming service on the same mailbox.
Warming$0.60/inbox/mo
Starter plan$69/mo50 mailboxes and 50 domain slots included; extra mailboxes $1/mo.
Mailbox rejection pause5%Warning email at 3%. New SMTP mail is refused while paused.
API budget1,000 requests an hourThe export counts against it.

Checked against the product and the API on . Plans and limits change, so confirm in the docs before you build on them.

This is not for you if

  • You want everything inside the other tool’s OAuth-connected Google or Microsoft mailboxes. EmailPal mailboxes are hosted SMTP and IMAP, so you connect them through the tool’s custom SMTP option, not its Google or Microsoft sign-in.
  • Your plan with the other tool does not allow custom SMTP and IMAP accounts. Check with the vendor first; EmailPal cannot change what the other tool permits.
  • You need per-campaign analytics, the launch check and campaign auto-pause. Those cover only campaigns run in EmailPal’s sequencer.
  • You want to push past 15 cold emails a day per inbox. EmailPal enforces a ceiling of 100, and the recommendation holds whichever tool sends.
  • You expect a vendor-specific, one-click integration. The connection is generic SMTP and IMAP plus a CSV export; there is no OAuth link or native connector between EmailPal and these tools.
FAQ

Common questions

Can I use EmailPal mailboxes with Instantly, Smartlead or lemlist?

Yes, as custom SMTP and IMAP accounts. Export the credentials as a CSV, then add each mailbox in the sequencer using its option for a custom or generic SMTP and IMAP connection. EmailPal has dedicated export layouts for Instantly and Smartlead and a generic layout for lemlist and everything else. Check each vendor’s current docs for the exact steps and plan requirements.

How do I get the SMTP and IMAP credentials?

From the Mailboxes page in the dashboard (select mailboxes, choose a format, Export) or from GET /api/public/v1/mailboxes/export with an admin-scoped API key. The export is the only place passwords appear; mailbox reads return host and port only. It includes mailboxes that have finished provisioning and are warming, active or paused.

Does the export need an admin API key?

In the API, yes. The endpoint requires the admin scope, separate from write, so a key used to create mailboxes cannot read their passwords. Every export is recorded in the audit log. In the dashboard you are signed in to the account, and the export is audited as well.

What daily limit should I set in the sequencer?

15 cold emails per inbox per day. That is EmailPal’s recommended default, and the export pre-fills it in layouts that have a daily-limit column. EmailPal enforces a hard ceiling of 100 a day per address at the mail server regardless of the sequencer’s setting, and mail over the ceiling waits for the next day. For more volume, add mailboxes across more domains.

Should I turn on warm-up in Instantly, Smartlead or lemlist as well?

No. EmailPal keeps warming the mailbox at $0.60 per inbox per month, and the export sets the sequencer’s warm-up columns to off. Two systems warming one address double the volume while neither knows what the other sent. Use one warming service per mailbox.

Do EmailPal warming emails count toward my cold email limit?

No. Warming messages are counted separately from cold mail at the mail server and top out at 20 a day. Cold mail from the sequencer, and replies you send from the same mailbox, count against the 100-a-day ceiling.

Do I still need EmailPal’s sequencer?

No. It is included on every plan and optional. You can run EmailPal for domains, DNS, mailboxes, warming and verification and send campaigns from another tool. The compare pages for Instantly, Smartlead and lemlist set out where each tool is stronger.

Related

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Domains, mailboxes, warming and verification over one REST API and MCP server, with the sequencer, Unibox and CRM on every plan.

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