# What's the difference between a hard bounce and a soft bounce?

> Hard bounces are permanent refusals and end as Bounced. Soft bounces are temporary, show as Attempted and are retried for about 21 hours.

Both terms describe a receiving server refusing your email. The difference is whether the refusal is permanent, and that decides what Emailit does next.

## Symptoms

You see emails with the status **Bounced** or **Attempted** in **Email API → Emails** and want to know whether to act, wait or remove the address.

## Cause

| | Hard bounce | Soft bounce |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What the server said | A permanent `5xx` reply, such as `550 5.1.1 User unknown` | A temporary `4xx` reply, such as `421 Try again later`, or no answer |
| Typical reasons | The address or domain doesn't exist, the mailbox is disabled, or the server blocked the message | Greylisting, provider throttling, a temporarily unavailable server |
| Status in Emailit | **Bounced** | **Attempted** while retrying |
| What Emailit does | Stops immediately | Retries up to 7 times over about 21 hours |
| Webhook event | `email.bounced` | `email.attempted` |

A few things blur the line:

- **Some `4xx` replies count as hard bounces.** Messages such as "mailbox full" or "account disabled" are treated as permanent, because retrying won't help.
- **A soft bounce can become a hard bounce.** If all 7 attempts fail, the email is marked **Bounced** and the address is suppressed with the reason `too many soft fails`.
- **Late bounces.** Some servers accept the message and send a bounce report later. Emailit matches the report to the original email, marks it **Bounced** and suppresses the address.

Hard bounces affect your reputation. Emailit tracks your bounce rate as part of [sending health](/docs/deliverability/sending-health/). Above 4% the workspace is **At risk**, at 5% a domain can be paused, and at 6% the workspace can be suspended.

## Fix

1. **For a soft bounce, wait.** Emailit retries on its own. Don't resend, or you'll create a duplicate.

2. **For a hard bounce, read the reply.** Open the email and check the **Deliveries** tab. Look up the code in [SMTP reply codes](/docs/dictionary/smtp-reply-codes/) or the category in [bounce categories](/docs/dictionary/bounce-categories/).

3. **Remove invalid addresses at the source.** Delete or flag the address in your own database. Emailit's [suppression list](/docs/suppressions/) protects you only inside Emailit.

4. **Investigate policy blocks.** A `5.7.x` reply usually means the receiving server rejected the message for authentication or reputation reasons, not because the address is wrong. Check your [DNS records](/docs/domains/dns-records/) and read [Why are my emails going to spam?](/docs/kb/emails-going-to-spam/).

5. **Verify lists before sending.** Run imported or old lists through [email verification](/docs/email-verification/) to remove bad addresses before they bounce.

Learn more in [Bounces and complaints](/docs/deliverability/bounces-and-complaints/) and [What does the Attempted status mean?](/docs/kb/email-status-attempted/).

## Still stuck?

[Contact support](/contact/) or ask in [Discord](https://discord.emailit.com) if your bounce rate rises suddenly and you can't find the cause.

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Source: https://emailit.com/docs/kb/hard-bounce-vs-soft-bounce/