Lightning Address Tester

What is a Lightning Address?

A Lightning Address looks like an email address, for example yourname@rizful.com, but it's for receiving bitcoin over the Lightning Network. Instead of creating a new invoice for every payment, you share one address, and the sender's wallet asks your provider for a fresh invoice each time it pays.

It's an open standard (LUD-16), built on LNURL-pay (LUD-06), and most Lightning wallets can pay one.

How a payment to a Lightning Address works

1. You enter the addressYour wallet splits alice@example.com into a name and a domain.
2. Wallet asks the domainGET https://example.com/.well-known/lnurlp/alice returns where to ask for an invoice (callback), the minimum and maximum amount, and a description.
3. Wallet asks for an invoicecallback?amount=… returns a BOLT11 invoice for exactly that amount, in millisatoshis.
4. Wallet checks and paysThe invoice must have the right amount and a description hash that matches the description from step 2. Then the wallet pays it.

The address is only as reliable as the server behind its domain. If that server is down, misconfigured or returns a bad invoice, payments fail, and the sender usually just sees a vague error. That's what the tester above is for.

What the tester checks

• The address format, and that its server answers over HTTPS with valid JSON and "tag": "payRequest".
• CORS: whether a browser is allowed to read the answer. Without an Access-Control-Allow-Origin header, web wallets and browser extensions can't pay the address.
• The callback URL, the minimum and maximum amounts, and the metadata (a text/plain description, plus the text/identifier entry LUD-16 asks for).
• Extras: comments (LUD-12), Nostr zaps (NIP-57), payer data (LUD-18) and payment verification (LUD-21).
• Optional live invoice: the invoice is a mainnet BOLT11 invoice, for exactly the amount asked for, with a description hash that matches the metadata, and it isn't already expired. We also show the receiving node, if it's in our copy of the Lightning graph.

The test invoice is real. Paying it sends real sats to the owner of the address, so you don't need to pay it: the checks are done as soon as it arrives.

Lightning Address not working? The usual causes

• No CORS header. Phone wallets can pay, but web and extension wallets fail. The fix is one response header on /.well-known/lnurlp/ and on the callback.
• Description hash mismatch. The invoice's description hash isn't the SHA-256 of the metadata string. Strict wallets refuse to pay it.
• Wrong amount. The invoice isn't for the amount the wallet asked for, or has no amount at all.
• The server returns 404 or an error. The name is misspelled, the account was closed, or the provider is down.
• Capital letters or unusual characters. LUD-16 names are lowercase a-z 0-9 - _ . +. Some wallets lowercase what you type, so a server that only knows "Alice" breaks.
• Amount limits. The amount being sent is below the minimum or above the maximum the server allows.

If a check fails on an address you don't run, send its provider the result. Each failed check says what needs fixing.

How to get a Lightning Address

Many Lightning wallets and services give you one. If you have your own domain, software such as LNbits or BTCPay Server can serve addresses on it.

Rizful gives you a free Lightning Address that passes every check on this page, with no app to install and no node to run. Get your free Lightning Address →

Lightning Address FAQ

What's the difference between a Lightning Address and a Lightning invoice?

An invoice (it starts with lnbc) is for one payment: a fixed amount, paid once, and it expires, often within an hour. A Lightning Address is reusable: it takes any amount within the server's limits and never expires, but it only works while the server behind it is online, because that server makes a new invoice for every payment.

Is a Lightning Address the same as an email address?

No. It only uses the same format. The address may or may not also receive email. Don't send bitcoin to someone's ordinary email address and expect it to arrive: test it here first.

Does Coinbase have a Lightning Address?

Not as of October 2026. Coinbase's help pages say its Lightning support works with invoices only. Coinbase doesn't give you a Lightning Address, and a Lightning Address pasted into Coinbase's send screen isn't paid over Lightning: Coinbase treats it like a send to an email address, and it shows as pending.

To pay a Lightning Address from Coinbase, ask the recipient for a Lightning invoice and send to that. To move bitcoin from Coinbase to your own Lightning Address, create an invoice in your Lightning wallet and send to the invoice from Coinbase. Lightning on Coinbase isn't available in every region.

Is it safe to share my Lightning Address?

Yes. People can only use it to send you money. Keep in mind that it's public, like an email address, and that the provider behind it sees every request made to it.

Why does the tester say my browser couldn't read the response?

Browsers only let a web page read another site's answer if that site sends an Access-Control-Allow-Origin header. If the tester could reach the server but not read it, the header is missing, and web-based wallets will fail to pay that address too. If it couldn't reach the server at all, the domain may be wrong or the server down.