diff --git a/backend/src/config/index.ts b/backend/src/config/index.ts
index ad1acb1a6..a7194308e 100644
--- a/backend/src/config/index.ts
+++ b/backend/src/config/index.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 const PORT = process.env.PORT || 4000;
-const EMAIL_TOKEN_LIFETIME = process.env.EMAIL_TOKEN_LIFETIME! || '86400';
+const EMAIL_TOKEN_LIFETIME = parseInt(process.env.EMAIL_TOKEN_LIFETIME! || '86400');
 const ENCRYPTION_KEY = process.env.ENCRYPTION_KEY!;
 const SALT_ROUNDS = parseInt(process.env.SALT_ROUNDS!) || 10;
 const JWT_AUTH_LIFETIME = process.env.JWT_AUTH_LIFETIME! || '10d';
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ const CLIENT_SECRET_HEROKU = process.env.CLIENT_SECRET_HEROKU!;
 const CLIENT_SECRET_VERCEL = process.env.CLIENT_SECRET_VERCEL!;
 const CLIENT_SECRET_NETLIFY = process.env.CLIENT_SECRET_NETLIFY!;
 const CLIENT_SECRET_GITHUB = process.env.CLIENT_SECRET_GITHUB!;
-const CLIENT_SLUG_VERCEL= process.env.CLIENT_SLUG_VERCEL!;
+const CLIENT_SLUG_VERCEL = process.env.CLIENT_SLUG_VERCEL!;
 const POSTHOG_HOST = process.env.POSTHOG_HOST! || 'https://app.posthog.com';
 const POSTHOG_PROJECT_API_KEY =
   process.env.POSTHOG_PROJECT_API_KEY! ||
diff --git a/backend/src/controllers/v1/membershipOrgController.ts b/backend/src/controllers/v1/membershipOrgController.ts
index 0040b583e..324be6c2e 100644
--- a/backend/src/controllers/v1/membershipOrgController.ts
+++ b/backend/src/controllers/v1/membershipOrgController.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { Request, Response } from 'express';
 import * as Sentry from '@sentry/node';
 import crypto from 'crypto';
-import { SITE_URL, JWT_SIGNUP_LIFETIME, JWT_SIGNUP_SECRET } from '../../config';
+import { SITE_URL, JWT_SIGNUP_LIFETIME, JWT_SIGNUP_SECRET, EMAIL_TOKEN_LIFETIME } from '../../config';
 import { MembershipOrg, Organization, User, Token } from '../../models';
 import { deleteMembershipOrg as deleteMemberFromOrg } from '../../helpers/membershipOrg';
 import { checkEmailVerification } from '../../helpers/signup';
@@ -113,14 +113,14 @@ export const inviteUserToOrganization = async (req: Request, res: Response) => {
 		if (!membershipOrg) {
 			throw new Error('Failed to validate organization membership');
 		}
-		
+
 		invitee = await User.findOne({
 			email: inviteeEmail
 		}).select('+publicKey');
 
 		if (invitee) {
 			// case: invitee is an existing user
-			
+
 			inviteeMembershipOrg = await MembershipOrg.findOne({
 				user: invitee._id,
 				organization: organizationId
@@ -170,7 +170,8 @@ export const inviteUserToOrganization = async (req: Request, res: Response) => {
 				{
 					email: inviteeEmail,
 					token,
-					createdAt: new Date()
+					createdAt: new Date(),
+					ttl: Math.floor(+new Date() / 1000) + EMAIL_TOKEN_LIFETIME // time in seconds, i.e unix
 				},
 				{ upsert: true, new: true }
 			);
@@ -241,7 +242,7 @@ export const verifyUserToOrganization = async (req: Request, res: Response) => {
 				message: 'Successfully verified email',
 				user,
 			});
-        }
+		}
 
 		if (!user) {
 			// initialize user account
diff --git a/backend/src/controllers/v1/passwordController.ts b/backend/src/controllers/v1/passwordController.ts
index 0c5530f58..25529cd10 100644
--- a/backend/src/controllers/v1/passwordController.ts
+++ b/backend/src/controllers/v1/passwordController.ts
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import { User, Token, BackupPrivateKey, LoginSRPDetail } from '../../models';
 import { checkEmailVerification } from '../../helpers/signup';
 import { createToken } from '../../helpers/auth';
 import { sendMail } from '../../helpers/nodemailer';
-import { JWT_SIGNUP_LIFETIME, JWT_SIGNUP_SECRET, SITE_URL } from '../../config';
+import { EMAIL_TOKEN_LIFETIME, JWT_SIGNUP_LIFETIME, JWT_SIGNUP_SECRET, SITE_URL } from '../../config';
 import { BadRequestError } from '../../utils/errors';
 
 /**
@@ -39,7 +39,8 @@ export const emailPasswordReset = async (req: Request, res: Response) => {
 			{
 				email,
 				token,
-				createdAt: new Date()
+				createdAt: new Date(),
+				ttl: Math.floor(+new Date() / 1000) + EMAIL_TOKEN_LIFETIME // time in seconds, i.e unix
 			},
 			{ upsert: true, new: true }
 		);
diff --git a/backend/src/helpers/signup.ts b/backend/src/helpers/signup.ts
index 1ef1219f8..95b67ba6c 100644
--- a/backend/src/helpers/signup.ts
+++ b/backend/src/helpers/signup.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { createWorkspace } from './workspace';
 import { addMemberships } from './membership';
 import { OWNER, ADMIN, ACCEPTED } from '../variables';
 import { sendMail } from '../helpers/nodemailer';
+import { EMAIL_TOKEN_LIFETIME } from '../config';
 
 /**
  * Send magic link to verify email to [email]
@@ -25,7 +26,8 @@ const sendEmailVerification = async ({ email }: { email: string }) => {
 			{
 				email,
 				token,
-				createdAt: new Date()
+				createdAt: new Date(),
+				ttl: Math.floor(+new Date() / 1000) + EMAIL_TOKEN_LIFETIME // time in seconds, i.e unix
 			},
 			{ upsert: true, new: true }
 		);
@@ -62,11 +64,20 @@ const checkEmailVerification = async ({
 	code: string;
 }) => {
 	try {
-		const token = await Token.findOneAndDelete({
+		const token = await Token.findOne({
 			email,
 			token: code
 		});
 
+		if (token && Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000) > token.ttl) {
+			await Token.deleteOne({
+				email,
+				token: code
+			});
+
+			throw new Error('Verification token has expired')
+		}
+
 		if (!token) throw new Error('Failed to find email verification token');
 	} catch (err) {
 		Sentry.setUser(null);
diff --git a/backend/src/models/token.ts b/backend/src/models/token.ts
index 9569aee0b..2da62d813 100644
--- a/backend/src/models/token.ts
+++ b/backend/src/models/token.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ export interface IToken {
   email: string;
   token: string;
   createdAt: Date;
+  ttl: Number;
 }
 
 const tokenSchema = new Schema<IToken>({
@@ -19,14 +20,13 @@ const tokenSchema = new Schema<IToken>({
   createdAt: {
     type: Date,
     default: Date.now
+  },
+  ttl: {
+    type: Number,
   }
 });
 
-tokenSchema.index({ 
-  createdAt: 1 
-}, { 
-  expireAfterSeconds: parseInt(EMAIL_TOKEN_LIFETIME) 
-});
+tokenSchema.index({ email: 1 });
 
 const Token = model<IToken>('Token', tokenSchema);