The best way to protect your personal information is to never post it on the internet. But how do you avoid revealing your personal email address? You can’t send and receive mail without exposing it, and so junk mail is unavoidable, right? Wrong! Using a temporary email service, you can communicate with online merchants, blind dates, even spies, all while keeping your real email address secret.
We’re not talking about the totally ephemeral email addresses provided by services such as temp-mail.org, guerrillamail.com, or emailondeck.com. With these services, anybody can get a truly throwaway email address, with no connection to an actual email address. You get your response by keeping the page open, and your temporary address vanishes in anywhere from a couple of days to 10 minutes. The best temporary email services, discussed here, let you continue to use your regular email address without exposing it to junk mail and snoops.
Table of Contents
IronVest
Best for Private Shopping
Why We Picked It
IronVest (formerly Abine Blur) protects your privacy by masking your true email address, but it goes way beyond that. With IronVest, you can shop online without revealing your email address, credit card number, or phone number. It also provides an active Do Not Track system to foil web-based ads and other trackers. Its integrated password manager keeps track of both your passwords and their corresponding masked emails. You get a lot of privacy features in this app.
Who It’s For
IronVest is a great solution for those who want multifaceted privacy protection in a single, simple package.
PROS
- Stops spam calls and emails
- Hides credit card details
- Protects and automates SMS passcode authentication
- Manages passwords
- Blocks tracking of your browsing activities
CONS
- Local-only password storage can be lost if you don't back up
- Some minor rough edges
SPECS
| Name | Value |
|---|---|
| On-the-Fly Aliases | |
| Reply From Alias | |
| Multi-Factor Authentication | |
| Online Mailbox | |
| Free Account Offered | |
| Email Encryption | |
| Forwards to Multiple Addresses |
Cloaked
Best for Password Manager Integration
Why We Picked It
Cloaked merges saved login credentials for password management with saved temporary email addresses in a single concept it calls an identity. You log in to a website using saved passwords and communicate using a safe "cloaked" email address, so your real address isn't exposed. Correspondence appears in an online inbox associated with the identity and also gets forwarded to your regular email address. It's seamless.
Cloaked performs a similar service for calls and texts. Rather than give away your actual phone number (and risk getting even more robocalls), you use a temporary number supplied by Cloaked. As an added bonus, Cloaked offers a million-dollar insurance guarantee against identity theft, though without identity theft monitoring.
Who It's For
Are you ready to sweep away your old, bad passwords and, at the same time, start protecting your email address from spam and breaches? Cloaked will do the job, provided you have the budget for its rather high price.
PROS
- Hides your actual email address behind multiple temporary addresses
- Manages temporary phone numbers for calls and texts
- Fully integrates password management
- Supports multi-factor authentication
CONS
- Expensive
- Lacks some high-end password management features
SPECS
| Name | Value |
|---|---|
| On-the-Fly Aliases | |
| Reply From Alias | |
| Multi-Factor Authentication | |
| Online Mailbox | |
| Free Account Offered | |
| Email Encryption | |
| Forwards to Multiple Addresses |
SimpleLogin
Best for Advanced Authentication
Why We Picked It
It’s a snap to create a random or custom email alias with SimpleLogin’s app. When using the app is awkward or impossible, say, at a dinner party, you can make up an alias on the fly. You can try it out for free, though there’s a cap of 15 aliases for free users.
Like a few other temporary email services, SimpleLogin offers to protect your account and data using Google Authenticator as a second factor. However, SimpleLogin goes beyond the rest with the option to register a YubiKey or other hardware security key as your second factor. And if you’re tech-savvy enough to own your own domain, you can configure it to create aliases using that domain.
Who It’s For
As the name suggests, SimpleLogin is simple enough for anyone to use. However, it offers advanced features for technically proficient users.
PROS
- Supports custom, random, and on-the-fly email aliases
- Offers browser extensions and mobile apps
- Two-factor options include Yubikey
- Can forward to multiple mailboxes
- Optional PGP support
CONS
- Can't fine-tune use of aliases
- Greylisting may slow receipt of first message to an alias
SPECS
| Name | Value |
|---|---|
| On-the-Fly Aliases | |
| Reply From Alias | |
| Multi-Factor Authentication | |
| Online Mailbox | |
| Free Account Offered | |
| Email Encryption | |
| Forwards to Multiple Addresses |
StartMail
Best for Email Masking With Encryption
Why We Picked It
When you choose to exchange email messages with trusted correspondents, you want to be sure your discussions remain private. On the other hand, if circumstances require that you email an untrusted source, perhaps an online merchant, you want to avert the possibility of your email address getting sold to spammers. StartMail handles both problems, encrypting messages with your trusted correspondents and masking your actual email address as necessary.
Not surprisingly, StartMail lets you protect your account and data using multi-factor authentication. It also provides an online mailbox for easy access. You do have to switch to a pristine new email address to use StartMail, but if you’re diligent with using aliases, you can keep that new address squeaky clean.
Who It’s For
Are you ready to take the next step into privacy and security, ready enough to give up your existing email and start with a brand-new one? And ready to spend a bit more than you would for a product without encryption? StartMail encrypts your messages to foil snoopers and masks your email address to prevent spam and abuse of your real address.
PROS
- Automatic PGP message encryption with StartMail users
- Password-based encryption with nonusers
- Create and manage temporary email addresses
- Slick new user interface
CONS
- No mobile apps
- Relatively expensive
SPECS
| Name | Value |
|---|---|
| On-the-Fly Aliases | |
| Reply From Alias | |
| Multi-Factor Authentication | |
| Online Mailbox | |
| Free Account Offered | |
| Email Encryption | |
| Forwards to Multiple Addresses |
Bulc Club
Best for Detailed Settings
Why We Picked It
The free Bulc Club service aims to defend your inbox from the deluge of bulk mail that often results when you give your email address to an online merchant. It supports what it calls email forwarders that are generated at random, built on custom words, or created on the fly when you’re away from your devices. For truly ephemeral email, you can use it to create one-time-use BulcBurner addresses.
If any of your email forwarders become infested with spam, you can disable or delete them, as with most similar services. But Bulc Club goes further, with the ability to keep a forwarder active but block specific addresses or domains. You can even go so far as to block a domain but allow a specific address from that domain. You can’t reply to emails forwarded by Bulc Club, which makes some sense, given its emphasis on taming bulk mail.
Who It’s For
Want to protect your email address from exposure, but don’t want to pay? Bulc Club does the job at no charge, and it offers finer control than most over just who can send you email.
PROS
- Create disposable email addresses on the fly
- Built in reputation-based spam filtering
- Free
CONS
- Can’t reply to forwarded emails
- No two-factor authentication
SPECS
| Name | Value |
|---|---|
| On-the-Fly Aliases | |
| Reply From Alias | |
| Multi-Factor Authentication | |
| Online Mailbox | |
| Free Account Offered | |
| Email Encryption | |
| Forwards to Multiple Addresses |
Burner Mail
Best for Chrome and Firefox Users
Why We Picked It
Most temporary email services exist as local apps or online web apps. Burner Mail is different—it’s an extension for Firefox or Chromium-based browsers such as Chrome itself, Brave, Edge, and Vivaldi.) On the one hand, that means if you rely on an unsupported browser such as Safari, you can’t use it. On the other hand, its browser integration lets it interact directly with web forms that request an email address.
Burner Mail doesn’t let you gin up burner emails offline, but it does give you full control over where it forwards mail, including forwarding to multiple receiving addresses. You can even create burners that don’t forward anywhere and access those through an online mailbox.
Who It’s For
Clearly, Burner Mail is designed for those who spend their time online in Chrome or Firefox. If you fit that profile, you’ll find it very convenient.
PROS
- Easily creates and manages unlimited burner (disposable) email addresses
- Can forward to multiple real-world addresses
- Online mailbox available
- Supports multi-factor authentication
- Thorough onboarding
CONS
- No support for browsers other than Chrome and Firefox
- Expensive for what it does
SPECS
| Name | Value |
|---|---|
| On-the-Fly Aliases | |
| Reply From Alias | |
| Multi-Factor Authentication | |
| Online Mailbox | |
| Free Account Offered | |
| Email Encryption | |
| Forwards to Multiple Addresses |
ManyMe
Best for Free Email Masking
Why We Picked It
Any tool to protect security or privacy has to be frictionless, else it won’t get used. ManyMe starts off right by being totally free—no budget worries! You can easily create random or custom email aliases in the app or invent what it calls FlyBy addresses when you’re offline.
You don’t get multi-factor authentication with ManyMe, but there’s a handy option to lock down a temporary address so it receives messages only from a specific sender. Other messages then go into quarantine, along with suspected spam. ManyMe also strips out executable attachments and holds other attachments at arm’s length, letting you preview them before downloading.
Who It’s For
You know that protecting your email address from unnecessary exposure is a good thing, but you just don’t have the ready cash to pay for that sort of protection. Fear not! ManyMe does the job, and does it well, without charging for its service.
PROS
- Hides your email account behind disposable FlyBy email addresses
- FlyBy addresses don't need to be pre-registered
- Free
CONS
- Some security issues with the signup process
- Not compatible with every email system
- Browser extension for Chrome only
- Can't change main email address after signup
- No multi-factor authentication
SPECS
| Name | Value |
|---|---|
| On-the-Fly Aliases | |
| Reply From Alias | |
| Multi-Factor Authentication | |
| Online Mailbox | |
| Free Account Offered | |
| Email Encryption | |
| Forwards to Multiple Addresses |
Do Temporary Email Addresses Have Other Names?
Depending on which service you use, you’ll find many different names for the email addresses that serve to hide your actual email. One official-sounding term is disposable email address (DEA), thus named because you can discard it if you begin to get spam or any other problems. Alias is another common term—and a handy one.
It's Surprisingly Easy to Be More Secure Online
Spies and crooks in stories use burner phones to avoid tracing; burner email is the equivalent term. Other services use terms like email forwarder, masked email, and even FlyBy email. Whatever you call it, the effect is the same. You smoothly communicate via email without ever exposing your actual address.
How Does a Temporary Email Service Work?
Let’s say you want to buy a Mandalorian helmet online. The etailer requires your email address to complete the transaction, but instead of revealing it, you fill in a disposable alias. For some services you’ll launch an app to get that alias; others may put an icon right in the email data-entry field. The merchant sends any correspondence to the temporary inbox, but thanks to the service, the incoming email winds up in your regular inbox. When you reply, it seems to come from the temporary email address. You also use a different alias for each merchant or other correspondent.
Masking your true email address helps protect your privacy, but that’s not the only benefit: If one of your temporary inboxes starts to receive spam, you can just cut off forwarding of incoming email from that alias or delete it entirely. Some services offer finer-grained control. For example, Bulc Club lets you block a sender or sending domain from reaching a specific alias. ManyMe does the reverse, letting you lock an alias to a specific sender while blocking all others. With Cloaked, you can associate an identity with one or more email contacts and reject others or set cloaked phone numbers so a first-time caller doesn't ring through.
What Are the Varieties of Disposable Email Addresses?
In a very real sense, the exact name of a temporary email doesn’t matter. It could be jg6tl73bwvhh, or Midwest_bepinch, or 69c61d15-7a7d-4145-aeb1-1e6a3cca2776. You don’t have to remember it: A disposable email service takes care of that. All the services described here include the ability to generate random names like these.
When it comes to managing your email aliases, though, you may be happier if the names contain a hint of their provenance. Most of these services also permit custom names of one kind or another. The layout varies, but it always involves a component specific to your account plus a descriptive section like PlumberKate or CoffeeShop.
Sometimes, you want to give a newly met acquaintance or business associate an email alias, but connecting to your temporary email service would be awkward. With Bulc Club, ManyMe, and SimpleLogin, you can simply make up a temporary address on the fly. As long as you follow the correct format, that alias will get created as soon as it’s used. Such an alias might look like myaccount[email protected] or CoffeeShop@myaccount.bulc.club.
Multi-Factor Authentication for Enhanced Security
A temporary email service has access to all your email messages, even if it does nothing more than forward them. If a malefactor cracked such a service, it would be just as bad as if your actual email account got hacked. Naturally, these services password-protect your account and data, but some take security to the next level.
What Is Two-Factor Authentication?
With multi-factor authentication (MFA) enabled someone who hacks, steals, or shoulder-surfs your password still can’t get into the account. Full access requires another factor, such as your fingerprint or a code sent to an authenticator app on your mobile phone. Burner Mail, IronVest, SimpleLogin, and StartMail all offer multi-factor authentication using Google Authenticator or one of the many work-alikes. SimpleLogin goes beyond the rest, with support for authentication via YubiKey or another hardware security key. MFA in Clocked isn't quite as fancy; you get your code via text or SMS.
What Other Bonuses Do You Get With Disposable Email?
Taking good care of your aliases is all that a temporary email address service truly has to do, especially if it’s doing the job for free. However, some of these services offer a few to a slew of bonus features.
With IronVest, masking email addresses is just the start. It then masks credit cards and even your phone number. It also includes a complete (if simple) password manager, an active Do Not Track system for your browsers, and more. Cloaked also integrates password management. As a bonus, Cloaked users get million-dollar insurance against identity theft (though identity monitoring isn't included).
StartMail provides encryption for messages to your trusted correspondents alongside temporary email addresses for those who aren’t trusted. Bulc Club offers the option to create totally ephemeral one-time-use email addresses. Finally, BurnerMail, IronVest, ManyMe, and StartMail let you view and manage your email online.
Recommended by Our Editors
How Much Does Hiding Your Email Cost?
Bulc Club and ManyMe have a very simple pricing proposition—they’re totally free. IronVest and SimpleLogin offer a free tier of service but with limitations. A free IronVest account manages your passwords, masks your email addresses, and blocks web trackers, but that’s all. With SimpleLogin, free accounts are limited to 15 aliases, and advanced features aren’t available.
A full subscription for SimpleLogin runs $30 per year, while Burner Mail undercuts that price by one cent. The feature-laden IronVest costs $39 per year. And to get the combined email encryption and address masking of StartMail, you’ll pay $59.95 per year.
That leaves Cloaked alone at the top, price-wise. Its annual fee of $180 is more than four times what you pay for IronVest. You'll have to decide if its seamless integration of cloaked email, cloaked phones, and password management is worth the fee.
Other Guerrilla Mail Techniques
Private-Mail, Skiff, and Tutanota focus on encrypting your email to keep it safe from prying eyes. All three also include some kind of temporary mail system, but all are seriously limited. At the top pricing tier for each, these products limit you to 20, 10, and 5 aliases, respectively. In addition, Skiff and Tutanota restrict your ability to delete aliases once created. These products aren’t suitable if you want the full power of a temporary email service.
If you dig deeply into Gmail's settings, you'll find references to two types of email aliases. One involves processing another email address that you own along with your regular Gmail. The other refers to creating "aliases" for sorting purposes by appending text after a plus sign, something like [email protected]. The former is awkward; the latter doesn't hide your actual email. Outlook.com does let you create true aliases, but it's nowhere near as convenient as these dedicated services.
