Earlier, email addresses were considered a permanent mode of communication, like your physical address. However, given the frequency of privacy breaches, numerous disposable email service providers exist today to provide you with the best temporary email address to protect your privacy.
Even if you are a relatively new internet user, you must have experienced the following scenario.
You want to subscribe to a website you like (free or otherwise), so you sign up for a new account and provide the website with your email address. It all looks pretty innocent until this point. But then, you notice your inbox getting lots of spam and unwanted targeted advertising. Eventually, you realize that sharing your email address exposes your personal account to new risks.
It’s a sad but true reality of the digital life that you often need to provide your email data to join a website you want, inadvertently exposing yourself to unforeseen consequences, annoying at best and dangerous at worst.
So, can I avoid putting myself in such a risky situation as I look for helpful content? We hear you ask.
Fortunately, the answer is a resounding yes! Things like a disposable email account are meant to help you prevent such privacy risks.
This article will tell you about disposable emails, the best providers, and how and why to use them to your advantage.
Top temporary mail services – The quick list
Don’t have time to go through the detailed description of each provider? No worries. This section gives you its gist by quickly listing the best secure, disposable email providers online.
- ProtonMail: Disposable mail is only one of the many exciting features on offer with the world’s leader in email privacy.
- 10minuteMail: A solution without any complications. Simple, quick, and effective.
- Temp Mail: It does the trick and offers more. The Premium plan helps users interested in getting rid of the ads and get some extra storage time.
- Guerrilla Mail: A service as disruptive as the name suggests. It deals with spam even before you can notice it, and it’s highly customizable.
- EmailOnDeck: A service that shows its genuine commitment to privacy by enforcing all the right policies.
- Maildrop: A great disposable mail service with powerful spam filters that blocks any spam messages and does not require the setting up an account.
- Anonaddy: A Free platform with affordable premium options and robust security features.
- Gmailnator: It provides Gmail email addresses and lets you generate disposable emails with a click!
- 33MAIL: It offers a free version with unlimited aliases and ensures perfect anonymity.
- E4ward: A superb service that allows you to create customized and auto-generated temporary email domain addresses.
What are temporary email services?
Precisely, a disposable email service meets three specifications:
- It doesn’t need a pre-registration process.
- It’s offered for free.
- It exists only for a fixed period.
So, disposable mail will have a relatively short lifespan, as it will expire at some point soon. Once the expiration date arrives, the email vanishes into digital limbo, and you can’t ever use it again.
This is not the email address you will hand out to your friends, family, or business partners.
A disposable email address service gets you all the advantages of a stable one when opening accounts on new websites without putting up with the spam storm that often follows.
Despite this service’s usefulness, many internet users remain unaware of temp email providers, how they can help protect online privacy, and the relevance of these communication tools. Well, in your case, we’re about to fix that.
Types of temporary email addresses
The three main types of disposable emails are listed below:
- A disposable address is the most popular type of temp email address. You can only access it once and for a limited duration. 10Minute Mail is a good example of this disposable email address.
- An Alias email address: This is an email address that links to your main email account. Every mail sent to this account will also be delivered to your main account. You should create this account with random information to safeguard your privacy and anonymity. Moreover, the alias address is permanent and may be used to sign up on various platforms. Also, you can use Gmail and other email services that support Alias addresses.
- A forwarding email address. It is an email address used to forward emails to your main email address. It serves as a middleman and has a longer lifespan than other types. AnonyAddy is a good example of this type of email.
10 best temporary email providers – The detailed list
Now that you know about temporary emails, let’s delve into the details of our chosen best disposable email providers.
Of course, every service in the list will instantly give you a new email address that will evaporate after the set period. But each vendor has a little extra to offer, hence becoming unique.
Wondering how we develop our top choices for secure email providers? Well, here’s what we deemed essential for a truly excellent provider.
- Security: There is no point in having a disposable email address if it doesn’t protect your privacy.
- Automation. The best vendors should delete email messages and addresses consistently in a periodic manner.
- Friendliness. It shouldn’t take a seasoned power user to enjoy the advantages of temporary emails. So, a good provider should give you a straightforward service that even your grandmother could use quickly.
While you may find one of the following picks best meets your digital lifestyle, they are all excellent and reliable choices. Moreover, they are all good enough that, if need be, you could choose anyone at random.
1. ProtonMail
Looking for a solid and well-balanced service that will manage your emails, distinguish between priority and spam messages, have enhanced privacy features, and even get a VPN at your disposal (in the best plan only)? You just found it.
ProtonMail is much more than an instant email address generator, thus leading the realm of email privacy and security. This service allows you to access all your additional email accounts from your same primary account.
ProtonMail offers a free service, but you can upgrade to several plans that will cost you from 4 to 8 USD monthly. If you find 8 USD too much to pay for a disposable email, consider that you will also get a VPN service good enough to rival the best VPN services, such as ExpressVPN or NordVPN.
This service allows you to create digital identities for various purposes according to your needs or wishes.
The interface lets you keep all your messages well organized so that your inbox remains free of crap messages. Premium users can email using the “pm.me” alternative domain name. (Free users can only use this domain to receive messages.)
Interestingly, this email provider hails from Switzerland, where individual digital rights are relevant to the government and supported by legislation. The servers are hidden behind a thick granite wall under the Alps that can withstand a nuclear blast.
Moreover, the company is thoroughly committed to protecting its users’ privacy, and, in this regard, it doesn’t limit itself to talking the talk. ProtonMail has walked in the Swiss courts of law, proving itself beyond any doubt.
Your ProtonMail data is encrypted, so the provider can’t read it. Although, it’s somewhat complicated (you can’t search your emails with keywords from the messages because of the encryption). Yet, it’s a small price to pay for the greatly enhanced privacy you get from this platform.
Emails in ProtonMail are encrypted end-to-end, as is your entire disk within the server. It keeps no IP logs; you must provide no personal details as you sign up for it.
2. 10-Minute Mail
Have you ever wondered how much you can get done online in 10 minutes? With 10-minute mail, this time is enough for you to create a temporary email account (lasting 600 seconds) and send an anonymous message.
The 10-Minute Mail website is truly simple, straightforward, and friendly. Anyone can understand it at a glance and use it without further instructions.
The idea behind the site is simple: you get there and create a new email address. The address will be active for 10 minutes (though you can extend its life to 100 minutes if you want). Any message addressed to your temporary mail will be in your inbox for those 10 minutes. Then, the server will delete it automatically when the time runs out.
Don’t sweat if the site you want to join asks you to click a verification link. The mail with the link will arrive in your 10-Minute Mail inbox. So you can do the deed in time.
The only package available in 10-Minute Mail is the free plan, which is excellent news for those on a budget. But regardless of the cost, every user gets all the features.
This service guarantees complete anonymity in your email exchanges. Its interface is utterly transparent, so even the most basic users can use it easily. Probably, that’s why it has no customer support at all –nobody would need it anyway.
3. Temp Mail
Temp Mail is one of the leading disposable email services. It does not collect personal details, logs no IP addresses, or delete any of your generated mail until you do that yourself and the disposable emails don’t come as time bombs. Also, the company makes its policy terms transparent and explicit in a document, which is appreciable.
Although not every user may like this no-expiry feature because it might clutter the account, that also means that you don’t have to keep requesting time extensions when you need them, as is the case with 10-Minute Mail.
The inbox and overall user interface are simple, intuitive, easy to use, and suitable for all users. It looks, feels, and works just like any other webmail inbox you’ve used.
Temp Mail also features an API to integrate into another app or your website. Moreover, it includes extensions for Android, iOS, and Google Chrome and mobile apps for iOS and Android.
Besides, it also offers customer support through a live contact form featuring an extensive and helpful FAQ section. But don’t expect phone support or live chat features here.
4. Guerrilla Mail
When your browser takes you to the Guerrilla Mail website, you’ll be tempted to look for something else. That’s because the website is ugly, and it seems too simple to be of any help at all. But don’t give in. It is one of the world’s best and most potent disposable mail services, offering some exclusive features.
The most noticeable unique feature in Guerrilla Mail is the “WTF?” button, which is a touch of style and humor. It will introduce you to other components in this website that are every bit as unique, if not more. The Guerrilla Mail’s way of doing business is nothing if not disruptive; let us explain why.
You don’t need to set up an account to use Guerrilla Mail, so you don’t need to provide an email address. But what’s unique here is that you will get no password or username for your email ID. Instead, you will have an inbox ID, your operations center in Guerrilla Mail.
Your inbox will show you all the incoming mail for the email addresses you generate. These addresses can last as long as you want –they can even be permanent. The incoming mail is deleted after an hour, and the server automatically filters out the spam, so there’s no danger of having a cluttered inbox.
The service provides you with several domain names to create the email addresses you want with no limitations.
Another feature that sets Guerrilla Mail apart is that it allows for attachments in email messages –up to 150MB in size. This feature is still in the beta testing stage. But all the comments we’ve found about it so far confirm that it works fine.
So, is Guerrilla Mail the perfect temporary email service? Almost.
However, anybody who can guess your inbox ID can access it because no account or password is associated. So, don’t use this service for sharing sensitive information; make sure you choose an ID that’s hard to guess.
5. EmailOnDeck
Few services are as straightforward to use as EmailOnDeck. It takes no more than two simple steps to get a brand-new disposable email address of your own. In addition, the service is free, and your incoming messages stay there for 24 hours, more or less.
EmailOnDeck is constantly deleting mail and logs. They do it to save money, but it also serves user privacy. Also, you shouldn’t pick this one for any long-term task.
Sending an email, though, is not that simple. First, you need to be a Premium user to do that. Otherwise, you can only send emails to other EmailOnDeck accounts –with the bonus that it’s secure mail.
6. Maildrop
Maildrop is among the top disposable email providers, allowing you to register a unique email address using the maildrop.cc domain name. This temporary email service does not require signing up for an account or using passwords. You only need to input a username of your choice, and the disposable email will be generated automatically with an alias address.
This email service has various filters powered by Heluna, which help you avoid spam attempts from reaching your inbox. It protects your mailbox from spammers by significantly minimizing total spam to zero. The company only logs email and web connections but does not collect or monitor your personal information.
Furthermore, it limits the length of HTML emails or Plain text message content entering inboxes to less than 500k. Also, it offers enough storage space for all the messages but only saves up to ten messages in the inbox. Additionally, any inbox that fails to receive mail within 24 hours clears automatically.
7. AnonAddy
AnonyAddy is a superb email forwarding provider that offers dependable throwaway email services. It is a free, open-source platform that generates unlimited email aliases. When creating a disposable email address, you can use your real name or choose a random username for anonymity. However, to get the temporary email address, you must first register an account using your email address.
Furthermore, AnonAddy protects your emails by restricting unauthorized access, using OpenSSL and AES-256 CBC cipher encryption, and a 2FA feature. This disposable email service respects your privacy by not recording your personal information or emails unless otherwise specified in its terms of service. Also, it stores all the data on highly secure servers in the Netherlands.
Unfortunately, the free version has limited features, like only allowing two recipients, having only 20 shared domain aliases, and allocating 10MB of monthly bandwidth. On the other hand, the LITE package includes 50 shared domain aliases and 5 recipients for a low monthly fee of $1. However, the pro plan costs $3/month and offers unlimited shared domain aliases, bandwidth, and 30 recipients.
8. Gmailnator
Gmailnator is a free disposable email service that provides Gmail email accounts. You simply need to visit the Gmailnator site to get your temporary email address, and then click ‘Generate New’ to choose any other email address you prefer.
It has a custom email feature that prevents spam messages from reaching the mailbox. Additionally, it functions on sites that restrict temporary emails and circumvents Steam’s email filter, making it one of the best. Also, the service includes outstanding features like generating a 10-minute email that deletes emails at ten-minute intervals. Also, it offers at least 1000 generated emails for sharing anonymous emails and allows you to generate many Gmail addresses for free.
The platform has a user-friendly interface with news, blogs, and a FAQ section. You can also enquire from its knowledgeable customer support using your email.
However, the free version contains many annoying pop-up ads, but you can dispose of them by upgrading to the premium option, which has more advanced features. It also collects some of your data, like location, IP address, browser information, and other details that may compromise your privacy.
9. 33MAIL
33MAIL is a perfect choice if you seek a free platform to sign up for online services while maintaining complete anonymity. It generates millions of temporary email services daily, which you can access after signing up for a username and a password.
The free Lite version permits the generation of unlimited aliases but has a monthly bandwidth limit of 10GB, which stores mail for a given duration. It also offers various premium versions that include additional features and more bandwidth.
Furthermore, it includes a distinct feature that limits attachment sizes, which are summed to the limited monthly bandwidth. Fortunately, the service has clear terms of service and does not disclose or log your data with third parties, enhancing your online safety and privacy. The blog and FAQ sections give detailed guidance on how to use this platform.
10. E4ward
E4ward is one of the best disposable email service providers where you can create customized and auto-generated domain email addresses. You must register for an account and follow the three outlined simple steps to get the temporary email address.
The service offers both free and premium subscription plans. However, the free plan is limited to a 500MB bandwidth limit per month. On the other hand, the premium version allocates 1000MB-2000MB monthly bandwidth. It also filters spam messages from your inbox and blocks emails based on the recipient’s address.
Among the most remarkable E4ward features is the ability to create various email addresses for each contact and forward emails to your actual email address. Additionally, it conceals your real email address while responding to emails by employing the address rewriting feature. The 2FA feature is also available to improve your email security.
Other anonymous or temporary email providers on the Internet
While the disposable email service providers listed above are the best, they are not the only ones offering temporary email addresses. Instead, there are plenty of other options for you to explore. Here are some more of them:
- TrashMail
- ThrowAwayMail
- OwlyMail
- MyTemp
- MohMal
- Mailinator
- MailCatch
- LuxusMail
- GetNada
Disposable email addresses – What are they?
How cool would it be to live in a spam-free world where we could use a single email address for every purpose? While it’s inspiring, unfortunately, it is far from reality.
In our digital world, spam exists, and we need to make a real effort to fend it off. An effective measure to keep spam emails at bay is to have one or many temporary email addresses and let them act as a sink for unwanted mail.
But what are disposable emails, precisely?
To understand it better, consider the keywords; “disposable” and “temporary.”
Disposable means you can use it and throw it into the digital trash can once you’re done with it. Temporary means it won’t last long, let alone forever –only as long as it’s useful for you to complete a task.
So, the typical email accounts in Outlook, Gmail, or Yahoo don’t fit this description. They’re also different in that most conventional email services need you to create an account by providing personal information.
In the past, nothing could stop you from giving Gmail a fake name or address. But as smartphones are increasingly integrated into our digital lives, hiding behind false information is more difficult. Today, providing an actual mobile phone number is becoming a standard requirement to register an email account.
In contrast, temporary email addresses usually don’t need you to provide personal data.
If you visit these sites, you’ll find that each has a different procedure to serve the disposable address. Once you have it, you can use it as a regular email address because it’s just as authentic and valid.
The email inbox you use to keep in touch with your friends, family, business associates, and other essential matters will remain spam-free! Moreover, you won’t have to see spam with some providers listed above!
However, keep in mind that disposable email accounts have their limitations. They will never substitute for a Gmail or Yahoo account.
But, of course, they’re not supposed to serve that way. Temporary emails are around to accomplish the specific purpose of maintaining anonymity, and they do it very well.
Do you really need a temporary email address? Yes, here’s why.
In the past, academic interchange and scientific exchange drove the internet forward. But now, things have changed. If the current internet has any force driving it forward, it’s good old convenience, no more, no less.
In this context, providing your primary email address looks easier than getting a temporary email. But if you take that road, your email reaches every spam list on the planet. Eventually, you’ll realize how that spam gets you at increasing numbers, making your inbox a nightmare to use for its original purposes. That’s where the best temporary disposable email service providers help you.
However, there are plenty of good reasons to use disposable emails other than evading spam. Let’s have a look at some of them.
1. Spend your money with a light heart
Shopping online is a good use case for temporary emails as well.
The things you want to buy often become unavailable at Amazon, AliExpress, and other e-commerce giants. So, you might want to rush when you find your desired magical object available at another quirky little website you don’t know.
That site might also require you to open an account before buying its stuff. But you don’t know this site. You have never used it before; none of your friends have either, so you have no references to go by. So, you can’t determine if it’s trustworthy until you sign up for an account and attempt to complete your purchase.
That’s where this email address comes in handy. You don’t need to trust this website if you give it an email; you can throw it away when no more is required.
2. Ghosting a website
Ghosting is a terrible thing to do to other people. But it’s ok to do it on websites if you ask us.
You must have encountered an app or website needing service or content urgently. Still, you know that it’s a one-time deal and that you’ll never revisit the website or uninstall the app after the necessity is satisfied.
This is, again, a situation where using a temporary email will help your peace of mind.
Similarly, you might want to try a free-trial offer while ensuring you wiggle out of any commitment without problems. And you won’t keep getting all those annoying emails inviting you to return to that service and subscribe again. So here again, a temporary email can be a savior for you.
3. Staying safe – The small print
Every time you’ve installed an app or joined a website of any kind, you’ve consented to the terms of service.
But did you ever actually have a look at the terms? If you didn’t, how would you ensure that you didn’t give the app or server permission to share your personal information with their commercial partners or release your email address to advertisers, data analysts, or hackers?
No, it’s not paranoia if somebody is out to get you. Cases like this have been thoroughly documented. So, we know it happens more often than you’d like.
But, again, the solution to this security risk is to share a temporary or disposable email from the best provider. It will be good enough to secure access to the service, but you can forget it once the deed is done.
4. Spam central
This is a primary threat to anyone who uses an email address. Unsubscribing from these lists is tiring because you end up receiving more spam. However, you can opt for disposable emails to evade this intrusion and protect your main account from being targeted or identified by spambots.
Disadvantages of using a temporary email
While disposable email addresses are helpful for some activities, we do not advocate using them to share or receive personal data such as bank statements. Disposable emails are communal, implying that many users can access a single account. Furthermore, most of these emails are disposable, allowing them to auto-delete after a set period. It can be a challenge if you sign up for a platform and eventually require a password reset.
Other ways to improve your privacy online
Apart from using disposable email addresses, there are multiple ways to safeguard your online privacy from threats like hackers, malware, and spyware. Some of the measures you can consider to boost your privacy are as follows:
1. A VPN service
A trustworthy Virtual Private Network (VPN) will encrypt and route your traffic through an alternative server, assigning you a new IP address. As a result, hackers and other third parties cannot track or monitor your online activities. We recommend a reliable VPN service like ExpressVPN.
2. An antivirus program
Cybercrime is a serious concern because hackers continuously develop new methods of distributing malware to trap unwary online users. We recommend using a top-notch antivirus like Norton 360, which offers robust security.
A trustworthy antivirus should have features like anti-fraud, anti-ransom, anti-spyware, and a firewall to protect offline and online privacy.
3. A password manager
A safe password manager helps you create, store, and manage your passwords on your accounts. A reputable password manager like Keeper would be best to safeguard your privacy. A reliable password manager offers essential features like AES 256-bit encryption, 2-factor Authentication, etc.
4. Deleting your personal information from the internet
Some personal information on the web may risk your privacy if cybercriminals discover it. If you have a regrettable profile or an online account you wish to get rid of, Incogni is our top recommendation. It searches your personal data across multiple platforms and provides a detailed report of all sources, where you can delete your information from each specific platform.
Conclusion
Having your email address on some of the world’s spam lists is annoying and dangerous today.
Honestly, the constant demand that every app and site imposes over your email address is nothing short of abusive. And things are not about to improve in any way. They’re likely to worsen soon as the demand for digital services explodes globally.
Temporary or disposable email addresses are gifts from the best service providers to keep your inbox free of unwanted garbage. Thus, you can focus on the important stuff instead of wasting time deleting spam.
Granted, these are not services you could use several times daily (excluding some services, like Guerilla Mail). But you may wish to test every platform to pick the one that best suits your internet activities.
Every option on our list works very well. Some have additional exciting features, like ProtonMail’s excellent VPN.
These websites are not luxury toys for the geekiest users. Instead, they’re legitimate defensive tools that improve your safety and quality of life if you use them properly.
Additionally, they are all easy to use and 100% free of charge. Also, these services are some rare exceptions in digital economics as each is legitimate instead of a scam, unlike most free VPNs, proxy servers, etc.
So, pondering over these best disposable service providers offering temporary email addresses may help save your email privacy in the long run.
Enjoy safe browsing!
FAQs
Temporary emails are not illegal; however, they can be abused if used for illicit purposes. As a result, you should use these emails responsibly and refrain from engaging in any prohibited activities.
These emails are not meant for long-term use. Depending on the service provider, they may last a few hours or days. Some service providers may offer extended durations for premium versions.
Most disposable temporary email addresses can be tracked, depending on the provider’s level of protection. It would be best to consider using throwaway email addresses responsibly by evading incriminating acts.
Most disposable email services are free. However, some service providers offer premium versions with extra features or longer retention periods.