Three tools, defined by who reads the mail
The names get used interchangeably, and the marketing does not help — “burner” in particular is sold as all three. The clean way to tell them apart is to follow the message: after the site presses send, where does it land, and who can open it?
- Temp mail (disposable, throwaway, temporary)
- An address on a public domain, on somebody else’s server. Nothing is created and nothing is owned: the mailbox exists when the first message arrives, anyone who knows the address can open it on the service’s site, and the messages are deleted after a fixed window — 5 days here. What temp mail is has the full definition.
- Email alias (masked email, relay, forwarding address)
- An address that forwards into your real inbox. You read the mail where you read everything else; the site never learns your real address; and when the alias starts receiving junk you switch it off and only that sender is cut. Most alias services also let you reply through the alias, so the conversation never reveals you.
- Burner email
- A second, real mailbox — an account at any provider — opened for one purpose and closed when it is done. It receives, it sends, it can recover a password, and it lasts exactly as long as you keep it. The cost is that it is a whole mailbox to remember and log into.
A fourth thing is worth naming because it looks like an alias and is not: you+shop@gmail.com. Plus-addressing is your real address with a tag; every sender can see the real address and can strip the tag in one line. It sorts your mail; it does not hide you.
Side by side
Eight things people actually care about, honestly filled in. The temp-mail column describes this service; other temporary-mail services differ mostly in the lifetime row.
| Temp mail | Alias | Burner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who can read the mail | Anyone who knows the address | Only you, in your real inbox | Only you, in the second inbox |
| Needs an account | No — nothing to create | Yes, at the alias service | Yes, at a mail provider |
| Messages last | 5 days, then deleted | As long as you keep them | As long as the mailbox exists |
| Can recover a password later | Only within 5 days, and anyone with the address could too | Yes | Yes, while it is open |
| Can reply or send | No — receive only | Usually, through the alias | Yes |
| Accepted by strict sign-up forms | Often refused — the public domains are on the blocklists | Usually accepted; some alias domains are listed | Accepted — it is an ordinary mailbox |
| Stops the spam that follows | Completely; it never reaches you | Yes, once you switch the alias off | Yes, once you close the mailbox |
| Costs | Nothing, no card | Free tiers exist; unlimited aliases usually paid | Free at most providers; your time |
The decision rule
At the form, you have about four seconds to decide. One question settles most cases and two follow-ups settle the rest:
- Would you mind losing this account? If losing it would cost you nothing — a download, a forum, a trial you are curious about — use a temporary address. If you would be upset, you need an address that reaches you: go to the next question.
- Will you ever need to reply from it? If the account is just something that emails you — receipts, notifications, a newsletter you want — an alias is enough, and it keeps your real address out of the sender’s database. If you will write back, an alias that replies through itself still works; if it has to look like a normal correspondent, a burner.
- Is money or identity involved? Then none of the three: use your real address, with an alias at most. The last section says why.
Most people who work through this find the split is roughly nine temporary addresses for every alias, and a burner once or twice a year. That is the right ratio: the tool with no account should be the default, and the tools with accounts should be the exception you can name.
Using them together
They are not competitors. A workable setup uses all three, each for the thing it is best at:
- Temp mail for the ninety percent
- Every sign-up that is a formality. Pick a random name, read the one message that matters, and let the rest expire. Signing up without your real address covers the habits.
- The alias trick inside temp mail
- Every mailbox here has a second address, on a separate domain, that delivers into it and cannot be used to read it. Give the site that one and keep the real address for yourself: the site can write to you, and whoever holds what you gave them cannot open the inbox. It is the alias idea applied to a mailbox nobody owns.
- A real alias for the ten percent
- The accounts you want to keep get an alias from a service you have an account with. One alias per site, so that when one starts leaking you know who sold it and you cut exactly that one.
And when a form refuses the temporary address, do not escalate to an alias by reflex — first ask whether the account matters. If it does not, why sign-up forms block disposable email has the honest ways round the refusal, including a domain of your own.
Alias services worth knowing
This site does not offer aliases in the forwarding sense — it has no account to forward to, which is the point of it. For the accounts that need one, these are the established options; all of them forward into your real inbox and let you disable an alias per sender:
- SimpleLogin and addy.io — independent alias services with generous free tiers, reply-through, and your own domain if you want it. The usual recommendation when you want aliases as a habit.
- Firefox Relay — Mozilla’s, integrated into the browser’s form autofill. A handful of aliases free, more on the paid tier.
- Hide My Email — Apple’s, built into iCloud+ and Safari’s autofill on Apple devices. Effortless if you live there; invisible if you do not.
- DuckDuckGo Email Protection and Proton aliases — free forwarding with tracker stripping from DuckDuckGo; Proton’s aliases come with its mail plans and are built on SimpleLogin.
Details of tiers and limits change; check each service. What does not change is the shape: an account, an alias per sender, mail delivered to you, and a switch to cut it.
When none of them is the answer
Three kinds of account should carry your real address — with an alias in front of it at most, never a temporary address and rarely a burner:
- Anything with money in it. Banks, payment services, marketplaces, tax. The mail is evidence, and the account recovery is your money.
- Anything that identifies you. Government services, healthcare, your employer. These accounts are you, and an address that anyone can read or that expires is a liability in both directions.
- The recovery address for your other accounts. The address that resets your main mailbox’s password must outlive everything else you own. A burner you might forget to renew is the wrong place for it.
The short version
- Would you mind losing it? No — temp mail, with the alias handed to the site.
- Yes, and it only ever writes to you — an alias, one per sender.
- Yes, and you have to write back as a normal person — a burner mailbox.
- Money, identity or recovery — your real address, alias in front at most.
The rest is habit. If temp mail is the tool for the case in front of you, how long an inbox lasts and what a tracking pixel learns are the two things worth knowing before you rely on it.
Questions
Is a burner email the same as temp mail?
In everyday speech, often. Strictly, a burner is a second real mailbox you control and can send from; temp mail is an address on a public domain that nobody owns and that expires. The row that separates them is who can read the mail — only you for a burner, anyone who knows the address for temp mail.
Can I get an alias from GrabMail?
Not a forwarding alias — there is no account here to forward to. What every mailbox does have is a second address that delivers into it and cannot read it, which solves a different problem: letting a site write to you without giving it the key to the inbox.
Do sign-up forms block aliases too?
Some do: the big alias services’ domains appear on some blocklists, and a strict form can refuse them. Far fewer than refuse temporary domains. If an alias is refused and the account matters, use a real address; if it does not matter, a temporary address on a domain of your own gets past most checks.
Which is more private?
Different things. An alias hides your real address from the sender but the mail is yours, on your provider, forever. Temp mail never touches your real inbox and leaves nothing behind after 5 days, but anyone who knows the address can read it meanwhile. Private from the sender: alias. Private from your own records: temp mail.
Can I use temp mail for a free trial and then switch to a real address?
If the service lets you change the account’s email later, yes, and it is a sensible pattern: trial on a temporary address, and only the accounts you keep get an alias. Check that the change is allowed before relying on it; some services lock the sign-up address.
What about a second Gmail or Outlook account as a burner?
That is exactly what a burner is, and it works. The costs are the ones in the table: an account to create and remember, a phone number that the provider may demand, and a mailbox that outlives its purpose unless you close it. For one sign-up it is more than you need; for a persona you will use for months it is the right tool.
