DuckDuckGo Email Protection is the easiest free choice, SimpleLogin is the most flexible, and Apple’s Hide My Email is the most convenient if you live on an iPhone. An email alias is a throwaway address that forwards to your real inbox. You give each website its own alias, so your primary address stays out of marketing lists, and you can switch off any alias that starts receiving spam without touching your real account.
The services differ on the things that matter after the first week: how many aliases the free plan allows, whether you can reply without exposing your real address, and who runs the forwarding. This guide compares SimpleLogin, DuckDuckGo Email Protection, Firefox Relay, Apple Hide My Email, and addy.io using each provider’s published limits, then explains how to set up a system that actually protects your inbox.
What an Email Alias Does, and What It Does Not
An alias sits between a website and your inbox. When a store sends a receipt to the alias, the alias service forwards it to your real address. The store never sees the real address. If the alias is leaked in a data breach or sold to a marketer, you disable that one alias and the rest of your accounts are unaffected.
An alias does not make you anonymous. The alias service reads your mail as it passes through, so you are trusting a provider with your messages in the same way you trust an email host. Apple’s support page says it does not read message content beyond standard spam filtering and deletes messages from its relay servers after delivery, usually within seconds. That is a policy statement, and you cannot verify it from the outside.
Aliases also do not protect an account on their own. If an attacker guesses the password for a shopping account, the alias does not help. Pair aliases with unique passwords and two-step login.
DuckDuckGo Email Protection: Best Free Option
DuckDuckGo’s help page describes Email Protection as a free service that lets you create unlimited unique private email addresses and forward mail to your existing inbox. It also removes several types of hidden email trackers before the message reaches you. Because it works with your current email account, you do not need to move contacts or manage a new mailbox.
A June 2026 roundup from Smart Secure Haven adds that the addresses use the duck.com domain, that reply support has historically been limited, and that DuckDuckGo had no paid tier as of mid-2026. That same roundup says the service is not open source.
The trade-off is control. You get a simple, free service with no alias cap, but you do not get custom domains or the deeper features of the paid services below.
SimpleLogin: Best for Control and Open Source
SimpleLogin is owned by Proton AG, a Swiss-registered company, according to SimpleLogin’s pricing page, which also describes the service as open source. The free plan includes 10 aliases and one mailbox, with unlimited bandwidth, reply from alias, browser extensions, iOS and Android apps, two-factor sign-in with authenticator codes or security keys, and the free tier of Proton Pass.
The paid Premium plan costs $36 per year, or $4 if billed monthly. It adds unlimited aliases, unlimited custom domains, catch-all domains, reverse-alias for starting new conversations, five subdomains, 50 directories, unlimited mailboxes, and PGP encryption, plus Proton Pass premium features.
Reply from alias is the feature that separates SimpleLogin from simpler tools. You can answer an email without revealing your real address, which matters for marketplace sales, landlord messages, and support tickets. The 10-alias free cap is tight, though. A person who signs up for dozens of services will reach it quickly and need to pay or reuse aliases.
Firefox Relay: Simple Masks, Limited Free Plan
Mozilla’s Firefox Relay page says everyone gets five email masks for free. The premium Email protection tier adds unlimited masks, a browser extension for creating masks on any site, tracker removal, blocking of promotional emails, a unique Relay email domain, and anonymous replies.
The page does not list a dollar price for that tier. It says the Email protection tier is available by joining a waitlist, and that higher tiers add a phone mask or Mozilla VPN, billed monthly. Because pricing and availability are unclear on the page, confirm the current terms before planning around the paid plan.
Five free masks is the smallest allowance in this comparison. Relay works best for people who want a few protected addresses for their most important sign-ups, and who already use Firefox.
Apple Hide My Email: Best for iPhone Users
Apple’s Hide My Email generates unique, random addresses that forward to your personal inbox. According to Apple, the addresses use the privaterelay.appleid.com domain, and only the app or website where you created the account can use that address to contact you. Apple’s page also says only emails from the designated addresses are forwarded.
Apple’s page describes the feature in the context of Sign in with Apple, where you choose Hide My Email when creating an account. To see which apps used it, open Settings, tap your name, then tap Sign in with Apple on iPhone or iPad, or use System Settings on a Mac. The page says you need an iCloud+ subscription to change the address Hide My Email forwards to. It does not state a maximum number of addresses.
The strength is integration. There is no extra app, and the address is created in the same screen as the account. The limit is ecosystem. If you switch away from Apple devices, your relay addresses live in Apple’s system, so plan for how you would move them.
addy.io: Self-Hosting and PGP
addy.io, formerly AnonAddy, is an independent, UK-operated service. Smart Secure Haven describes its free tier as generous, with thousands of aliases on the shared domain. The paid plan adds unlimited custom-domain aliases, inbound size limits, and rules based on location. The service supports PGP encryption of forwarded mail, is open source, and can be self-hosted on a small server. Replying from an alias requires the paid tier.
No prices appear in that source, so check addy.io’s own pricing page. The service suits people who want to run their own infrastructure or want encrypted forwarding.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Free Alias Limits
SimpleLogin allows 10 aliases and one mailbox. Firefox Relay allows five masks. DuckDuckGo allows unlimited addresses. addy.io offers thousands on a shared domain, according to the roundup. Apple’s page states no limit.
Replying Without Exposing Your Address
SimpleLogin includes reply from alias on the free plan. Firefox Relay includes anonymous replies in its premium tier. addy.io requires its paid tier. DuckDuckGo’s reply support has historically been limited, according to the roundup.
Custom Domains
SimpleLogin Premium supports unlimited custom domains. addy.io’s paid plan supports custom-domain aliases. DuckDuckGo, Apple, and Relay’s free tiers do not.
Ownership and Openness
SimpleLogin and addy.io are described as open source. SimpleLogin belongs to Proton AG. DuckDuckGo and Mozilla run their own services, and the roundup lists the Relay server code as only partly open source.
How to Set Up an Alias System
Step 1: Pick One Service
Choose based on your devices and how much you reply to messages. For a first try, DuckDuckGo is free and unlimited, and Apple’s option is built in on iPhone.
Step 2: Use a New Alias for Every New Account
Create an alias when you sign up, and name it after the site if the service lets you. When spam arrives at one alias, you will know which company leaked or sold it.
Step 3: Keep Your Real Address for a Short List
Banks, government services, and your employer need an address you control and can recover. Aliases work for shops, newsletters, forums, and trials.
Step 4: Switch Off Aliases That Attract Spam
Disabling an alias stops forwarding. Review your list a few times a year.
Step 5: Secure the Destination Inbox
Every alias forwards to one place. If that inbox is compromised, the aliases are too. Use a long unique password and two-step login on the real account.
Risks to Weigh
Provider Dependence
If a service shuts down or changes its terms, you may lose the aliases that your accounts use for recovery. Keep a record of which aliases you used where, and favor providers with a track record or open-source code.
Deliverability
Some websites block known alias domains. If a sign-up form rejects your alias, a custom domain on a paid plan usually gets through.
Account Recovery
A password reset email goes to the alias, which forwards to your inbox. If the alias is disabled or the service is down, the reset fails. Do not use aliases for accounts you cannot afford to lose access to.
False Sense of Security
Aliases limit what a breach reveals about your primary address. They do not stop phishing, and they do not replace unique passwords.
Which Service Fits Which Person
The Casual User Who Wants Zero Cost
DuckDuckGo Email Protection fits best. It is free, has no alias cap according to its help page, and forwards to the inbox you already use. You give up custom domains and the more advanced reply controls.
The Person Who Sells, Rents, or Negotiates Online
SimpleLogin’s reply from alias feature is the draw. Marketplace buyers, landlords, and contractors can write back to an alias without ever seeing your real address. The free plan’s 10 aliases may be enough if you reserve them for these cases.
The iPhone-Only User
Hide My Email is the lowest-effort option. It sits inside Sign in with Apple, so protecting an address takes one tap during sign-up. Remember that Apple’s page ties changing the forwarding address to an iCloud+ subscription.
The Privacy Tinkerer
addy.io’s open code, PGP forwarding, and self-hosting option appeal to people who want to inspect or run the system themselves.
What an Alias Costs Over a Year
The paid plans are cheap compared with the cost of cleaning up after a leak, but they are not free. SimpleLogin Premium is $36 per year on its pricing page, which works out to $3 per month, against $4 per month if billed monthly (that comparison is simple arithmetic from the page’s two prices). The sources reviewed do not publish prices for addy.io or Firefox Relay’s paid tier. Because Relay’s page puts its email tier behind a waitlist, a person who needs more than five masks today may be better served by another service.
A sensible test is to start on a free plan, create aliases for a month, and see whether you hit the cap. If you do, you have learned what you need, and paying then costs far less than guessing in advance.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an email alias?
It is an address that forwards mail to your real inbox. You can give it to a website so the site never sees your primary address, and you can disable it later without affecting your real account.
Which email alias service is free?
DuckDuckGo Email Protection is free with unlimited addresses. SimpleLogin has a free plan with 10 aliases, Firefox Relay has five free masks, and Apple’s Hide My Email works with Sign in with Apple.
Can I reply to email from an alias?
SimpleLogin’s free plan includes reply from alias. Relay includes anonymous replies in its premium tier, and addy.io requires a paid plan. DuckDuckGo’s reply support has historically been limited.
Is SimpleLogin owned by Proton?
Yes. SimpleLogin’s pricing page lists it as a product of Proton AG, registered in Switzerland.
Do email aliases stop spam?
They limit it. If an alias is sold or leaked, you can turn it off. Your primary address stays clean unless you gave it out elsewhere.
References and Sources
Smart Secure Haven, “Best Email Alias Services 2026: SimpleLogin vs addy.io vs Firefox Relay vs DuckDuckGo Email Protection”: https://smartsecurehaven.com/blog/2026-06-01-best-email-alias-services
SimpleLogin, “Pricing”: https://simplelogin.io/pricing/
DuckDuckGo, “What is DuckDuckGo Email Protection?”: https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/email-protection/what-is-duckduckgo-email-protection/
Mozilla, “Firefox Relay Premium”: https://relay.firefox.com/premium/
Apple Support, “What is Hide My Email?”: https://support.apple.com/en-us/105078
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