If you typed "where to" into a search box because you need a place to go right now that is free, legal, and requires no account or card, the best answer is not a single website but a tool: a free email alias that forwards to your real inbox. Services like addy.io and SimpleLogin give you a permanent, disposable-sounding address that you can hand out anywhere, and they will forward the mail to your actual email account, no signup for a new inbox, no payment details, and nothing to lose when the spam starts.
What an Alias Actually Solves
A throwaway mail site gives you a random inbox for ten minutes, then deletes it. That works for a one-time verification code, but it fails the moment you need a reply, a password reset, or a receipt. An alias is different: it is a real, permanent address that you control, and it forwards everything to your normal inbox. You can give out [email protected] to an online store, and when that store sells your address and the spam arrives, you just delete the alias. The mail stops. Your real inbox never sees it, and you never had to create a new account anywhere.
The other thing an alias solves is the "where to go" problem itself. Instead of going to a site, you go to a service that gives you a tool to use anywhere else. You are not looking for a destination; you are looking for a way to keep your real address private while you browse, sign up, and download. That is why the free tiers of these services are the right answer to your search.
The Free, Legal Destinations
These are the services that will do the job without costing you a cent, without asking for a card, and without forcing you to open a new email account. Each one is a legitimate, legal tool for hiding your real address.
addy.io
addy.io is the best starting point for most people. The free plan gives you unlimited standard aliases, plus 10 active shared-domain aliases (those end in @addy.io or similar), and you can set up one recipient address to receive the forwarded mail. You also get 10 MB of bandwidth per month, which is enough for hundreds of emails. It is free and open-source, and the free tier is a product decision by the people who run it, not a trial and not ad-supported. You do not need a card to sign up, and the service does not care which country you are in, though the official pages do not list specific countries. If you want to reply to an email without revealing your real address, this is the one to use.
SimpleLogin
SimpleLogin is the other heavyweight, and it is the one to pick if you want to reply from your alias. The service forwards all incoming mail to your real inbox, and you can hit reply and have the response go back out through the alias, so the other side never sees your actual address. The free plan exists, but the official pages do not document its exact limits, so you will need to check the signup page to see what you get. It is a legitimate, legal service, and the free tier is the provider's own decision. If you are tired of giving out your Gmail address and want a tool that feels like a real email client, this is it.
EmailAlias.io
EmailAlias.io is a simpler option that is good if you just want forwarding and nothing else. The free plan includes 10 aliases, basic spam protection, and limited leak detection, which tells you if one of your aliases has been compromised. It does not include custom domains or sending from your alias, and you cannot set up multi-inbox routing on the free tier. No credit card is required. This is the one to choose if you want a no-frills tool that just works, and you do not need to reply from the alias.
Forward Email
Forward Email is the one for people who own a domain. The free tier provides basic email forwarding at no cost, and the FAQ shows an example where you set up a DNS TXT record to forward an alias to your real inbox. That means you can use your own domain name (like [email protected]) and have it forward to your Gmail, all for free. This is more technical than the others, because you need to edit DNS settings, but it is the only one that gives you unlimited aliases on your own domain without paying. If you have ever wanted to use your own domain for email without paying for a mailbox, this is the answer.
What You Get Wrong About Throwaway Mail
The biggest mistake people make is thinking that a temporary inbox is the same as an alias. It is not. A temporary inbox is a dead end: you cannot reply, you cannot recover a password, and you lose everything after a few minutes. An alias is a permanent address that you control. The other mistake is thinking that you need to pay for privacy. These four services prove that is false. The free tiers are not trials; they are the actual product, funded by the providers' own decisions to offer a free level of service. You do not need to hand over a card, and you do not need to create a new email account. You just need an alias that forwards. If you truly only need to get a disposable email address for a few minutes, a site like Tempmail.now fills that narrow gap, but for anything that matters you want an alias.
What to Check Before You Commit
Before you pick one, check three things. First, check the free-plan limits. addy.io gives you 10 active shared-domain aliases, while EmailAlias.io gives you 10 total. If you need more than that, you will have to delete and recreate aliases, or you will have to pay. Second, check whether you need to reply from the alias. If you do, SimpleLogin is the one that does it best on the free tier. Third, check whether you want to use your own domain. If you do, Forward Email is the only one that supports that on the free tier, but you need to be comfortable editing DNS records.
Also, check whether the service has a bandwidth limit. addy.io has a 10 MB monthly limit on the free plan, which is fine for normal email but will not handle large attachments. The others do not document their limits, so you will need to test them yourself. Finally, check whether the service is open-source. addy.io and SimpleLogin are, which means the code is public and you can verify that your mail is not being read. EmailAlias.io and Forward Email do not say, so you are trusting them.
What to Do When an Alias Leaks
You will eventually get spam on an alias. That is the point of using one. When it happens, you do not need to do anything complicated. Log into the service, find the alias that is getting spam, and delete it. That is it. The spam stops, and your real inbox is untouched. If you used a throwaway mail site, you would not have this option, because the inbox would already be gone. With an alias, you have a permanent tool that you can throw away at any time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use an alias to sign up for a service that requires email verification?
Yes, and that is one of the main uses. The alias forwards the verification link to your real inbox, and you click it. The service you signed up for never sees your real address, and if they start sending spam, you delete the alias.
What happens if I forget the password to an account that uses an alias?
You can reset it, because the password reset email will be forwarded to your real inbox. This is the advantage an alias has over a throwaway mail site, which would have deleted the inbox by the time you needed to reset anything.
Is it legal to use an alias for online signups?
Yes. Using an alias to protect your real email address is a legal, legitimate privacy practice. It is not fraud, and it is not hiding your identity from the law. It is hiding your inbox from spammers.
Do I need a separate email account to use an alias service?
No. The whole point is that the alias forwards to your existing inbox. You do not need to create a new email account, and you do not need to check a new inbox. The mail just arrives in your normal mailbox.
What is the difference between an alias and a temporary email address?
A temporary email address is a dead end: it exists for a few minutes and then disappears. An alias is a permanent address that you control, and you can delete it at any time. That is the difference between a tool you use once and a tool you use for years.
More on privacy email
This is one of the guides in Free Tools for Email Privacy. The others:
