Use email aliases to compartmentalise your life

Handing your real email address to every website, shop, and app is like giving everyone the same front-door key. Email aliases give each of them a different key you can throw away, so a leak or a flood of spam from one never touches the rest of your life. This guide explains how aliases work and walks through the main services and a simple setup you can copy.

What an alias is, and why it helps

An email alias is a disposable, forwarding address. Mail sent to random123@alias-service.com is quietly forwarded to your real inbox, and you can reply through it so the other side never sees your true address. You can create a fresh one per site and disable any single alias without affecting the others.

Two everyday benefits follow:

• Breach containment. When a company is hacked or sells its list, the address that leaks is the throwaway alias you gave only to them, not your real inbox. You can see exactly who leaked it (the alias only they had) and switch it off.
• Spam control. If an alias starts attracting junk, you delete it and the spam has nowhere to go. Your real address stays clean and private.

Aliases also compartmentalise you. Because each site sees a different address, data brokers cannot easily use your email as a single key to link your accounts across the web.

The main services

Apple Hide My Email

Built into Apple devices as part of the paid iCloud+ subscription. It generates random @icloud.com addresses that forward to your real inbox, and it appears automatically in Sign in with Apple and in Safari sign-up forms. To create one manually, go to Settings, tap your name, then iCloud, then Hide My Email. It is the most frictionless option if you already pay for iCloud+, though it only works comfortably inside Apple’s ecosystem.

Proton Pass (with SimpleLogin)

Proton’s password manager, Proton Pass, has alias generation built in, powered by SimpleLogin. The free tier includes a limited number of aliases; a paid Proton plan makes them unlimited. If you already use or plan to use Proton, this keeps passwords and aliases in one place.

SimpleLogin

Now part of Proton, SimpleLogin is a dedicated alias service. The free plan includes 10 aliases with unlimited forwarding and one mailbox. Premium costs 36 US dollars per year (or 4 US dollars monthly) and unlocks unlimited aliases, custom domains, catch-all addresses, and the ability to send new mail from an alias. It is a strong pick if you want aliases as their own tool rather than bundled with Apple or a password manager.

Firefox Relay

Mozilla’s Firefox Relay gives you 5 email masks free, with a browser extension and built-in tracker removal on forwarded mail. The Premium tier adds unlimited masks, a custom subdomain, promotional-email blocking, and the ability to reply anonymously. A reliable, mainstream option from a non-profit-backed organisation.

addy.io

An open-source, privacy-focused service. The free plan gives unlimited standard aliases on your own personal subdomain (anything@you.addy.io), plus 10 shared-domain aliases, with a 10 MB monthly forwarding limit. Paid plans start at 1 US dollar per month (billed yearly) and lift the limits, add recipients, and support custom domains. A good fit if you like open-source tools and want generous free limits.

Catch-all domains

If you own a domain (say yourname.com), most privacy providers and alias services let you set a catch-all: any address at that domain, invented on the spot, lands in your inbox. You can hand out netflix@yourname.com or dentist@yourname.com without creating each one in advance. This gives you unlimited, self-explanatory aliases and, because you own the domain, no dependence on a single provider. The trade-off is that a determined sender can guess your naming pattern, so it is best paired with the containment habits below.

A practical setup

You do not need a different alias for literally everything. A few clear buckets do most of the work.

1. A locked-down alias for money. Create one alias used only for your bank, broker, and tax accounts. Give it to nobody else. If mail arrives there claiming to be your bank but was sent to any other address, you instantly know it is phishing.
2. A “newsletters and marketing” alias. Use one alias (or a fresh one per publisher) for newsletters, loyalty schemes, and shopping. When it gets noisy, mute or delete it. Your real inbox never sees the churn.
3. A per-signup habit for everything else. For random apps, forums, and one-off downloads, generate a new alias each time. If one starts leaking spam, disable just that one and note who sold your address.
4. Keep your real address for people, not companies. Reserve your true address for friends, family, and colleagues. Companies get aliases; humans get the real thing.

Pair this with a private mailbox from our guide on choosing an email provider, and with sensible tracker settings, and your email becomes far harder to profile.