The best temporary disposable email services in 2022

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 exposed 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, dangerous at worse.

So, is there any way to 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 all 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 temporary email providers on the internet.

What are temporary email services?

Precisely, a temporary 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 a 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 the digital limbo, and you can’t ever use it again.

This is not the kind of 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 it comes to opening accounts on new websites, without putting up with the spam storm that often follows.

Despite all the usefulness of this service, many internet users remain unaware of temporary email providers, how they can help protect online privacy and the relevance of these communication tools. Well, we’re about to fix that, at least in your case.

5 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 and temporary 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 meet your digital lifestyle than the rest, 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. You can access all your additional email accounts from your same primary account using this service.

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.

With this service, you will be able to create a spectrum of different digital identities for various purposes, according to your needs or wishes.

The interface allows you to keep all your messages well organized so that your inbox remains free of crap messages. Premium users get the additional advantage of sending emails using the “pm.me” alternative domain name. (Free users can only use this domain to receive messages.) 

Interestingly, this email provider hails from Switzerland, a country 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 the walk in the Swiss courts of law, proving itself beyond any doubt. 

All of your data in ProtonMail is encrypted so that the provider itself 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, and you need to provide no personal details as you sign up for it.

2. 10 Minute Mail

Have you ever wondered how much you can get done on the internet 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 you 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 there in your inbox for those 10 minutes. Then the server will delete it automatically when the time runs out.

If the site you wanted to join asks for you to click a verification link, don’t sweat it. 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 temporary email services. It does not collect personal details, logs no IP addresses, and doesn’t 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 up the account. But that also means that you don’t have to keep requesting time extensions when you need them, as it’s 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 in your life.

Notably, 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, alongside 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 at all, 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 which will be 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 from the rest 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 there is no account or password associated. So, don’t use this service for sharing sensitive information, and 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. But it also means that 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.

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
• MailDrop
• 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 some real effort to fend it off. An effective measure to keep spam 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 mails, 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, say, 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 don’t need you to provide any personal data in most cases.

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.

Whereas, the actual email inbox that you use to keep in touch with your friends, family, business associates, and for other important matters, will remain spam-free! Moreover, you won’t even have to see any spam with some of the 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 a 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 easy compared to getting a temporary email. But if you take that road, then you’ll find 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.

Often, the things you want to buy become unavailable at Amazon, AliExpress, and other e-commerce giants. So, when you find your desired magical object available at another quirky little website you don’t know, you might want to rush.

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 a temporary email address comes in handy. You don’t need to trust this website if you give it an email that you can throw away when no more 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 come across an app or a website whose service or content you would need urgently. Still, you know that it’s a one-time deal and that, after the necessity is satisfied, you’ll never revisit the website, or will uninstall the app.

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 to wiggle out of any commitment without problems. And you won’t keep getting all those annoying emails inviting you to come back 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 single 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 even hackers?

No, it’s not paranoia if there’s somebody actually 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 in sharing a temporary or disposable email that you get from the best provider. It will be good enough to secure your access to the service in question, but you can forget it once the deed is done.

Final thoughts

Today, having your email address on some of the world’s spam lists is annoying and dangerous.

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 get worse very in the future as the demand for digital services explodes everywhere globally.

Temporary or disposable email addresses are a gift from the best service providers to keep your inbox free of unwanted garbage. Thus, you can focus your energies on the important stuff instead of wasting your time deleting spam.

Granted, these are not services that you could use several times daily (excluding some services, like Guerilla Mail). But you may wish to test every platform yourself 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 markedly 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 a legitimate one, instead of being a scam, unlike most free VPNs, free proxy servers, etc.

So, pondering over these best disposable service providers offering temporary email addresses may help you save your email privacy in the long run.

Enjoy safe browsing!