Edit 2: For anyone finding this in the future, I chose Simplelogin simply (pun intended) because I was eligible for a 50% off coupon. If I couldnt have gotten that, I would instead use Firefox’s Relay because it’s super cheap and you support Mozilla in the process. People seem to forget that if Mozilla goes bankrupt and can no longer develop Firefox and fight for the current free and open web, we would no longer be able to use the internet as it is, and would lose practically all privacy. Pros and cons still stand, hope this helps you (or anyone else in the future / present) to understand what option to chose, and what my choice was in the end.
Edit: I’m testing between Firefox Relay and Simplelogin as of now. Thank you all for the help, appreciate it!
Hey all, sorry if this was posted before, but lemmy search is hot dogshit at the moment, so I cannot really find anything relating to this topic.
Recently, I have been upgrading my email privacy bit by bit, and am in need of an email aliasing service / forwarding service. I have been looking online for a couple options and I’m currently down to 3 :
- Anonaddy
- Simplelogin
- Firefox Relay
Now, the main things I wish to know about each are, in your opinion, their pros and cons for a person with a pretty moderate-high threat model. Currently, these are the pros and cons that I have found :
-
Anonaddy (Lite Plan)
- Pros
- Cheap at $1/m (billed yearly)
- Can use Custom Domains (catchall, wildcard, etc)
- Stores failed deliveries (could be important if my mailbox is full or something)
- Open-source
- Cons
- Only 50 aliases using shared domains (custom subdomain are easily identifiable)
- Owned by 1 or 2 guys, so not guaranteed to last as long as a company would per se. Doesn’t matter much if I use a custom domain.
- Pros
-
Simplelogin
- Pros
- Unlimited aliases using shared domains
- Can use Custom Domains
- Owned by Proton (this is a pro in the sense of a guarantee that it will last a good bit of time)
- Open Source
- Cons
- Pricier at $2.5/m (billed yearly)
- I do not use proton, so compatibility could be a downside.
- Pros
-
Firefox Relay
- Pros
- Cheap at $1/m (billed yearly)
- Unlimited aliases using shared domain
- Owned by Mozilla (more than likely will last longer than Proton)
- Cons
- They use Amazon SES/AWS, though they have contract to protect customer information
- No Custom Domains
- Pros
I am currently leaning towards either Relay or Anonaddy because of their 2.5x cheaper price (which does add up $12/y vs $30/y), but am very curious as to which you prefer and why. I will not be using these services for anything important (bank, govt, insurance, etc) as those go through a custom domain strictly for those. Junk, random accounts which aren’t important, newsletters, … will go through the aliasing service.
Thank you in advance, if something wasn’t clear let me know.
- Rikudou_Sage ( @rikudou@lemmings.world ) 17•11 months ago
I’ve been using Anonaddy for three or so years (even made one small contribution to the documentation) and can really recommend it.
Stuck between this (anonaddy) and Simplelogin. Both are incredible, just that one’s cheaper than the other with a bit less features. Thanks for the input man, appreciate it.
I’ve also used anonaddy for the last two or so years. It’s been great, no complaints
I’d say to get SimpleLogin’s premium account. The sub domains allowing you to make new aliases on the fly instead of on the site or app is actually super helpful! Compatibility shouldn’t be an issue at all, but SimpleLogin is more seamless with Proton.
Unfortunately do not use proton, but general consensus about compatibility works just fine without proton. Subdomains, to me, seem like a super easy way to identify someone - I’m going to be the only person using “abc.simplelogin.com”, basically the same as if I was using my real email.
Currently, since no one is talking about Firefox Relay, I’m between either Anonaddy or Simplelogin. They seem pretty similar according to the couple comments here.
Thank you for the feedback!
I hear you on the sub domains being easier to ID but they do work with sites who prevent aliases and it’s great for accounts which already have your info as a filter. There’s also domains offered by SimpleLogin only for paid users, these are more anonymous while still working with anti alias websites too.
Seems like a good usecase, and probably something I’d need to use. Thank you for the information man.
I’ve been happy with duck
I think you need to use duckduckgo browser to set it up, but afterwards you can use the API with something like bitwarden and generate email aliases from there. They also have a chrome extension that will allow you to generate addresses from email fields in your browser.
It’s free and addresses are all through the shared duck.com domain. Worth checking out.
Didn’t know duckduckgo had one, super interesting. How much is it /month?
It’s free
That’s nice, will look into them. Thank you mate.
No need for a duckduckgo browser. It is available as a browser extension on most browsers (including Firefox).
I went with SimpleLogin since I’m working on shifting my Gmail over to Proton, and the integration was a perk. I did go ahead and upgrade to the Proton Premium to get more email addresses, and I want to try out the custom domains.
Firefox Relay was my second choice since I already have Mozilla account. Mozilla killing services in the past, Lockwise and Persona 🤨, didn’t help it’s cause.
Totally forgot about Lockwise, but I feel the way they ‘killed’ it was super easy to transition from. Though, if they do decide to do this for emails it will be quite the issue. Only reason I’m hesitant on SimpleLogin is because of their pricier plans. Thanks mate.
I have been using a premium SimpleLogin account for about 3-4 years now and I can say it works awesome, I used AnonAddy free tier a couple of times but I liked more the first.
Thanks for the input, only thing holding me back is the pricing…
I use both Simplelogin and Anonaddy (Simplelogin for the very spammy stuff that would chew up my Anonaddy bandwidth), so I can provide some anecdotal insights. I use both on the free tier though, so keep in mind that my experience could be different.
For what it’s worth, I found Anonaddy to be a lot faster/reliable on average. Some of my Simplelogin alias would take longer to relay the emails. I also like the interface of Anonaddy more, something about Simplelogin just looks and feels cheap to me. The Anonaddy Android app is also nicer and smoother, but these are purely aesthetic opinions. I also don’t really care about the Proton integration, but Simplelogin trying to shove that in my face all the time is a bit annoying.
Overall, I spread out my aliases over both services so it’s a bit less centralised, with most going towards Anonaddy. But if I were to choose between the two, I would go with Anonaddy.
Simplelogin is slow with a premium account as well. Sometimes it’s forwarded in just a few minutes, other times it takes way longer. This is sometimes a problem when signing up for something and you need to confirm your email to activate your account.
Centralization isn’t much of an issue for what I’m looking for since most of this will be linked to no “real” identity. The paid features of both services (custom domain, replying via alias, more aliases) are something that I do need, so free plans are off the table for me. I do agree on you with the Anonaddy UI part, it’s far more pleasing to my eyes than simplelogin at the moment.
Thank you!
I recommend Runbox as your email provider:
- It’s hosted in privacy-friendly Norway.
- It’s reliable.
- A Runbox Micro subscription is $19.95 / yr and includes one main account / email address, up to 100 aliases, and the ability to create sub-accounts (for other family members for example) for $7.95 / year per.
Check out spamgourmet.com . Fresh 90s UI, unlimited aliases using their domains (ex: xoxy.net), and completely free. It’s not an email service though, they only do forwarding.
Very interesting, might try this one too before I spend money on something else. And don’t worry, I already have a good email provider.
Didn’t know it. I will try it.
Thanks!!
I’ve been happy with Relay so far. I honestly didn’t know Proton had an offering for this though, they should advertise it a bit better.
They should. It’s hard to tell that SimpleLogin is included in Proton premium and vice versa.
Any nitpicks with it at all? Their price is the most seducing part for me (not in a weird way lol), but I’m still a tad bit paranoid about the Amazon affiliation.
Nothing comes to mind, but I haven’t used it a ton tbh. Just for a couple sites. I do trust Mozilla though and it’s a nice way to support them.
Alright, thank you!
Can I get an ELI5 on what these services do? I’m currently just using a wildcard to forward all the email for my domain to a (not particularly private) webmail account (so that I can sign up for stuff with addresses like service_name@mydomain.example instead of my_name@wellknownwebmailservice.com), and I’m not sure how these relays are different from that.
ELI5: These services are middlemen to your own email. Service --> @anonaddy.com email --> my mailbox
Not ELI5: These are way more anonymous than your own domain since multiple people use the domain. It takes a bit of trust to allow a 3rd party to see your emails, and that is why I will not be using them for anything important - not to mention if they disappear, all access to those emails are gone. This is simply to anonymize who knows what, I would personally use a custom domain with my provider for more important matters.
Your method also works, just that it is only you using the domain, allowing people to identify you.
Hope this helps, cheers.
I’ve been using Firefox Relay for about a year and its been great. I might switch over to Simplelogin since I already pay for a premium sub with proton and its now included.
One small thing that simplelogin might do better than others is sending from an alias. Replying is fine from Firefox Relay but if I wanted to start a new email using an alias, I think simplelogin is capable but Relay isnt able to.
Replying on Simplelogin is a hit or miss in my experience. Sometimes it just doesn’t work and my email never reach the reciever. It’s also kind of slow as there is a (sometimes long) delay before I get my mails. It’s good enough for subscriptions and shopping online, but hopeless in two way communications. Waiting for confirmation emails is a pita because of the delay of the service. I’m curious if anonaddy is faster than Simplelogin?