Alternatives roundup
The Best addy.io Alternatives in 2026, Honestly Compared
Emcognito, an email-forwarding alias service, is the best addy.io alternative if addy.io's free limits are what is pushing you out: its free plan caps you at 10MB of monthly bandwidth, one recipient address and no API access, while Emcognito's free tier is unlimited aliases with 100 forwarded emails a month, free replies, and paid plans from $2/mo. To be clear about the trade, and it is a real one: addy.io is open source and self-hostable, its Lite plan is $1/mo billed yearly - cheaper than ours - and it supports custom domains today, which Emcognito does not. If any of those three matter to you, stay where you are.
Verified - we re-check quarterly.
The short list — ranked, with the catches included
Emcognito
Our serviceFull disclosure: Emcognito is our service, and yes, we ranked it first. Every number below is checkable, several of these tools are genuinely better fits for some people - we say which - and the comparison table has the receipts.
Best for a count-based free limit you can reason about: unlimited aliases free, 100 forwards a month, free replies, and Plus at $2/mo with the API included. The catches: closed source, no custom domains, and the free tier meters forwarded mail.
- Free tier
- Unlimited aliases, 100 forwards/mo
- Paid from
- $2/mo
Best hosted pick if custom domains are why you are shopping: unlimited replies and unlimited bandwidth even on free, with custom domains on Premium.
- Free tier
- 10 aliases, unlimited bandwidth, replies included
- Paid from
- $36/yr, or $4 billed monthly
Best fully-free unlimited option: @duck.com aliases with tracker stripping, but minimal management features.
- Free tier
- Unlimited @duck.com aliases
- Paid from
- Free (no paid email tier)
Best casual big-brand option; replies are Premium-only and time-limited to 3 months after receipt, per Relay's FAQ. Mozilla's own site still says 5 free masks; the 50-mask figure comes from press reports of an unannounced late-May 2026 change, and Mozilla publishes no Premium price.
- Free tier
- 50 masks reported, no replies
- Paid from
- Premium price not published
Why people are leaving addy.io
None of these are dealbreakers for everyone. They were for the people who searched this page.
- addy.io's free plan meters a 10MB monthly bandwidth limit, which is hard to translate into a number of emails before you hit it, per addy.io's own pricing page.
- The free plan allows one recipient address and no API access; both of those need a paid plan.
- Custom domains - genuinely addy.io's strongest feature - need DNS records you add and maintain yourself, which is real setup work if you only wanted an alias.
addy.io to Emcognito migration checklist
- Keep addy.io running during the move - the free plan does not expire, and your custom domain stays configured there.
- Recreate your highest-traffic aliases first: those are the ones the 10MB bandwidth limit bites on.
- Move newsletters and shopping accounts before financial accounts.
- Leave custom-domain aliases on addy.io. Emcognito has no custom-domain support to move them to.
Frequently asked questions
Is addy.io free forever?
Yes. The free plan is unlimited standard aliases with no expiry, but it is bounded by a 10MB monthly bandwidth limit, one recipient address, no custom domains and no API.
What is a good addy.io alternative that supports custom domains?
Not Emcognito - it has no custom-domain support. SimpleLogin includes them on its $36/yr Premium plan, and addy.io itself supports them from the $1/mo Lite plan billed yearly, so staying put is often the cheaper answer.
Does Emcognito have an alias API like addy.io?
Yes, and both charge for it: Emcognito's alias API is included with Plus at $2/mo, and addy.io's API needs a paid plan too. There is a 7-day trial with no card required.
Is Emcognito open source?
No. addy.io is open source and self-hostable and Emcognito is not, so if that is the reason you chose addy.io, none of the trade-offs on this page change it.
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100 forwarded emails a month at no cost, no credit card, passwordless sign-in.
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