Alternatives roundup
The Best Burner Mail Alternatives in 2026, Honestly Compared
Emcognito, an email-forwarding alias service, is the best Burner Mail alternative for most people in 2026: unlimited aliases and 100 forwarded emails per month on the free tier, replies included free, and passwordless signup in about 30 seconds, with paid plans from $2/mo. Burner Mail's own June 2026 announcement explains that new accounts now require a paid plan, and its prices are not published - so former free-tier users need a new home. If open source is your priority, addy.io or SimpleLogin are the better picks; Emcognito is closed source.
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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 free Burner Mail replacement overall: unlimited aliases, 100 forwards a month, free replies, and no password to manage. 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 if you want open source or already use Proton. The free tier stops at 10 aliases but includes unlimited bandwidth and unlimited replies; Premium now ships as a Proton Pass bundle.
- Free tier
- 10 aliases, unlimited replies
- Paid from
- $3.00/mo billed yearly
Best for tinkerers: open source, self-hostable, unlimited standard aliases on the free tier, and custom domains on paid plans. Free-tier bandwidth is capped at 10MB a month.
- Free tier
- Unlimited standard aliases, 10MB/mo
- Paid from
- $1/mo billed yearly
Best zero-cost, zero-dashboard option: unlimited @duck.com aliases free with tracker stripping, but minimal alias management and it needs the DuckDuckGo browser or extension.
- Free tier
- Unlimited @duck.com aliases
- Paid from
- Free (no paid email tier)
Best for a big-brand basic masker inside Firefox. Note replies are Premium-only and limited to 3 months after receipt, per Relay's FAQ.
- Free tier
- 50 masks, no replies
- Paid from
- $0.99/mo billed yearly
Why people are leaving Burner Mail
None of these are dealbreakers for everyone. They were for the people who searched this page.
- Burner Mail's own blog post of June 27, 2026 ("Why We're Removing Burner Mail's Free Plan") explains that new accounts now require a paid subscription - and pricing is not published on the site.
- User reports through spring 2026 describe broken email forwarding and unresponsive support.
- Every service in this roundup offers a working free tier today; three of them (Emcognito, addy.io, DuckDuckGo) include unlimited aliases free.
Burner Mail to Emcognito migration checklist
- Export or list your important Burner Mail aliases while you still have dashboard access.
- Create matching labeled aliases in the service you pick, starting with banking, password managers, and anything that sends password resets.
- Change the account email at the original site first, then wait for the confirmation mail to arrive at the new alias.
- Only retire the old address after receipts, resets, and security alerts have all shown up at the new one.
Frequently asked questions
Is Burner Mail still free in 2026?
Not for new users. Per Burner Mail's own June 27, 2026 announcement, new accounts now require a paid plan, and current prices are not published on its site.
Is Burner Mail shutting down?
No shutdown has been announced. The June 2026 post describes a move to paid-only for new accounts. Separately, user reports from spring 2026 mention broken forwarding and unresponsive support, which is worth weighing before paying.
What is the best free alternative to Burner Mail?
Emcognito, if you want a full dashboard with unlimited aliases, 100 forwards a month, and free replies. If you only need unlimited forwarding with minimal management, DuckDuckGo Email Protection is completely free.
Done comparing? The free tier takes about a minute.
100 forwarded emails a month at no cost, no credit card, passwordless sign-in.
Create your free aliases