All four of these protect your real email address, and that is where the similarity ends. Temporary email is a disposable inbox that exists to be thrown away; SimpleLogin, Apple's Hide My Email and Firefox Relay are persistent aliases that forward to the inbox you already have. Choosing between them is less about which is "best" and more about whether the relationship you are protecting is one-off or long-term.
The core difference: a disposable inbox vs a persistent alias
A temporary email address is a standalone inbox with no forwarding and no recovery — mail arrives, you read it, the address expires. An alias is a permanent forwarding address: mail sent to it lands in your real inbox, you can usually reply, and you can disable one alias when a single sender turns hostile without touching the rest.
- Temp mail is a burner inbox for strangers you will never hear from again.
- Aliases are reusable identities for relationships you keep — shopping, newsletters, utilities.
We compare the categories in depth in temporary email vs email alias and email alias vs temporary email vs private relay; the rest of this article is about how the three alias services stack up against a disposable inbox.
The four options, honestly
Temporary email (like tempmailito.shop). Free, instant, no signup. Inboxes live minutes to days depending on the service, there is nothing to recover once they expire, and replies are generally not possible. Best for one-off verifications, gated downloads, forum gates and QA.
SimpleLogin (Proton). An open-source alias service that works with any mail provider. The free tier covers around ten aliases; the paid tier (roughly $2–4 a month depending on billing) adds unlimited aliases and full custom domains, so mail at your own domain can route through it. Replies work in both directions. Best if you want maximum control and are not tied to one ecosystem.
Hide My Email (Apple). Bundled with iCloud+ (from $0.99/month), it generates random @icloud.com addresses from Safari and iOS signup sheets and forwards to your real inbox. Replies are supported, it is the most frictionless option inside the Apple ecosystem, and it has no meaningful free tier and no custom domains. Best if you already pay for iCloud and live in Safari.
Firefox Relay (Mozilla). Five free aliases at @mozmail.com, with a premium tier at about $2/month that raises the alias allowance and adds a custom subdomain (you.mozmail.com). Replies route back through the relay. Best for Firefox users who want a lightweight, Mozilla-run option; check current plans, as they have shifted over time.
The decision framework
The same four questions decide this every time:
- Do you need to recover the account? Temp mail: no — once the inbox expires, an account tied to it is unrecoverable. Aliases: yes — mail keeps arriving at your permanent inbox indefinitely.
- Do you need to reply? Temp mail: generally read-only. All three alias services: yes, replies route back through the alias.
- What does it cost? Temp mail: free. SimpleLogin and Relay have functional free tiers; Hide My Email requires iCloud+, though many Apple users already pay for storage anyway.
- Do you need custom domains? SimpleLogin (full custom domains) and Relay (custom subdomain) yes; Hide My Email no; temp mail no.
Add ecosystem as the tiebreaker: Apple users get the smoothest ride from Hide My Email, cross-platform users get the most from SimpleLogin, and Firefox users get the least friction from Relay.
When each one wins
- Temp mail wins for the one-time OTP, the gated download, the forum you will post in once, and every variety of test account. Zero commitment is the feature.
- SimpleLogin wins when you want one alias system everywhere, custom domains, and open-source code you can inspect.
- Hide My Email wins when you are paying for iCloud+ anyway and want aliases generated at the exact moment Safari asks for an address.
- Firefox Relay wins when your browser is Firefox and you want a small, trustworthy set of masks rather than a full alias platform.
For anything involving money or long-term receipts — shopping accounts above all — lean toward aliases, for the reasons explained in is disposable email safe. You can sketch alias addresses before committing with our email alias generator.
Verdict
Most people are best served by both patterns, not one: a temp mail service for the strangers and one-offs, and a single alias provider for the senders you keep. If you must pick one today, pick by your dominant use — throwaway signups point at temp mail; anything you would be annoyed to lose points at an alias. Inside Apple's world, Hide My Email is the default answer; cross-platform, SimpleLogin; Firefox-first, Relay.
FAQ
Do I need both temp mail and an alias service? Not strictly, but they cover different jobs: temp mail handles one-off signups with zero commitment, while aliases serve relationships you keep. Using both is cheaper than getting the split wrong.
Can you reply to a temporary email address? Generally no — most temp mail services are read-only, and the address usually expires soon anyway. All three alias services support replies through the alias.
Is Hide My Email free? No — it is included with iCloud+, which starts at $0.99/month. SimpleLogin and Firefox Relay both offer free tiers if cost is the deciding factor.
Which is best for shopping accounts? An alias. Order confirmations, receipts and return authorizations arrive months later, and you may need to receive them long after a temp inbox would have expired.