Email, Messaging, & Video Calls > Email 64 64 people found this article helpful Mailinator, a Disposable Email Address Service Control spam with this free option By Heinz Tschabitscher Heinz Tschabitscher Writer University of Vienna A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on May 28, 2021 Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email In This Article Expand Jump to a Section Mailinator Pros and Cons Create a Mailinator Address View Mailinator Emails Mailinator is a free disposable email service that offers email addresses under the domain @mailinator.com. Use your Mailnator address to sign up for websites, register software, post to message boards, or in any situation in which you need an email address but don't want to give out your real address. Mailinator Pros and Cons What We Like Addresses are easy to use and don't require any setup. There is no connection to your real email address. Alternate domain names are available when mailinator.com addresses are blocked. An unlimited number of email addresses. Access a Mailinator address by entering the username. What We Don't Like Mailinator is useful only when you don't really want to get mail. All Mailinator mail is public, so anyone can see emails that are sent there. Emails sent to Mailinator are temporary and disappear after a few hours. The main advantage of Mailinator is that the addresses you create have no connection to your real email address. So, when registration email lists get into the hands of spammers (whether accidentally, through hacking, or because a list is intentionally sold to spammers), you're protected from getting spam. Manybrains, Inc. Create a Mailinator Address An advantage of using Mailinator is that it involves no setup or registration. You don't even have to go to the Mailinator website to create the account. All you do is make up an alias with the @mailinator.com domain and use it on the spot (for example, Rob4Lifewire@mailinator.com). View Mailinator Emails To view mail that is sent to your throwaway addresses, go to the Mailinator public inbox. Since nobody uses a password, Mailinator is useful only when you don't want to communicate. All mail sent to Mailinator is public, meaning any message that goes there can be accessed by the public. Mailinator keeps emails for a few hours before deleting them. Other disposable email services have varying durations for how long they keep email. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit