What is a temporary email address? Temp mail in plain English

A site wants your email before it will give you a coupon, a download or a free trial. You want the thing, not years of emails about it. A temporary email address is a real, working address you give the site instead of your own, with a separate inbox where the code or link arrives.

You may also see it called temp mail, a disposable email address, a throwaway address or a burner email. They all mean the same basic thing: the site gets an address that works, and your personal inbox stays private and free of clutter.

Temp mail meaning: two kinds of temporary

Temp mail is short for temporary email. The word temporary can mean two different things, and the difference matters more than the name.

1. The address expires. The whole inbox disappears after a set time, sometimes after just ten minutes.
2. The messages expire. The address keeps working, and old messages are cleared out on a schedule.

The first kind is fine for grabbing a single code. It is a poor choice for anything you might come back to, because once the address is gone, a password reset has nowhere to go. The second kind keeps the privacy without that risk.

That second kind is how freemail works. Your address never expires, and messages are kept for 7 days on the Free plan, 30 days on Pro and 90 days on Max. There is more on this in temp mail that doesn't expire.

Temporary does not have to mean gone in ten minutes. With a permanent address, only the messages expire.

How a temporary email works, in five steps

Using one is quick, and there is nothing to set up.

1. Open a temporary email site. On freemail.site, a working address is ready as soon as the page opens, with no signup and no password.
2. Copy the address and paste it into the form you are filling in.
3. The site sends its email, usually a verification code or a confirmation link.
4. The message appears in your temporary inbox. New mail shows up live, without refreshing.
5. Copy the code in one click, or open the link, and you are done.

The site got an address that works, and your real inbox never hears from it: no sales emails, no reminders, no newsletter you never asked for.

Temporary is not fake: the mail really arrives

A fake email is an address that does not exist, like random letters typed into a form. Nothing sent to it arrives anywhere, so you never see the code and cannot finish signing up.

A temporary email address is real. It receives real mail, and you can read it, which is the whole point.

What a temporary email is good for

It suits anything where you want the email, but not an ongoing relationship with whoever sent it.

• Signing up for sites you do not fully trust
• Starting free trials without the sales emails that follow
• Reading newsletters away from your main inbox
• Grabbing a download that asks for your email first
• Testing signup forms, if you build websites or apps

When to use your real email instead

Some accounts deserve your real address. Banking, government services, health and anything to do with work should stay with an inbox you will keep for life. The same goes for anything you must keep forever, because messages in a temporary inbox are deleted on a schedule.

It also helps to know that freemail only receives mail. You cannot send email from it, so you cannot reply to anyone. For a signup, receiving is all you need.

Temporary email vs an email alias: where the mail lands

An email alias is a second address that forwards mail into your real inbox. A temporary email keeps the mail in a separate inbox instead. Pick an alias if you want everything in one place, and a temporary inbox if you want that mail kept apart. We compare the two in disposable email vs email alias.

What freemail gives you for free

The Free plan gives you up to 10 inboxes, so each site can get its own address. It keeps up to 100 messages in each, accepts up to 50 new messages a day across them, and takes attachments up to 10 MB. On privacy, freemail does not store IP addresses and keeps no access logs.

Signing in is optional. Without it, your inboxes are tied to the browser where you made them, so if you clear that browser's data, you lose them. Signing in uses your email and a six digit code, with no password, and keeps your inboxes on every device.

The quickest way to understand temp mail is to try it on your next signup.

Open your free inbox now

Common questions

What does temp mail mean?

Temp mail is short for temporary email: an address you use in place of your real one, usually for signups. Mail sent to it goes to a separate inbox. Depending on the service, either the address or only its messages expire after a while.

Can I send emails from a temporary address?

Not from freemail. It only receives mail, which covers signups, codes and newsletters. If you need to write to someone, use your personal address.

How long does a temporary email address last?

It depends on the service, and some last only minutes. With freemail, the address never expires. Messages are kept for 7 days on the Free plan, 30 days on Pro and 90 days on Max.