addy.io

What addy.io does

addy.io is a bootstrapped, open-source email alias service founded in 2019 (originally as AnonAddy) by Will Browning and rebranded in August 2023. The platform lets individual users create disposable or persistent email aliases that forward to a real inbox, allowing them to identify, isolate, and disable sources of spam or data leakage without ever exposing their primary email address. The service is operated by a single founder with one contracted mobile developer (Stjin), with a stated team size of 1–10 and no external funding; it targets a single persona — privacy-conscious individual consumers — and counts 'thousands of users' globally.

The technical stack is built on Laravel/PHP 8.2 with a Postfix mail server, Rspamd for spam filtering, Redis, MariaDB, and Nginx, hosted on Greenhost (Amsterdam, wind-powered) and UpCloud (Amsterdam and Warsaw). Core capabilities include GPG/OpenPGP encryption of forwarded mail, custom domains with regex-based catch-all, anonymous reply and send-from aliases, multi-recipient routing, a rules engine, and a REST API on Laravel Sanctum. Delivery spans a web application (app.addy.io), official open-source iOS and Android apps, browser extensions across Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Safari, Brave, and Vivaldi, and a self-hosted Docker option for technical users. The service passed an independent security audit by Securitum in September 2023 with no significant vulnerabilities identified.

The business model is freemium subscription in three tiers: Free ($0), Lite ($1/year), and Pro ($3/year or $4/month) — implying a paid ARPU well under $5 on annual plans. Distribution is product-led and community-driven via the company blog, GitHub, the native Bitwarden password-manager integration, and a privacy-first partner perks program bundling reciprocal discounts on Notesnook, Windscribe, Kagi, Tuta, and EasyOptOuts. Revenue is supplemented by voluntary donations via NOWPayments (BTC, XMR, LTC, DOGE, DCR, ETH, LNBT), GitHub Sponsors, OpenCollective, and PayPal.

Name

addy.io

Legal name

addy.io

Website

https://addy.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

addy.io is a bootstrapped, open-source email alias service that lets privacy-conscious consumers create forwarding addresses to protect their real inbox from spam and data breaches. Founded in 2019 by Will Browning, it operates on a freemium subscription model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Email Privacy and Security

NAICS

Software Publishers (513210), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYHDADAKAC

Email Authentication & Domain Protection (DMARC/SPF/DKIM)

Hardware, Technology & Telecom/Cybersecurity/Email & Collaboration Security

SECONDARYHDADAKAB

Email Phishing & BEC Protection

Hardware, Technology & Telecom/Cybersecurity/Email & Collaboration Security

SECONDARYBPAMAEAG

Directory Services & Identity Data Platforms

Business & Public Services/Web, Mobile & Digital Platforms/Digital Identity, Authentication & Access

Keywords

• Email alias service
• Anonymous email forwarding
• Email privacy protection
• Disposable email aliases
• Email spam prevention

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Subscription (Freemium): Free tier with limited features (10 shared domain aliases, 1 recipient, 2 alias domains, 10MB bandwidth). Paid Lite ($1/year) and Pro ($3/year or $4/month) tiers unlock unlimited aliases, more recipients, custom domains, anonymous reply/send, rules, priority support, and unlimited bandwidth. Revenue is recurring subscription-based with annual or monthly billing in USD, GBP, or EUR.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

addy.io creates email aliases that forward to a user's real inbox, allowing users to share an alias address instead of their primary email when signing up for online services. Users can deactivate or delete aliases to silently discard spam or bounce senders, and can reply and initiate new emails from aliases without revealing their real address. The service also offers GPG/OpenPGP end-to-end encryption, custom domain support, multiple recipients per alias, anonymous reply/send-from, rules automation, and is delivered as an open-source platform via web, mobile apps, and browser extensions.

Product overview

addy.io is a single unified product — a free, open-source anonymous email forwarding service that creates email aliases to protect users' real email addresses. The core platform is delivered through multiple interfaces: a web application (app.addy.io), official mobile apps for iOS and Android, and browser extensions for Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Safari, Brave, and Vivaldi. Users can also self-host their own instance. The service offers tiered subscription plans (Free, Lite at $1/year, Pro at $3/year) with increasing limits and features. Paid subscribers also gain access to addy.io Perks — exclusive partner discounts on privacy-focused services. The architecture supports GPG/OpenPGP encryption, custom domains, multiple alias formats (standard, random, UUID), anonymous reply/send from aliases, rules automation, and a public REST API.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• addy.io Email Alias Service (Core Platform) Free and open-source anonymous email forwarding service that creates email aliases to protect users' real email addresses from spam, data breaches, and tracking. Users can generate aliases on-the-fly or pre-generate random and UUID aliases, forward to a real inbox, reply anonymously from aliases, and deactivate or delete aliases to stop spam silently or bounce senders.
• addy.io iOS/iPadOS App Official mobile app for iPhone and iPad built with SwiftUI offering a smooth user experience to manage aliases on the go. Features include custom icons, configurable widgets, sharing sheet integration, Siri & Shortcuts automation, and a watch-alias feature. Free for all addy.io users.
• addy.io Android App Official Android app developed by Stjin, available on Google Play Store and F-Droid. Features include notifications for expiring subscriptions and failed deliveries, custom icons, widgets, and a watch-alias feature. Free for all addy.io users.
• addy.io Browser Extension Open-source browser extension for creating new aliases in a couple of clicks while browsing. Available for Firefox, Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Safari, Brave, and Vivaldi. Version 2 enables full alias management including view, search, activate/deactivate, delete/restore/forget, edit descriptions, and a send-from address constructor.
• Self-Hosted addy.io Complete self-hosting solution for deploying a personal instance of addy.io on an Ubuntu server. Includes detailed documentation for Postfix, Nginx, PHP 8.2, MariaDB, Redis, Rspamd, Let's Encrypt, DKIM/ARC signing, DANE, MTA-STS, and DNSSEC configuration. Requires technical competence for server management.

Quantifiable outcome

• 10MB free bandwidth allows ~137 emails per month (average email ~75KB)
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• EasyOptOutsminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 9 March 2026addy.io partnered with EasyOptOuts, an automated data removal service that scrubs personal information from 200+ data brokers and people-search sites. addy.io Lite and Pro subscribers get 25% off for life, with each coupon covering 5 sign-ups. US customers only.
• TutaminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 5 March 2026addy.io partnered with Tuta, a privacy-focused encrypted email, calendar, and contacts service using post-quantum encryption. addy.io Lite and Pro subscribers receive 25% off their first year of Tuta. The integration allows users to forward addy.io aliases to encrypted Tuta accounts for double privacy protection.
• KagiminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 10 February 2026addy.io partnered with Kagi, a premium, privacy-focused, ad-free search engine. addy.io Lite and Pro subscribers receive 3 months of Kagi's Professional plan for free (unlimited search).
• WindscribeminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 13 January 2026addy.io partnered with Windscribe, a court-proven, audited no-logs VPN service with post-quantum safe encryption. addy.io Lite and Pro subscribers receive a 3-month Pro trial (no strings attached), then the annual Pro plan for $49/year (regular $69/year).
• NotesnookminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 8 December 2025addy.io partnered with Notesnook, a fully open-source and end-to-end encrypted note-taking app. addy.io Lite and Pro subscribers get 25% off the first year of Notesnook Pro.
• Stjin (Mobile App Developer)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 October 2024Stjin developed and maintains the official addy.io mobile apps for iOS (SwiftUI) and Android. The source code for both apps is consolidated under the addy.io GitHub organisation. Both apps are free for all addy.io users. Stjin continues to improve the apps with new features.
• BitwardencoreTechnology or Integration · 1 June 2022Bitwarden integrated addy.io into their password manager's Generator feature. Bitwarden users can now create email aliases for addy.io directly from the Bitwarden Generator, making it quick and convenient to create and save alias details for each account. Available on desktop app, browser extensions, and web vault.
• Greenhost.netcoreOthersGreenhost.net is the hosting provider for the main mail server (mail.anonaddy.me), located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Greenhost has a commitment to privacy by design, runs on Dutch wind energy, and supports all required DNS records including DANE/TLSA.
• UpCloudcoreOthersUpCloud provides the web application server (app.addy.io), database server, and backup mail server (mail2.anonaddy.me). All servers are in UpCloud data centres in the Netherlands and Poland. The database is a managed Aiven service running on UpCloud's platform.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Proton Mail: End-to-end encrypted email provider that acquired SimpleLogin. Competes on overlapping privacy-first email use cases, bundles SimpleLogin aliases, and has substantially larger resources and brand reach than addy.io.

Emerging players

• Tuta (Tutanota): Encrypted email, calendar, and contacts provider using post-quantum encryption. addy.io recently partnered with Tuta (25% off first year for Lite/Pro subscribers) to forward aliases into encrypted Tuta mailboxes — a complementary rather than competing relationship that targets the same audience.
• Burnermail: Email aliasing service with browser extension and forwarding functionality. Targets the same privacy-conscious SMB and individual consumer segment as addy.io, with overlapping feature set (custom domains, replies, browser extension).
• IronVest (by Abine): Privacy and security suite offering masked emails, masked phone numbers, and ad-blocking. Overlaps with addy.io's email aliasing feature but bundles it with adjacent privacy tools, making it a partial rather than full competitor.

Regional players

• StartMail: Privacy-focused email service founded by the team behind Startpage. Provides unlimited aliases on paid plans and targets a similar European privacy-conscious user base, though primarily a hosted-mailbox product rather than an alias-only service.

Direct peers

• SimpleLogin: Direct email-alias competitor acquired by Proton in 2022. Offers the same core use case (disposable aliases forwarding to a real inbox, custom domains, PGP) and is now bundled with Proton Mail — making it the closest feature-for-feature rival to addy.io.
• Apple Hide My Email: Apple's iCloud+ feature generates random email aliases that forward to a personal inbox, deeply integrated into Safari, Mail, and Sign in with Apple. Bundled free with iCloud+ subscription, creating a frictionless default for hundreds of millions of Apple users.
• Firefox Relay: Mozilla's email alias service offering subdomain-based aliases that forward to a real inbox. Free tier (5 aliases) and Premium tier (unlimited) directly overlap addy.io's core proposition, with the Mozilla brand providing significant distribution advantage.
• DuckDuckGo Email Protection: DuckDuckGo's free email aliasing service that strips trackers from forwarded messages. Competes directly for the same privacy-conscious consumer persona, with strong brand awareness from DuckDuckGo's search product.
• 33mail: Long-running disposable email alias service offering unlimited aliases with custom-domain support. One of the oldest direct competitors, targeting the same privacy-conscious individual consumer segment as addy.io.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/anonaddy
• Xx.com/addy_io
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/anonaddy

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about addy.io