Create a burner email in five steps
The address above is already a burner. These steps are about using it in the right order, which is where nearly every problem comes from.
- 1. Wait for the address to appear. It is generated for you at random in the widget above. If a short queue is showing, keep the tab open — new inboxes are rate-limited so the service stays responsive.
- 2. Copy it, do not retype it. Use the Copy button and watch for a trailing space when you paste. A single wrong character sends your code to a mailbox that does not exist, with no error and no way to notice.
- 3. Paste it into the signup form and submit. Only now ask the site to send the verification email. Mail sent before the mailbox is live is rejected outright rather than queued.
- 4. Read the message back on this page. Codes and confirmation links usually arrive within seconds. There is no spam folder, so if it is not in the inbox it was not delivered.
- 5. Walk away. Nothing to delete or sign out of. After five minutes the address and every message in it are removed. Generate another whenever you need one.
What you do not need in order to create one
Most guides on this topic describe creating a second Gmail account, which is a much heavier thing than a burner. A disposable address needs none of that machinery: no password, no recovery question, no phone number, no app, no browser extension, and no email address to register an email address with.
You also do not choose the address. It is random by design, because the inbox has no password — a memorable or predictable local part would be readable by anyone who guessed it. Free burner email is the only tier here; there is nothing to upgrade to, and donations only keep the servers running.
This is what people are describing when they search for a burner email generator: a tool that hands you a working address with zero input. The generation is trivial. The part that matters is that the address is backed by a live mailbox, so the confirmation email has somewhere to land.
Which signups deserve a burner
The test is simple: will this mail still matter to you in ten minutes? If the answer is no, a burner is the right call and using your real address is the mistake. If the answer is yes, or even maybe, a burner will cost you the account.
- Good candidates: whitepaper and download gates, one-off forum posts, coupon codes, wifi captive portals, "email me this receipt" boxes, a newsletter you want to read exactly once.
- Acceptable with eyes open: software trials and throwaway accounts, as long as you accept that you cannot log back in, cancel by email, or receive an invoice.
- Bad candidates: shops, social networks, gaming accounts — anything that might email a password reset or a login alert. Expiry means permanent lockout.
- Never: banking, health, work, government, or anything holding money. The live inbox has no password and is readable by anyone who knows the address.
When a site rejects your burner address
Many sites check the domain after the @ against published lists of disposable providers and refuse it at submit time. This is a policy decision applied to the domain rather than to you, so generating a fresh address on the same domain will almost always fail identically.
Switching to a different temp mail provider sometimes works, because block lists are not identical. Often it does not, particularly with banks, large marketplaces, payment services, and social networks — the same sites that are most likely to email you again later anyway.
Treat a rejection as information rather than an obstacle. A site careful enough to filter disposable domains is usually a site where you will eventually need a reset email to reach you, and where a real mailbox is the correct answer rather than a workaround.
If you want a burner you can keep
There is a genuine middle ground that a five-minute inbox does not cover: an address separate from your main identity that nevertheless still works next month. People often reach for "burner email" meaning this, and then get caught out when the inbox expires.
For that, use an alias rather than a disposable address. Apple's Hide My Email, Firefox Relay, or a catch-all on a domain you own all give you a distinct address per signup that forwards to your real mailbox indefinitely and can be switched off individually if it starts attracting spam. A spare free mailbox from an ordinary provider works too, if you are willing to check it.
The distinction is worth internalising: a disposable inbox is for mail you will never need again, an alias is for senders you want held at arm's length. Choosing the wrong one of the two is the single most common mistake in this whole category.