What happens when I reply?

Press reply in your normal mail app. Your answer leaves with the alias as the sender, and the person on the other end sees that address, exactly as they did on the message they sent you. Your own address never appears in the headers.

Is it really free, and what is the catch?

It is free, there are no paid plans, and nothing is held back for a tier that does not exist. Replies are included, your own domains are included, and no feature turns up behind a price later. There is one number worth knowing: on our shared domains you can create 30 new addresses a month, or 75 on your personal subdomain. That exists so nobody can open an account, generate thousands of addresses and get our domains blocked for everybody else. On a domain you own there is no such limit. It runs on donations, which buy the donor nothing beyond what you already have.

If Skudo forwards my mail, can Skudo read it?

Mail passes through our relay in transit, as it does through every mail server between a sender and you. It is not archived and never written to disk in readable form. If you upload an OpenPGP key, messages are encrypted to it before they leave us, which closes that window too.

Can somebody force you to reveal who is behind an address?

A valid order compels what we hold, and we say plainly what that is rather than implying more protection than exists: the alias in clear, because the relay has to read it to route your mail, and the forwarding address encrypted under a separate key. Orders that are defective or excessive are refused and, where the law allows, contested. Every completed request is counted in the quarterly transparency report, and the full process is in the architecture document.

What if Skudo disappears?

Addresses on your own domain keep working anywhere: they are yours, and moving them is a DNS change. Addresses on our domains stop when the account does, which is why anything you cannot afford to lose belongs on your own domain. You can export every address and rule at any time, and if the service ever shuts down you get 90 days notice before it does.

Stop giving out your real email address.

Skudo gives you a different email address for every site, each forwarding to the inbox you already use. Hand a different one to every site. If it leaks or starts spamming you, switch that one off.

Create a free account See how it works

Free because it runs on donations, not on a paid tier. No phone number, no card.

Skudo · Aliases

Aliases

413 active · 1 off

Create

Search addresses, sites, notes Active

Alias	Status	Fwd	Blocked	Last activity
orders.4kf2@skudo.org Shopping, orders and delivery notices	Active	1,204	12	2 hours ago
bank-statements@example.org Statements only, nothing else should arrive here	Active	318	0	yesterday
newsletter.9qz1@skudo.org Reading list, routed to a second inbox	Active	96	3	4 days ago
forum.signup@skudo.org Switched off after the address started selling on	Off	287	1,902	11 months ago

1–4 of 414

zsh · skudo

$ skudo alias new --domain skudo.org --note "shop"

created  shop.7c4a@skudo.org
forwards jane@example.com
stored   forwards_to [encrypted]

$ skudo alias list --active --json | jq '.[0].email'
"orders.4kf2@skudo.org"
$

acme.com/register

Skudo

Create your account

Email address

acme.7c4a@skudo.org

Alias generated for acme.com

Forwards to jane@example.com

Password

••••••••••••

Create account

Everything included, free

Replies, your own domains, catch-all, rules. There is no upgrade to sell you, because nothing is held back for one.

271

of ∞

addresses in use

No paid tier

Nothing changes for you

Mail lands in the inbox you already use, on the same phone and the same app, and your replies go out as the alias.

Shopify

10:04

A shipment from order #1042 is on the way

to shop.7c4a@skudo.org

We forward it and forget it

A message passes through and keeps going. There is no copy, no log of who wrote to you, and nothing to hand over later.

SenderSkudoYour inbox

Give every site its own address
Make one up on the spot, or let the extension write it. Nothing is held back for a plan that does not exist.
acme.com/register
Create your account
Already have one? Sign in
Email address
Password
I agree to the terms of sale and the privacy policy.
Create account
Mail arrives where it always did
Same inbox, same phone, nothing to install. Reply as the alias and your own address stays out of the headers.
Inbox
0 new
jane@example.com
- Amazon.co.uk
  10:04
  Shipped: “Anker 737 Power Bank (PowerCore 24K)” - Arriving tomorrow by 10pm. Track your package.
  shop.7c4a@skudo.org
- Booking.com
  09:12
  Your booking is confirmed at Hotel Borges Chiado - Check-in Fri 12 Jun · Confirmation 4392 517 108 · PIN 4021
  travel@example.org
- Spotify
  Yesterday
  Your Spotify receipt - Premium Individual · €11.99 · Next payment 4 July
  music.9qz1@skudo.org
Switch it off the moment it turns
One address goes quiet. The other four hundred carry on, and you know exactly who leaked it.
forum.signup@skudo.org
Active Off
Forwarded to jane@example.com
Last 30 days
2 Aug31 Aug
1 Sep30 Sep

Why people use aliases

Control spam

If an address is sold on and the spam starts, switch that one off. Every other address you have keeps working.

Know who leaked it

Each site gets an address of its own, so when mail turns up somewhere it should not, the address itself says where it came from.

Sign up without a phone number

An account needs no phone number, no card and no real name. There is nothing to pay, so there is nothing to trace.

Send to more than one inbox

Route shopping to one address and everything else to another, without the two ever meeting.

Sort it before it arrives

Label it, route it or drop it at the relay, so your inbox arrives in the shape you want it.

Keep your addresses if you move

Addresses on a domain you own travel with the domain, so nothing here holds you in place.

Compare

Skudo compared to others

Checked against each provider's own pricing pages and documentation in August 2026. Where one of them is better than us, the row says so.

Addresses included

Shared provider domains

Skudo: Yes: 30 new a month on ours, unlimited on your own
addy.io: Partial: 10 active shared aliases
SimpleLogin: Partial: 10 aliases
Apple Hide My Email: No: No free tier, iCloud+ required

Reply from an address

Answering a message that arrived

Skudo: Yes: Included
addy.io: Partial: Paid plans only
SimpleLogin: Yes: Free plan included
Apple Hide My Email: Yes: From Apple Mail or iCloud.com

Start a new message as the address

First contact, not just a reply

Skudo: Yes: Included
addy.io: Partial: Paid plans, daily send limits
SimpleLogin: Partial: Premium only
Apple Hide My Email: No: Replies only

Custom domains

Addresses that carry no provider signature

Skudo: Yes: Unlimited, no plan needed
addy.io: Yes: 1 on Lite, 20 on Pro
SimpleLogin: Yes: Unlimited on Premium
Apple Hide My Email: No: Hide My Email is @icloud.com only

Browser extension and phone app

Making an address without leaving the page you are on

Skudo: No: The web app only, on any browser
addy.io: Yes: Extension, and an Android app
SimpleLogin: Yes: Extension, iOS and Android apps
Apple Hide My Email: Yes: Built into Safari, iOS and macOS

The address you forward to is encrypted

The one record a forwarding service has to keep

Skudo: Yes: Under a key of its own
addy.io: No: No such scheme published
SimpleLogin: No: No such scheme published
Apple Hide My Email: No: Bound to your Apple Account

Sign up and pay without a name

Sign-up requirements and accepted currencies

Skudo: Yes: No phone; Monero or Bitcoin
addy.io: Yes: No phone; crypto on yearly plans
SimpleLogin: Partial: No phone; Bitcoin via Proton
Apple Hide My Email: No: Apple Account and card required

What it costs

To get everything the service does

Skudo: Free, donation funded
addy.io: $3 / month (Pro)
SimpleLogin: $3 / month ($36 / year)
Apple Hide My Email: From $0.99 / month with storage

Feature comparison between Skudo, addy.io, SimpleLogin and Apple Hide My Email
Feature	Skudo Free, no paid tier	addy.ioAddy Pty Ltd, Australia	SimpleLoginProton, France / Finland	Apple Hide My EmailApple, iCloud+
Addresses included Shared provider domains	Yes: 30 new a month on ours, unlimited on your own	Partial: 10 active shared aliases	Partial: 10 aliases	No: No free tier, iCloud+ required
Reply from an address Answering a message that arrived	Yes: Included	Partial: Paid plans only	Yes: Free plan included	Yes: From Apple Mail or iCloud.com
Start a new message as the address First contact, not just a reply	Yes: Included	Partial: Paid plans, daily send limits	Partial: Premium only	No: Replies only
Custom domains Addresses that carry no provider signature	Yes: Unlimited, no plan needed	Yes: 1 on Lite, 20 on Pro	Yes: Unlimited on Premium	No: Hide My Email is @icloud.com only
Browser extension and phone app Making an address without leaving the page you are on	No: The web app only, on any browser	Yes: Extension, and an Android app	Yes: Extension, iOS and Android apps	Yes: Built into Safari, iOS and macOS
The address you forward to is encrypted The one record a forwarding service has to keep	Yes: Under a key of its own	No: No such scheme published	No: No such scheme published	No: Bound to your Apple Account
Sign up and pay without a name Sign-up requirements and accepted currencies	Yes: No phone; Monero or Bitcoin	Yes: No phone; crypto on yearly plans	Partial: No phone; Bitcoin via Proton	No: Apple Account and card required
What it costs To get everything the service does	Free, donation funded	$3 / month (Pro)	$3 / month ($36 / year)	From $0.99 / month with storage

Free means free: there is one tier and nothing above it to buy. The bill is paid by donations, the monthly cost of running the service is published, and a donation unlocks nothing at all. How the service is funded.

Sources: addy.io pricing and help centre; SimpleLogin pricing and FAQ; Apple iCloud+ and Hide My Email support documentation. Prices are each provider's own list price and are not currency-adjusted, since addy.io and SimpleLogin publish in US dollars. Apple’s figure is the entry iCloud+ plan, which bundles 50 GB of storage rather than pricing aliasing on its own. Corrections: corrections@skudo.org.

Create a free account

FAQ

Common questions

No. Skudo forwards into whatever inbox you use today: Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, your own server. Nothing is installed and nothing about your current setup changes. The only thing that changes is which address you type into forms.

Didn't find your question here? The help centre covers everything else, and the architecture paper has the technical detail.