The term comes from “burner phone” — a cheap handset you use briefly and toss. A burner email address applies the same idea to your inbox. It's a working address that receives whatever you need, then gets discarded so it can never be linked back to your real one.
Why keep an address burnable?
Because permanence is the problem. A real inbox accumulates: every signup, every list, every breach stacks up over years. A burner starts empty, does one job, and disappears — so there's no accumulation and no long tail of consequences.
Single-use signups
Grab the code or download, then let the address evaporate.
Untrusted senders
Give sketchy sites a burner instead of your real address.
Separate personas
Keep a side project or alias away from your main identity.
Auto-disposal
No manual cleanup — the inbox burns itself on a timer.
When to reach for a burner
- Any form you expect to generate spam.
- A one-time file transfer or code from someone you don't know.
- Trying a new app you're not sure you'll keep.
- Entering a giveaway or claiming a coupon.
- Posting an address somewhere public where scrapers roam.
Burner vs. email alias
An alias (like Gmail's +tag trick) still delivers to your real inbox — handy for filtering, useless for privacy, since it exposes your true address. A burner is fully separate: it has its own inbox, no link to you, and it deletes itself. When privacy is the goal, burn it; don't alias it.
A burner in four seconds
With fmail, every address is a burner by default. Type a name, use it, close the tab. After 12 hours the inbox is gone. Need another? It's one click. No accounts to manage, no addresses to clean up — just light one when you need it.
Need a throwaway inbox right now?
Pick any name on 26 domains, read mail live, and let it self-destruct. No signup, ever.
Create your address →