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How I Use Mailinator: Detailed Review of the Service and Step-by-Step Tutorial

Diana Lepilkina

In this article, I explore Mailinator and the whole disposable email approach, from A to Z, no frills. 

I’ll tell you all you need to know about the tool, show you how it works, clarify what you can do with it, and provide you with several alternatives, both for disposable email addresses and for testing.

What is Mailinator?

Mailinator is an online disposable email service or, as they call it, a public email. Simply put, it’s a web service that accepts and displays emails sent to any possible address on the Mailinator domain. 

And here’s what Mailinator is used for:

Personally, I use Mailinator when I’m trying out various tools and services for articles on the Mailtrap blog and YouTube channel. 

With Mailinator’s disposable email addresses, I can create accounts pretty much anywhere I want without having to use and reveal my personal email address. By doing this, I easily dodge those spammy emails you receive after registering for a tool or service (e.g., promotional messages, newsletters. etc.).

To see how I register with the disposable email addresses, [click here]. 

I say sporadic because lacking a whole bunch of testing features (e.g., sandbox, spam check, etc.) Mailinator is not a dedicated email testing solution and is quite impractical to use. However, in case you need a quick check, be my guest, although I don’t recommend using a dummy email for testing.

If you’re interested in a time-proven way to go about email testing, allow my colleague Veljko, a veteran in the email game, to take you on a personal journey through email testing in his dedicated article on the topic.👈

When I say ‘verifying your website functionality,’ I actually mean testing sign-up forms, form submitting, subscribing, etc. Mailinator is great for this, especially if you’re a QA who needs to test these functionalities through and through, as you wouldn’t need to create a new email account for every registration, for example.

If you want to learn how to automate the sign-up process via Selenium, read the official guide, or if you’re a visual learner, watch the Mailinator video.

Last but not least, you can use Mailinator’s disposable emails to check how the email actually looks for your recipients.

But, as with everything in life, there’s always a ‘but’ and there’s always a catch. 🙂

Although you can check how your dynamic content looks, Mailinator doesn’t show you how it looks for different clients/browsers or pinpoint the faulty lines of code, which is a big no-no in my book. 

And here’s another ‘but’: if you’re interested in an efficient testing solution, I’ve got just the right alternative, which I go over in-depth [later in the article]. 

Is it safe to use Mailinator?

If you’re wondering whether Mailinator is safe to use, I feel you—I wonder the same whenever I’m reviewing any tool or service out there for our blog.

Here’s what you should be aware of in the case of Mailinator:

Any emails you send to Mailinator’s public domains (e.g., @mailinator.com) are completely public. So, anyone can access your emails without even having to log in or sign up for Mailinator, which means there’s no privacy at all for the emails received in these public inboxes.

For private domains provided to paid users, Mailinator employs multiple security measures, including HTTPS for web traffic, TLS encryption for SMTP servers, and secure handling of access keys.

Additionally, the infrastructure includes firewalls and redundant systems, which significantly improves data security and availability.

If you’re interested in the deets, you should know that Mailinator’s infrastructure is hosted on Linode with various certifications, including SOC 1 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA Type 1, HITECH, and PCI DSS.

Mailinator’s secure architecture is also maintained with regular key rotations and an isolated environment for both development and production.

Worst comes to worst: Mailinator has a defined protocol in place dedicated to responding to security incidents, ensuring that any potential vulnerabilities are addressed without much delay.

If you send test emails with sensitive content to the public domain, you definitely won’t be safe. 

On the other hand, a subscription to the service gets you private domains, meaning you’ll be in the clear, so you can sit back and sip a worry-free martini. 🍸

For peace of mind and a bit more information, consult the Mailinator security page.

Mailinator review

As you might have noticed by now, Mailinator’s free and paid functionality differ a lot. So, I’ll review them separately so you can get a clearer picture of the service’s subscription plans.

Free features

With the free Mailinator plan, which doesn’t require a signup, you get (only) an endless number of receive-only public inboxes, and that’s it—simple as that. 

According to Mailinator, you could technically use a billion different inboxes every day for the rest of your life and never come close to using them all up. 

Fun statistics aside, here are some things you should be aware of when it comes to the free features:

As you can probably figure out for yourself, Mailinator’s free functionality is pretty much limited only to registration and some ultra-light email testing, which I’d personally avoid.

Now, let’s use Mailinator’s disposable address to sign up for “The Front Page of the Internet.” Of course, I’m talking about Reddit.

Everyone needs a throwaway account every now and then, so I figured it would be the perfect website to test the free Mailinator functionality.

Here’s what you need to do:

Not surprisingly, ‘mailinator.demo’ email handle isn’t used by anyone

And voila, I’ve successfully avoided using my real address to sign up for a website.

Some of the most notable paid Mailinator features include:

Pricing

Disclaimer: The subscription plans, their features, and prices are up-to-date as of writing this article, but they could be different when you’re reading it as they’re prone to change. 

I already went over the Free Mailaintor features, so you know the deal. Nonetheless here’s a table so you can compare it with other plans below.

Unlimited Public InboxesTemporary StorageNo Sign-up RequiredFree to Use
24/7 Uptime MonitoringSMS Testing ❌API Access ❌Webhooks ❌
Routing Rules ❌Load Testing ❌Email Support ❌Phone Support ❌
Email Attachments ❌📧📧📧

No, it’s not a typo, Mailinator does, in fact, offer a free plan that includes a private domain and some additional features, with a limit to 1K emails per month.

And I must admit, it’s a nice gesture by the Mailinator team towards those who aren’t ready to commit to a paid plan but want to try features that come with one.

Unlimited Private Inboxes1 Private Domain10MB Permanent Storage10 Emails/Sec
1K Emails/Mo1 Single UserSMS Testing ❌API Access
WebhooksRouting RulesLoad Testing ❌Email Support
Phone Support ❌Email Attachments ❌Usage Statistics24/7 Uptime Monitoring

However, there’s a catch. To get the Verified Pro account, you need to enter your company email, full name, intended use case, and phone number or LinkedIn profile. 

Ironically enough, when I tried signing up for this plan, I didn’t get my verification email and couldn’t log in afterwards. Twice. But don’t let that stop you: be my guest and try your luck at it yourself if you’re interested.

Best for small to medium-sized businesses, business plan is the most popular choice at Mailinator, being a middle ground, both when considering the features and the price.

Unlimited Private Inboxes1 Private Domain50MB Permanent Storage20 Emails/Sec
100K Emails/Mo5 Team SeatsSMS TestingAPI Access
WebhooksRouting RulesLoad Testing ❌Email Support
Phone Support ❌Email AttachmentsUsage Statistics24/7 Uptime Monitoring
Easy Team ManagementSystem Status DashboardSupports SSOPay by Invoice
Upgrades AvailableStandard T’s & C’s📧📧

Note that Mailinator offers a two-week free trial for this plan, which you can request by following this link. Luckily, I successfully received the verification email for this plan and was able to take its features for a test ride.

The Business Plus plan doubles down on what the regular Business model offers and includes some notable perks such as phone support and Load Testing.

Unlimited Private Inboxes3 Private Domains100MB Permanent Storage100 Emails/Sec
300K Emails/Mo10 Team SeatsSMS TestingAPI Access
WebhooksRouting RulesLoad TestingEmail Support
Phone SupportEmail AttachmentsUsage Statistics24/7 Uptime Monitoring
Easy Team ManagementSystem Status DashboardSupports SSOPay by Invoice
Upgrades AvailableStandard T’s & C’s📧📧

The Enterprise plan is designed for large organizations and includes all the possible features Mailinator has to offer.

Unlimited Private Inboxes5+ Private DomainsCustom Permanent Storage200 Emails/Sec
3MM+ Emails/Mo50+ Team SeatsSMS TestingAPI Access
WebhooksRouting RulesLoad TestingEmail Support
Phone SupportEmail AttachmentsUsage Statistics24/7 Uptime Monitoring
Easy Team ManagementSystem Status DashboardSupports SSOPay by Invoice
Accelerated Feature Request SupportCustom Terms & Conditions📧📧

One more thing I noticed worth mentioning is that Enterprise users can request features from the Mailinator team that don’t exist already and come up with their own terms and conditions. 

User reviews and ratings

As in all of my reviews, I checked out what the community says and how it rates the tool or service I’m trying out. 

I also didn’t forget social media, and I’ve scouted both X(Twitter), and, of course, Reddit. Both platforms have mostly positive reviews, with Reddit having a few posts regarding the functionality.

As you can see for yourself, Mailinator is pretty much loved by folks from all over the place for its disposable email service. So, hurray for Mailinator! 🥳

Alternatives for disposable emails

Developed way back in 2001 by Manybrain, Mailinator is one of the oldest disposable email providers in the game. However, it’s neither the best nor the only solution out there.

Here are some alternatives I’ve used in the past and am always happy to recommend:

AlternativeAttachmentsSending EmailsSpam FilterMobile AppSign up Required
Guerilla MailUp to 150MB✅✅❌❌
MailDrop❌❌✅❌❌
10 Minute Mail❌❌✅✅❌
Temp Mail❌❌✅✅❌
FakeMail❌❌✅✅❌

How to test emails in Mailinator using a disposable email

And finally, we’ve come to, in my opinion, the most interesting part of the article: email testing with Mailinator. 

First, I’ll show you how to send a basic test email with Gmail. Then, for demonstrative purposes, I’ll showcase a simple email-sending functionality.

Testing emails with Gmail

To send a basic test email to Mailinator inbox with Gmail, follow these steps:

As you can see, Mailinator supports email subject, To and From headers, and recognizes text and HTML parts. However, the image in the message body is not displayed at all because it’s a free account.

Testing emails with Node.js and Nodemailer

For this test, I’ve used Nodemailer and Mailtrap Email Sending, my favorite combination. 

Nodemailer is quite straightforward to use, whereas Mailtrap Email Sending provides me with a reliable SMTP with robust sending capabilities, ensuring my emails reach recipients’ inboxes, or, in this case, the Mailinator public inbox.

Here’s what my Nodemailer configuration looks like:

const nodemailer = require('nodemailer');


const transporter = nodemailer.createTransport({
    host: 'live.smtp.mailtrap.io',
    port: 587,
    secure: false,
    auth: {
        user: "api",
        pass: "1a2b3c4d5e6f7g1a2b3c4d5e6f7g"
    }
});


const mailOptions = {
    from: 'info@mailtrap.club',
    to: 'mailinator.email.test@mailinator.com',
    subject: 'Test email for Mailinator public inbox',
    text: 'Testing Mailinator for the Mailtrap blog. :)!'
};


transporter.sendMail(mailOptions, (error, info) => {
    if (error) {
        console.error('Error, error');
    } else {
        console.log('Email sent: ', info.response);
    }
});

After running the script, I visited the Mailinator public inbox, and voila, my email is waiting for me there!

Why using dummy emails for testing doesn’t work

I’m gonna be honest with you: if you’re looking for a disposable email service for registering without your personal address, Mailinator really is one of your best bets. 

However, Mailinator, or any other similar service for that matter, falls short for purposes of email testing, because of:

Alternative to Mailinator for email testing

If you’re looking for an alternative to Mailinator, don’t worry—I’ve got you covered.

One such alternative is, you guessed it, Mailtrap Email Testing, which, besides Email Sending that I mentioned earlier in the article, is another key part of Mailtrap Email Delivery Platform.

Mailtrap Email Testing is designed to simplify testing by providing developers with a safe sandbox environment where you can test emails without affecting your own domain or accidentally sending messages to real addresses.

Unlike with Mailinator, with Mailtrap Email Testing you can preview your emails in HTML with dynamic content and see how they look on phones, tables, and big displays.

Additionally, you can check whether your code is rendered correctly on different browsers/clients. 

You can then simply click on the number next to Found on lines, which will take you to the HTML Source tab, where you can easily see the faulty line of code and fix/remove it.

And as if you didn’t have enough of tables in this article, here’s another one summarizing the difference in testing-specific features offered by Mailtrap Email Testing and Mailinator:

FeatureMailtrap Email TestingMailinator
Email sandbox✅❌
Email preview ✅✅
HTML check✅❌
Email headers✅❌
Multiple inboxes✅❌
Email templates✅✅
SMS Testing❌❌
Automatic authentication✅❌
Free plan✅✅
Scalable pricing✅❌

As you can see, comparing a dedicated email testing service (Mailtrap) with a disposable email service (Mailinator) is like comparing Ronaldo to Novak Djokovic. Ronaldo dominates the football field, but Djokovic would outshine him on the tennis court, each excelling in their own sport. 

Now, let me break down some of these features offered by Mailtrap Email Testing:

Email templates – Test your templates with our API and then switch from staging to production once you’re ready to dispatch them. 

To set up Mailtrap Email Testing, you can simply copy/paste the SMTP credentials provided to you after creating an account. Or, if you prefer playing around with code, integrate Email Testing into your app with pre-made code snippets and use Testing API for testing, automation, and testing automated sequences.

For a step-by-step tutorial on how to set up Mailtrap Email Testing, consult our in-depth Getting Started Guide.

Test Emails with Mailtrap for Free

Wrapping up

And with that, we come to the end of our Mailinator tutorial. 

I think I’ve covered everything, so hopefully, you can use this article as your go-to Mailinator guide. If you’d like to learn more about the service, I suggest visiting the Mailinator blog.

However, if you’re up for some more high-quality reads on all things email, check out the Mailtrap blog, where you can find articles such as:

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