Guerrilla Mail vs Maildrop (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Guerrilla Mail and Maildrop share a 3.0 GPA, both have a free plan, and Maildrop has no paid plan to buy, against $0.83 a month when paid by the year for Guerrilla Mail.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Guerrilla Mail
Disposable email inbox that needs no sign-up
Which one is for you
Pick Guerrilla Mail if
- Fits if you need an address for a one-off confirmation link
- Works for developers who want a free inbox to test sign-ups against
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you need mail kept, as everything is deleted after 1 hour
- Skip it for anything private, since anyone with the inbox ID can open it
- Skip it if you dislike ads, as the site shows them and uses Google Analytics and AdSense
- Watch out: there's no spam folder
Pick Maildrop if
- Fits if you need an address for a one-off confirmation email
- Works for developers who want a free inbox to read from code
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you need privacy, as anyone can read any inbox
- Too light for real mail, as it can't send and drops attachments
- Tight if you wait for slow mail, as an inbox keeps 10 messages and clears after 24 hours without mail
- Watch out: connections are logged, and the vendor can't say what happened to a missing email
How we grade them
| 3.0GPAGuerrilla MailVery good | 3.0GPAMaildropVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AThe disposable inbox is free, and using your own domain is $9.99 a year. | AFree outright, with no sign-up and no account to pay for. |
| Free plan and trial | AFree outright, with no account, so there's no cap to reach on a throwaway inbox. | AThe whole service is free, including API access with rate limits. |
| Features | CReceiving, replying and an API. It does the throwaway-address job fully, which is a smaller job than a mailbox, and it keeps nothing past an hour. | CReceiving mail at any address on its domain, spam filtering and an API. It does the throwaway job fully, which is a smaller job, and it can't send. |
| Ease of use | BOpen the page and you have an address. Nothing to set up. | BNo account and nothing to set up: pick an address and read it. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, with an API for scripts. No phone or desktop apps are listed. | CWeb only, with a GraphQL API. No apps listed. |
| Best for | a throwaway inbox with no sign-up | a free public inbox with an API |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Guerrilla Mail and Maildrop. How we grade
Price against what you get
Guerrilla Mail starts at $0.83 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Maildrop has no paid plan and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and Maildrop starts $0.83 a month lower. Of the other email apps on the chart, 4 score higher than Guerrilla Mail for less, and none scores higher than Maildrop for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Guerrilla Mail is open source, according to its own site.
- Maildrop also covers inbox filtering.
At a glance
| Guerrilla Mail | Maildrop | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $9.99 per year | Free |
| Free plan | The disposable inbox is free with no account; messages are deleted after 1 hour. | Entire service is free: no sign-up, up to 10 messages per inbox, API access with rate limits. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Jamit Software Limited | Heluna |
| Price read from | guerrillamail.com | maildrop.cc |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Guerrilla Mail
- Anyone who knows an inbox ID can open that inbox, so it suits low-stakes messages only.
- Everything is deleted after an hour, and there is no spam folder.
- The site shows ads and uses Google Analytics and AdSense cookies, per its About page.
- The open-source part is the Go-Guerrilla mail server; the vendor does not say the whole website is open.
Maildrop
- Every inbox is public: the privacy policy says anyone can read any message and to send nothing sensitive.
- Maildrop cannot send email, and attachments are discarded.
- An inbox holds at most 10 messages and is cleared after 24 hours without new mail, sooner when space runs short.
- Connections are logged, and the vendor cannot say what happened to a missing email.
Key features
Guerrilla Mail
- No registration
- A random address is created when you open the site, and you can also choose your own address.
- Scrambled address
- Anyone who knows an inbox ID can read that inbox, so the site offers a scrambled alias as an extra layer of protection.
- Compose and reply
- The inbox has a compose window, so you can send from the disposable address.
- One-hour retention
- Messages are deleted an hour after they reach an inbox, or sooner if you delete them.
- API
- A public API is documented, and the vendor says its own front end uses it for everything.
Maildrop
- No sign-up
- Make up an address at maildrop.cc, give it out, then type it into the site to read the inbox.
- Spam filtering
- Filters from Heluna, plus greylisting, sender checks and subject checks, block most spam before it reaches an inbox.
- GraphQL API
- Developers can list a mailbox, read or delete a message and fetch statistics over a GraphQL endpoint.
- Strict message handling
- Messages must be under 500k and all attachments are removed and discarded.
Plans
Guerrilla Mail
Disposable inbox$0
Random or chosen address on one of several guerrillamail domains. No registration, and mail is kept for 1 hour.
Your own domain$9.99
per year, for a domain you own
Mail sent to your domain arrives in an inbox only you can open, or you can make it open to everyone. Pay by Bitcoin or PayPal.
Maildrop
Free$0
Any address at maildrop.cc, no account, 10 messages per inbox, inboxes cleared after 24 hours without mail.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Guerrilla Mail or Maildrop?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Maildrop is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $0.83 a month when paid by the year for Guerrilla Mail. Guerrilla Mail starts at $9.99 per year, and Maildrop is free.
Which has a free plan, Guerrilla Mail or Maildrop?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Guerrilla Mail and Maildrop have a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.