Maildrop vs Mailinator (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Maildrop grades higher than Mailinator: 3.0 against 2.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Maildrop grades higher on value for money, the free plan and ease of use. Mailinator grades higher on features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Mailinator
Public disposable inboxes and private email testing domains
Which one is for you
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
Pick Mailinator if
- Fits if you test sign-up and password-reset emails in code
- Works for QA teams that want a private domain and an API
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you need privacy on the public inboxes, as anyone can read them
- Tight if you stay free: 1 private domain, 10 MB and 60 emails a day
- Pricey if you need SMS, which is bought on request at an extra charge
- Watch out: load testing needs Enterprise
- Watch out: the annual and monthly pages list different Verified Pro limits, 2,000 and 1,000 a month
How we grade them
| 3.0GPAMaildropVery good | 2.6GPAMailinatorGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree outright, with no sign-up and no account to pay for. | CBusiness is $79 a month for 5 seats billed yearly, about $15.80 a seat, which is above the dearer quarter of what email services charge. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe whole service is free, including API access with rate limits. | BPublic inboxes need no sign-up, and Verified Pro adds 1 private domain and an API at 60 emails a day. A solo tester could live on it. |
| Features | 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. | BPublic and private inboxes, an API and SDKs, webhooks and routing rules, with nothing missing from the job of testing mail. SMS and load testing are dearer extras. |
| Ease of use | BNo account and nothing to set up: pick an address and read it. | CNo store rating on record. You point a domain at it and wire the API into your tests. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, with a GraphQL API. No apps listed. | BWeb, with an API and Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, Puppeteer and Slack connections. No apps of its own. |
| Best for | a free public inbox with an API | public throwaway inboxes and email testing |
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: Maildrop and Mailinator. How we grade
Price against what you get
Maildrop has no paid plan and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Mailinator starts at $79 a month and scores 2.7.
Mailinator scores higher, and starts $79 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other email apps on the chart, none scores higher than Maildrop for less, and 12 score higher than Mailinator 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
- Maildrop also covers inbox filtering.
- Mailinator also covers workflow automation and transactional email.
At a glance
| Maildrop | Mailinator | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | $79 per month, billed yearly ($99 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | Entire service is free: no sign-up, up to 10 messages per inbox, API access with rate limits. | Public inboxes need no sign-up. The free Verified Pro plan adds 1 private domain, API access, 1 user and 10 MB storage, capped at 60 emails a day. |
| Free trial | None listed | 2-week free trial of the Business plan. |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Heluna | Manybrain, Inc. |
| Price read from | maildrop.cc | mailinator.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Mailinator
- Public mailinator.com inboxes are readable by anyone, so they are unsuitable for private mail.
- SMS numbers are bought on request at an additional charge.
- The annual and monthly pricing pages list different Verified Pro email limits (2,000 and 1,000 a month).
- Load testing and SMS are not on the free plans; load testing needs Enterprise.
Key features
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.
Mailinator
- Public and private inboxes
- Any name at a public domain works as an inbox the moment mail arrives; paid plans add private domains with unlimited inboxes.
- API and SDKs
- Inboxes can be read from test code through an API, with SDK releases for C#, Python, JavaScript and Ruby.
- SMS testing
- Business and above can receive SMS in a test suite; numbers are set up on request and cost extra.
- Webhooks and routing rules
- Rules can click links in messages or forward them to tools such as Slack.
- Load testing
- Email load testing needs an Enterprise subscription, per the vendor.
Plans
Maildrop
Free$0
Any address at maildrop.cc, no account, 10 messages per inbox, inboxes cleared after 24 hours without mail.
Mailinator
Public (free)$0
Unlimited public inboxes with temporary storage and no sign-up; anyone can read them.
Verified Pro$0
free with verification
1 private domain, 1 user, 10 MB storage and API access. The annual page lists 2,000 emails a month and 60 a day; the monthly page lists 1,000 a month.
Business$79
per month, 5 seats, billed annually ($99 billed monthly)
1 private domain, 100,000 emails a month (3,333 a day), 50 MB storage, webhooks and routing rules.
Business Plus$159
per month, 10 seats, billed annually ($199 billed monthly)
3 private domains, 300,000 emails a month (10,000 a day), 100 MB storage, up to 100 emails a second.
Enterprise$699
and up, custom pricing; billing basis not stated
5 or more private domains, 3 million or more emails a month, up to 500 emails a second, custom seats and terms.
Ways to pay less
Maildrop
No public discounts listed.
Mailinator
- Annual discount
20% off with annual billing
The annual pricing page says its plans include a 20% discount on the service plan compared with month-to-month.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Maildrop or Mailinator?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Maildrop is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $79 a month for Mailinator. Maildrop is free, and Mailinator starts at $79 per month, billed yearly ($99 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Maildrop or Mailinator?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Maildrop and Mailinator 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.