regmail.me vs Gmail plus addressing
Gmail plus addressing needs no new service and lets you reply. regmail.me hides your real address instead. Here is when each one wins.
What is Gmail plus addressing?
Gmail lets you add anything after a plus sign in your address, so [email protected] and [email protected] both land in the same inbox as [email protected]. Gmail also ignores dots in the local part, which people use the same way.
It costs nothing extra, needs no new account, and every message still arrives in the one inbox you already check every day.
What is regmail.me instead?
regmail.me gives you a separate address on its own domain, created in seconds with Google sign in. It is not a variation of your Gmail address, it is a different mailbox entirely, and it is receive only: nothing sent to it can be replied to.
That separation is the point. A plus tag is trivially reversible back to your real Gmail address; a regmail.me address is not connected to it at all.
Where does Gmail plus addressing actually win?
If you already live in Gmail and want to reply to whatever lands on the alias, plus addressing wins every time, because it is still the same inbox with the same reply button. regmail.me cannot reply to anything, ever, by design.
Plus addressing also needs zero setup beyond typing the plus sign at signup, while regmail.me still asks you to sign in and create a mailbox first.
Where does plus addressing fall short?
Some signup forms strip everything after the plus sign or reject it outright, so the trick silently fails on those sites. And because [email protected] always reveals [email protected], anyone who sees one alias can guess your real address and every other alias you might use.
A regmail.me address gives up none of that. It does not reveal your main inbox, and no site can special case a plus sign it does not accept.
How do the two compare?
| Gmail plus addressing | regmail.me | |
|---|---|---|
| Needs a new service | No, uses existing Gmail | Yes, separate mailbox |
| Can reply from the alias | Yes, same inbox | No |
| Reveals your real address | Yes, trivially | No |
| Works on every signup form | No, some strip the plus sign | Yes, looks like a normal address |
| Address lifetime | Tied to your Gmail account | Permanent, separate account |
| Cost to start | Free | Free, limits apply |
Neither option is truly anonymous. Gmail plus addressing exposes your base address by construction, and a regmail.me mailbox is tied to the domain regmail.me operates, not one you own.
Which one should you pick?
- Filtering newsletters inside Gmail you still want to read: plus addressing
- Keeping a signup address that never reveals your real inbox: regmail.me
- A form that rejects plus signs: regmail.me, since it looks like an ordinary address
- Needing to reply to whatever comes back: plus addressing, since regmail.me cannot send at all
Frequently asked questions
Does Gmail plus addressing cost anything?
No. It is a free feature built into any Gmail address, and it works the moment you type the plus sign at signup. There is nothing to set up beyond that.
Can someone find my real Gmail address from an alias?
Yes. [email protected] always resolves back to [email protected], so the plus tag hides intent, not identity. A regmail.me address carries no such link back to any other inbox.
Why do some sites reject the plus sign?
Some signup forms use address validation that treats the plus sign as invalid, or they strip it before saving, which breaks the trick silently. A regmail.me address avoids this because it looks like a normal address to any validator.
Can regmail.me forward mail into my Gmail inbox?
No. regmail.me mailboxes hold mail themselves and have no send or forward path. If you want everything to land in one inbox you already check, Gmail plus addressing does that natively.
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