Maskmail vs Fastmail

Fastmail is a premium email provider with a built-in masked email feature. Maskmail is a dedicated aliasing layer. Both protect your real address, but the product scope is very different. Here is how they stack up.

What is Fastmail?

Fastmail is a paid email provider based in Australia, focused on speed, reliability, and open standards (IMAP, SMTP, JMAP). Its masked email feature lets you generate random addresses for each service you sign up for, with direct integration into 1Password and Bitwarden.

What is Maskmail?

Maskmail is an email mask firewall. You create one mask per service, forward what matters to any inbox you already use, and disable any mask the moment spam starts. Threaded two-way replies show who sent the email at a glance. It works with any email provider and charges usage-based pricing.

Feature comparison

Pricing

Maskmail charges $0.99/month base plus $0.006 per email.

Fastmail has no free tier. Individual plans start at $5/month ($60/year) with 60 GB storage. Duo is $8/month and Family is $11/month for up to 6 users.

Where Fastmail is stronger

• Full email provider. Fastmail gives you a complete inbox with calendar, contacts, and powerful filtering rules. You do not need a separate email account.
• Open standards. Full IMAP, SMTP, and JMAP support means you can use any email client and are never locked in.
• 1Password and Bitwarden integration. Generating masked emails during signup is seamless through your password manager.
• Speed and reliability. Fastmail has been around for over 25 years and consistently earns praise for performance.
• Custom domain portability. Use your own domain for masked emails. If you ever leave Fastmail, you take your domain with you.

Where Maskmail is stronger

• No provider switch required. Keep your Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, or any inbox. Maskmail adds a privacy layer without forcing a migration.
• Lower cost for aliasing. At $0.99/month vs Fastmail's $5/month minimum, Maskmail is significantly cheaper if aliasing is your main need.
• Threaded replies with sender context. Forwarded emails show the original sender's name in your inbox. Hit reply, and the conversation threads naturally for both sides while your real address stays hidden.
• Delivery history. Track forwarded messages and catch delivery issues before you miss something important.
• Forward to multiple inboxes. Route different masks to different providers. Work aliases go to Outlook, personal ones to Gmail, side projects to iCloud.
• No alias cap. Fastmail limits masked emails to roughly 1,000. Maskmail has no cap.

Something to consider

Because Fastmail's masked email is part of the email provider itself, your aliases only work as long as you stay on Fastmail. If you ever decide to switch providers, every masked address becomes unreachable unless you have a custom domain set up. That creates a quiet form of lock-in that most users do not think about until they need to leave. And with a cap of roughly 1,000 masked addresses, heavy users may eventually need to clean up old aliases to make room.

If you want email masking without tying it to a single provider, Maskmail lets you keep your existing inbox and adds a forwarding layer on top. Your aliases stay functional regardless of where your actual mailbox lives.

Who should pick which?

Choose Fastmail if you want to switch to a premium, ad-free email provider that happens to include masked email as a feature.

Choose Maskmail if you already have an inbox you like and just want a lightweight aliasing layer with full delivery visibility and pay-per-use pricing.

Bottom line

Fastmail is an excellent email provider with a well-implemented masked email feature. But it requires you to move your inbox. Maskmail lets you keep whatever provider you prefer and adds email masking on top, at a lower price point, with no alias limits.