Maskmail vs Firefox Relay

Firefox Relay is Mozilla's email masking service, tightly integrated into the Firefox browser. Maskmail is a standalone aliasing tool. Both hide your real email, but the approach, pricing, and feature set differ significantly.

What is Firefox Relay?

Firefox Relay is a privacy service from Mozilla that generates masked email addresses forwarding to your real inbox. Its browser extension makes alias creation easy on any site. Premium adds unlimited aliases, a custom subdomain, anonymous replies, and phone number masking (US/Canada only).

What is Maskmail?

Maskmail is an email mask firewall. Create one mask per service, forward messages to any inbox you already use, and disable any mask the moment it gets abused. It supports custom domains, delivery history, threaded two-way replies that show who sent the email at a glance, and usage-based pricing.

Feature comparison

Pricing

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

Firefox Relay free gives you 5 email masks. Premium is ~$0.99/month (billed annually at ~$12/year) for unlimited masks, a custom subdomain, anonymous replies, and phone masking.

Where Firefox Relay is stronger

• Free tier with 5 aliases. Enough for casual users who only mask a handful of signups.
• Browser extension. One-click alias generation directly in signup forms is genuinely convenient.
• Phone number masking. A unique feature among aliasing services, though limited to the US and Canada.
• Tracker removal. Strips known email trackers before forwarding, which most aliasing services do not do.
• Mozilla backing. Strong brand trust from a well-known, privacy-first non-profit.
• Very affordable premium. At ~$12/year, it is one of the cheapest paid aliasing options.

Where Maskmail is stronger

• Custom domains. Bring your own domain for masks, eliminating vendor lock-in. Firefox Relay only offers a mozmail.com subdomain.
• 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.
• No domain blocking. The mozmail.com domain is widely blocked by websites that reject known alias domains. Custom domains on Maskmail avoid this problem entirely.
• Delivery history. Track every forwarded message and catch issues before you miss important emails.
• No alias cap on the base plan. Firefox Relay's free tier limits you to 5 aliases. Maskmail has no cap.
• Larger attachment support. Firefox Relay historically caps attachments at 10 MB. Standard email supports up to 25 MB.
• Provider independence. Works with any inbox, without needing Firefox or a browser extension.

Something to consider

The most common frustration with Firefox Relay is that the mozmail.com domain is rejected by a growing number of websites. Services that detect known alias domains simply refuse the signup, which means the alias you created is useless before it even receives a single email. Because Relay does not support custom domains, there is no workaround. You either use a different service for that signup or give out your real address.

If you have run into domain blocking, Maskmail's custom domain support means your masks look like regular email addresses. No website can tell they are aliases.

Who should pick which?

Choose Firefox Relay if you want a dead-simple, low-cost aliasing tool within the Firefox ecosystem, especially if phone masking is appealing.

Choose Maskmail if you want custom domains, no alias limits, delivery visibility, and an aliasing service that works independently of any browser.

Bottom line

Firefox Relay is a good entry point for casual privacy, especially at its price. But its free tier is very limited, its domain is frequently blocked by websites, and it offers no custom domain support. Maskmail gives you full domain control, delivery tracking, and unlimited masks without tying you to a single browser ecosystem.