Disposable email: when to use it and when not to

A disposable email is an address you use for a short time and then forget. It's a good fit for sign-ups you don't trust, one-off downloads and testing, because the spam and newsletters land somewhere you'll never check again. It's a bad fit for any account you may need to recover, for banking, or for anything private: the emails disappear after a while, and on most services anyone who knows the address can read the inbox.

What a disposable email is

You may have seen it called temporary email, throwaway email or burner email. It's the same idea: you get an address that works right away, with no sign-up and no password. Emails sent to it show up on a web page for a while and then they're deleted. Usually you can only receive, not send.

It's not the same as an alias from your email provider. An alias forwards to your real inbox and lasts as long as you want. A disposable address is separate from your real email and doesn't last.

When it's a good idea

• Sign-ups you don't want your real email on: a forum you'll visit once, a free trial, a wifi portal, a coupon, a PDF that asks for an email before the download.
• Keeping newsletters and spam away. Many sites add you to a mailing list the moment you sign up, and some share that list. A disposable address takes the hit instead of your inbox.
• Seeing what a site sends before you trust it with your real address.
• Testing. Developers and QA testers need fresh addresses all the time to try sign-up forms, verification codes and password resets.

When it's not

• Accounts you want to keep. If you forget the password, the reset email goes to an address you no longer have. On saci.cc, emails are deleted about a day after they arrive, so a reset link sent next month reaches nobody you know.
• Banking, government services, health, work, or anything with personal or financial data.
• Anything private. On the saci.cc website there's no password: anyone who knows the address can open the inbox. Random addresses are hard to guess, but hard to guess isn't the same as protected.
• Purchases where you'll want the receipt, the warranty or the tracking emails later.
• Sites that block disposable domains. Some keep a list and refuse those addresses on sign-up. That's their call, and the fix is to use a real address there.

A simple rule: if losing the account, or someone else reading the email, would be a problem, use your real email or an alias instead.

How saci.cc works

On the home page you get an address right away, with no sign-up. Take the random one, like a1b2c3d4e5f60718@saci.cc, or pick a name, like maria.test@saci.cc. A picked name is easy to guess, so anyone who tries it can read that inbox. Random is safer.

Emails show up on the page by themselves; it checks for new ones every 5 seconds, and it can send you a browser notification. When an email has a verification code, saci.cc finds it and shows it so you can copy it with a click. Attachments can be downloaded. You can delete one email or empty the inbox whenever you want, and everything is deleted about a day after it arrives anyway.

Addresses only receive email. You can't send or reply from saci.cc.

The browser extension

There's an extension for Firefox and Chrome; on Edge and Brave, the Chrome version works. It keeps your saci.cc address one click away while you sign up somewhere else. A right-click fills in the address or the code, it tells you when an email arrives with its code, and its icon shows how many emails you haven't opened. Like the site, it needs no sign-up. The install links are on the home page.

For developers and AI agents

If you test sign-up flows automatically, the HTTP API and the MCP server let a script or an AI agent create inboxes and read codes. They need a free key, created by signing in with GitHub. Inboxes created with a key are private to your account for 7 days, which website inboxes are not. There are step-by-step posts for Playwright tests and for AI agents.

FAQ

Is it safe to use a disposable email?

For low-stakes sign-ups, yes. It keeps your real address off mailing lists and out of the next data leak. It isn't safe for anything private, because inboxes created on the saci.cc website can be read by anyone who has the address.

How long do emails stay on saci.cc?

About a day after they arrive. Then they're deleted for good, attachments included. You can delete them sooner yourself.

Can I send email from saci.cc?

No. Addresses only receive.

Why did a site reject my saci.cc address?

Some sites keep a list of disposable email domains and refuse them on sign-up. saci.cc can't change that. Use another address for that site.

Do I need an account? Is it free?

The site and the extension are free and need no account. The API and the MCP server need a key, also free, which you create by signing in with GitHub. Questions: oi@saci.cc.