Welcome to a list of free email services that do not ask for your phone number. Yep, it’s kind of creepy these days. You need to give away your phone number in exchange for an email account. I mean, while it does add a layer of security, it also comes at the price of privacy. So here is a list of email providers that provide free email services without asking for phone numbers – Read on!
P.S. 1-7 are “more permanent emails”, and 8-12 are “temporary emails”. Otherwise, this list is not in any particular order.
1) MAIL.COM
Restrictions: Attachments up to 30MB, total storage of 65 GB for free users. Require an alternate email to sign up.
Signing up with mail.com is a breeze. Simply enter your name, desired email address, security question, password, and that’s it – An email account within 3 minutes. But take note, they do have a limit of 65 GB storage for free users, and the largest allowed file attachment is 30 MB.
That may be a bummer to some, but the extra features they offer greatly outweigh the limits – Two-factor authentication (2FA), email alias, free online Office suite, and even free email mobile apps for both Android and iOS. Mail.com has so far been one of my personal favorites, the servers are decently fast, and their service is just fuss-free.
2) TUTANOTA
Restrictions: 1GB of storage space
This is one of the better email services that I know of. Tutanota offers free anonymous sign-ups and up to 1GB of storage space. The better part? Tutanota is encrypted; It adds another layer of security.
The best part? There are no advertisements. Tutanota is open source and funded by donations plus premium accounts. The premium accounts are very affordable at only 1 euro a month. Do support these guys if you like their email service.
3) GMX MAIL
Restrictions: 50MB attachments. Require an alternate email to sign up.
GMX (Global Mail eXchange) is run by a listed company in Germany. They are plenty reliable enough, running since 1997. Although they do not state any storage restrictions, there is a 50MB attachment limit… Also, advertisements alert. Take note – Even though you do not need a phone number to register on GMX, you still need another email account.
4) PROTONMAIL
Restrictions: 500 MB of storage space, send 150 emails a day
Switzerland-based ProtonMail offers free email accounts with 500MB storage and 150 emails a day. While this does not sound very exciting, ProtonMail has a feature that most other email providers don’t – encryption. Yep, you can send encrypted emails to people that are password protected and will expire/self-destruct in a number of days. Is that cool enough now?
5) MAILFENCE
Restrictions: 500 MB of storage space. Requires alternate email.
Encryption, privacy, no ads, no tracking. MailFence is one that actually looks pretty convincing. But take note, an existing email is required to sign up and activate MailFence.
6) RAMBLER.RU
A free Russian email provider that many people shared… But the problem is, this site is in Russian only. A little bit of Google Translate did the magic – A pretty simple registration form nonetheless.
- Choose your email address.
- Enter & confirm your password.
- Choose a “security question”.
7) YANDEX (NOT REALLY?)
Restrictions: Might still ask for your phone number…
Yandex is the so-called “Russian Google”. As you might have noticed, I have appended a “not really” on the heading. Yes, and that is for a good reason. You can sign up for a Yandex email account without a phone number, just click on “I don’t have a telephone number” during registration.
BUT here’s the catch – If Yandex somehow deems your account as “spammy”, they will still ask for your phone number as verification. I already have my spare Yandex account locked in this manner, and I am refusing to give them my number. You decide if Yandex is worth your time.
8) GUERRILLA MAIL
Restrictions: Not a permanent email, 150MB attachment limit.
Want a totally anonymous email? Then create one that is temporary. Introducing Guerrilla Mail – a one-time email that you can create, use, then dispose of immediately. No sign-up is required, and you can even attach files up to 150MB.
9) EMAIL ON DECK
Restrictions: Not a permanent email
Email on deck is an alternative to Guerrilla Mail, simply verify that you are not a bot and get your temporary email – Use and dispose of.
10) TRASH MAIL
Restrictions: Temporary email addresses
Yes, this is another temporary email provider. No fuss, no sign-up is required, no phone numbers, no password. Just don’t use this to keep your dark secrets.
11) MAILNESIA
Restrictions: Public email addresses, receiving only
Mailnesia is an email with amnesia. Seriously. Just enter your desired email address, and you get an instant mailbox in seconds – No registration is required. One problem with Mailnesia is that you cannot send any emails with it though.
12) TEMPINBOX
Tempinbox is yet another public email that you can use within seconds. Again, you can only receive emails with it, and there is no sending of emails with it.
“DID NOT WORK”?
This post is getting quite a number of funny random hate comments from dumb trolls. If you have registration problems, it could very well be anything such as network issues, browser compatibility, geolocation bans, IP blacklist, VPN/TOR not allowed, or providers changing their business policies over time.
Let’s keep things civil here, and help each other out – Just share which worked and not. I obviously don’t run the email services, and cannot monitor them every single day. 😆 Hate and blaming won’t do any good, nor get you a free email address. Chill and good luck!
THE END
We have come to the end of this list, and I hope that it has been helpful to you. Now go create your free email accounts without the fear of some random marketer calling you for email upgrades. If you have more free services to share, please feel free to comment below.
yes i agree about yandex
if you register without phone, your account is lately suspended etc…
And they want phone.
i tried too : mail.ru or un english eng.mail.ru.
same problem like yandex.
You can select only by mail to recover account, but they quickly want your phone to connect.
Yandex is REALLY hopeless. Twice I made an account and both times emails sent there never arrived. Then when I sign out and back in again, they say my password is incorrect (not true as I write down my password on a piece of paper to check it works before destroying that record). Then they ask to do a captcha and then a phone number (“to secure my account”) – it is not possible to get back into my account without giving them a phone number (which I totally refuse to do). I asked a friend and he tried and had the same problems. They WANT your phone numbers guys! Scammy totally hopeless Russian site – AVOID.
I’m in the same scenario right now. Suddenly I can’t login, phone required, password changed, I’m going through their entire bullshit support just to get in my email and guess what. I’m still locked out of my account currently with password not correct. Funny thing is my AquaMail on the phone works and receives emails from them fine. Time to abandon this sinking ship…
I couldn’t find any real anonymous email services which work well for tor, that sucks man
Thanks for the article. I really need this, but, mail.com & gmx ask for a phone number.
GUERRILLA MAIL is great! Unfortunately, some sites are flagging it as “we don’t need no stinkin’ Guerrilla”. They have a list of emails so it’s always worth a try that one will get an “okay” when the other ones don’t. I speak from experience. ; )
You can buy self registration SIM card and if you lucky registered everything you need on it before registered your passport
inbox.lv / mail.ee
You can register an account there without phone but if you want for instance delete that account you will have to provide a phone number to them for whatever reason.
protonmail asked for a phone number
i also get locked for a yandex account after a week of using it (with several accounts verified by it lost in the process)
yes protonmail sometimes asks for phone number and other times you can just complete a captcha to create email account. you need some luck there ^^
Yep I just tried to make a new account and they asked for verification email or phone. I have opened accounts with them before with no problem. Maybe a new thing? or they don’t like me opening more than one account? errr… Protonmail that is.
Our Baltic friends are no help at all. inbox.lv has an impossible, ever-increasing set of CAPTCHAS that literally go on forever: no registration.
You can still register easily on mail.ee with no phone number. But after registration they will give you a choice: you cannot use your box until you either validate your phone number or buy a subscription: not security, just robbery!
mailfence.com do not take new registrations. They say “temporarily” but I don’t know how many days/months/years that has gone on.
If you understand French, laposte.net is a possibility. But if you don’t use your account regularly, they will suddenly empty it with no warning to you. You are welcome to continue (they thank you for it!) but you have no archive of anything you sent or received to that date. As I recall, in 14 years, they never asked for a telephone number. But everything on the site and all communication between them and you is in French (they are the French National Post Office) et vive!
mail.com is only for Americans. They advise Swiss, Germans and Austrians to use gmx so one probably owns the other. If you are not one of these two Master Races (Americans and Germans or German-speaking) bitte fehre sauge esse!
I think mail.ee is still open and they have been very good the past few years.
protonmail and tutanota are disasters! So encrypted even their help staff can’t help you.
yandex are good. I’ve used them for 3 years. I gave them my number last year voluntarily because they have earned my trust. They will ask for your number – often – but you don’t actually have to give it. Their bots do sometimes take over the shop and lock accounts or do other mischief but if you can get to the humans in support, especially Anna Kuznetsova, they will fix everything.
mail.cim and gmx tell me that:
We’re very sorry – we can’t sign you up
Your IP address suggests you are trying to sign up in a country where GMX registration is no longer possible. Unfortunately, this means we can’t create an account for you.
Re above comment – could this be a post-Brexit thing?