How an email alias works
Every email address has two parts: the local part before the @ and the domain after it.1 When a message arrives, the receiving mail server looks up who the address belongs to. An alias is simply a second entry in that lookup that points at your existing mailbox. Mail sent to the alias lands in your inbox, and the sender only ever sees the alias.
- You create the alias in your email account, often one per service or purpose.
- You hand it out wherever you would have typed your real address.
- Mail arrives as normal in your one inbox, so there is nothing extra to check.
- You stay in control: if an alias attracts spam, you can filter it or stop using it, and your main address is untouched.
| Type | Example | Hides your real address? |
|---|---|---|
| Plus address (subaddress) | you+shop@example.com | No. Anyone can delete the part after the plus.2 |
| Alias on your provider | shopping@example.com | Yes, the sender only sees the alias |
| Random forwarding address | k7q2x9@relay.example | Yes, and it doesn’t even look like you |
Why aliases matter
Your email address is the closest thing the internet has to a permanent ID. It links your accounts, it is what data brokers match on, and it is the first thing exposed when a company gets breached. Using one address everywhere means one leak connects all of it.
Aliases break that link. A separate address per service makes it harder to tie your accounts together, makes spam easy to trace back to its source, and keeps your main address for people you actually know. They also help with phishing: if a message about your bank arrives at the alias you gave a shoe store, you know it’s fake.
Where you’ll see email aliases
- Email providers. Many mail services let you add alias addresses to your account, sometimes on your own domain.
- Sign-in services. Apple’s Hide My Email creates random addresses that forward to your inbox when you sign up for apps.3
- Plus addressing. Defined in the email standards as subaddressing, it is handy for sorting mail but doesn’t hide who you are.2
Email aliases in Secria
Every Secria Mail plan includes aliases. The free plan has 2, Mail Plus has 15, and Secria Pro has unlimited aliases, plus custom domains on the paid plans. Mail to an alias lands in your one mailbox, protected by the same zero-access, post-quantum encryption as the rest of your mail.
Related terms
Sources
- IETF, RFC 5322: Internet Message Format (October 2008).
- IETF, RFC 5233: Sieve Email Filtering: Subaddress Extension (January 2008).
- Apple Support, How to use Hide My Email with Sign in with Apple.
Checked October 2026. Secria facts are from our Mail and VPN pages and the whitepaper.
Questions about email aliases
Is an email alias the same as a second account?
No. An alias has no inbox, password or settings of its own. It is another address for the mailbox you already have, so everything arrives in one place.
Can people tell that I’m using an alias?
Usually not. To the sender an alias looks like any other address. A plus address is different, because the part before the plus is your real address.
Do email aliases stop spam?
They stop spam from reaching your main address, and they show you exactly which service leaked or sold the alias. You can then filter or stop using that one alias.
Is an email alias safe?
Yes. Mail sent to an alias is handled the same way as mail to your main address, with the same protection. The safety benefit is that your real address isn’t spread around.