Competitor Comparisons

MailerZ vs Addy.io: custom domain routing compared

Pick the job. Brand roles on your zone. Masks for throwaways. Do not dual-publish a bake-off.

MailerZ editorial · Secuno LLC17 min read

MailerZ vs Addy.io is a category choice, not a feature checklist war. Addy.io is widely used as a privacy-alias and masked-email style product. MailerZ is a custom-domain inbound MX layer plus optional paid SMTP around the Gmail or Outlook inbox you already keep. If you need disposable masks on someone else’s domain, you are not shopping MailerZ. If you need hello@yourdomain to land in Gmail with Header From intact and exclusive MX you can prove, you are.

MailerZ vs Addy.io: privacy masks versus durable domain routing
Pick the job first. Masks and brand aliases are different products.

Quick answer for mailerz vs addy io

Comparison pages fail when they pretend both products want the same user. They do not. Addy.io’s public story is privacy aliases and masking. MailerZ’s public story is domain email delivery: receive as your domain, reply or send as that domain through authenticated SMTP when paid.

RFC 5321 still delivers to MX. Whoever answers MX owns inbound. You cannot point MX at two philosophies and call it a bake-off. Exclusive MX is the test.

MailerZ rewrites envelope MAIL FROM with SRS and never rewrites Header From, Subject, Date, Message-ID, body, or MIME. That contract is why forwarded customers still look like themselves. A mask product that shows a provider domain in From is doing a different identity job.

Pricing is not a dunk contest with scraped competitor numbers that go stale. Quote MailerZ from /pricing. Check Addy.io’s current site when you need their numbers. This article will not invent theirs.

If you already bought Workspace for calendars and Drive, you may not need either product for mail. If you only needed aliases, Workspace is the expensive way to buy routing.

Soft CTA after the distinction is clear: start free with one domain on MailerZ and keep any mask app for throwaways if you still want that aisle.

Authoritative mail transport is defined in IETF RFC 5321 — Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. Product path: features, pricing, and migration planner.

User problem and decision criteria

Decision criteria: do public role addresses need to stay on your zone for years; do you need send-as as the domain; do you need hop history; is HOLD versus FORWARD a real policy; will leftover MX be a hard stop.

Criteria that do not belong: inboxing percentages, SOC 2 badges neither article should invent, or “unlimited” as a personality.

If the user wants to hide their personal inbox from every SaaS trial, a privacy-alias app is the aisle. MailerZ can still create shop-specific aliases on your domain, but the domain is durable and public. That is not anonymity.

If the user wants careers@ and billing@ printed on a site, durability wins. Disabling a mask should not be how HR email dies.

Agencies should not migrate a client from a mask app to MailerZ without a sheet of which addresses are public contracts.

If send-as matters, confirm the other product’s SMTP story on their current docs. MailerZ Free has no send-as. Paid copies dashboard host, port, and TLS or STARTTLS.

If the user needs IMAP folders on the domain, neither a forwarder nor a mask app is a mailbox host. Buy a host or keep Gmail.

If the user needs campaigns, buy an ESP. Neither product is that.

Technical mail flow

Custom domain routing compared
MailerZ: exclusive MX, SRS envelope, intact Header From, optional send-as.

MailerZ flow: exclusive MX, named alias, SRS hop, destination inbox, optional paid SMTP out.

A privacy-alias flow often mint a provider-side address or a generated local-part whose life you expect to be short.

You can use both: MailerZ for the brand zone, a mask app for throwaway signups. Do not point the brand MX at the mask app unless that is a deliberate product choice you documented.

Leftover MX destroys both stories. Delete old hosts.

History and stored failures are how MailerZ expects you to argue with reality. Ask the other vendor what artifacts they keep and for how long. Do not invent theirs here.

Step-by-step setup / decision path

When to pick which
Durable brand roles versus disposable anonymity.
  1. Write the job: durable brand roles versus disposable masks.
  2. If durable, inventory aliases and destinations.
  3. Create them on MailerZ. HOLD unknown.
  4. Publish exclusive MX. Probe from a third mailbox.
  5. Enable paid send-as only if you need it. Copy dashboard values.
  6. Keep a mask app only for throwaways that must not live on the brand zone.
  7. Do not dual-publish MX as a comparison harness.
  8. Quote MailerZ pricing from the live page before you promise a count of aliases.

A bake-off that dual-publishes MX will lie. Senders split. You will blame the wrong product.

Read Header From on a received copy. If a tool rewrote it, that is a different identity product than MailerZ.

If you migrate off a mask-style custom domain, treat it as a normal MX cut: sheet, TTL, exclusive, probe.

Failure modes and proof

Using MailerZ as a disposable mask: you published a durable domain. Proof: the zone is yours.

Using a mask app as careers@: HR mail dies when someone disables a mask. Proof: the public page still prints the address.

Dual MX bake-off: split mail. Proof: two owners.

Invented competitor prices: stale deck. Proof: their live page differs.

Promised inbox rate: neither product owns Gmail’s folder.

Free MailerZ send-as: product refuse.

Header rewrite expectation: MailerZ will not.

IMAP expectation: wrong aisle.

Catch-all FORWARD to imitate a mask firehose: junk.

No leftover MX cleanup: random arrival.

Self-send comparison: false winner.

SOC 2 claimed in the bake-off: MailerZ does not claim it.

MailerZ workflow and product boundary

MailerZ is custom-domain aliasing and forwarding with optional paid send-as. Secuno LLC operates mailerz.net. The app is mail.mailerz.net. Not Workspace, not IMAP, not an open relay, not a campaign ESP.

Envelope SRS only. Header From, Subject, Date, Message-ID, body, and MIME stay intact. Exclusive MX. Hold unknown on Free. Copy SMTP host, port, and TLS or STARTTLS from the dashboard when you send. Do not invent 587 or 465 as MailerZ facts.

Free: one domain, three aliases, one seat, fourteen-day store, fifty outgoing a month, no send-as. Solo forty dollars a year, fifteen aliases, ninety-day store, one hundred outgoing, five send-as per hour. Starter eight monthly or eighty yearly. Business nineteen or one hundred ninety. Agency thirty-nine or three hundred ninety. Quote the pricing page. No SOC 2, ISO, HIPAA, SLA, or inboxing percentage.

Position MailerZ as the focused forwarding plus SMTP layer around the inbox you already use. Features and pricing are the honest comparison surfaces.

Cost, alternatives, and trade-offs

A mask app monthly fee plus a MailerZ plan can still be cheaper than Workspace seats for addresses that only route.

Workspace is the right spend if you need the suite. It is the wrong spend if you only needed routing.

Agencies should price two SKUs: brand domain routing, and optional privacy masks. Mixing them in one line item creates support confusion.

Time spent arguing feature matrices is more expensive than a one-domain MailerZ rehearsal.

Catch-all noise has a destination cost even when the alias product is cheap.

Do not scrape old Addy.io prices into a contract. Check them the day you quote.

Hop history has a value during incidents. Price the absence of artifacts when you pick a toy forwarder.

The cheapest wrong aisle is still the wrong aisle.

Operational depth

Tell the founder to list every address printed on the website. Those rows are MailerZ candidates. Then list every SaaS trial they want to ghost. Those rows are mask candidates. The split ends most mailerz vs addy io arguments in ten minutes.

If a printed address lives on a provider subdomain you do not own, you do not control MX, DKIM, or the obituary when the vendor changes plans. Brand roles should live on a zone you can screenshot.

Send-as as the brand is a MailerZ paid path. Confirm the other product’s sending story on their docs the day you care. Do not quote a blog memory.

HOLD unknown on the brand zone. Mask apps train people to mint infinite local-parts. That habit on a brand MX is a spam cannon.

When a client says they want both anonymity and a public careers@, you are hearing two products. Write two lines in the SOW.

Migration off Addy.io-style custom domains is still leftover-MX work. Screenshot, exclusive cut, probe. The brand does not care which logo was on the old hop.

Do not put an inboxing table in the comparison. Filters live at the receiver. Anyone publishing a percentage on forwarding is selling a folder they cannot see.

Free MailerZ is a rehearsal: one domain, three aliases, HOLD, no send-as. Use it to prove the aisle before you move a public brand.

If the user needs Apple Hide My Email or a browser relay, that is another mask aisle. Still not MX for your company domain.

Document who can disable an alias. On a brand zone, disabling billing@ is an incident. On a mask, disabling a shop alias is the point.

Read original headers in the bake-off. Envelope SRS plus intact Header From is the MailerZ signature. A rewritten From is a different religion.

Keep ESP campaigns off both products. Comparison tickets that include list blasts will smear both brands unfairly.

Privacy aliases versus a branded hop

MailerZ vs Addy.io is class versus class. Addy.io is an open-source privacy-alias platform: shared-domain masks, deactivation, anonymous replies, custom domains on eligible paid plans — quote https://addy.io/ and their help center the day you decide. Numbers move. MailerZ is named aliases on a domain you own, exclusive MX, HOLD on Free, optional paid FORWARD, hop history (14/90 days), seats, and paid send-as inside published caps. Neither is IMAP. Dual-publishing both MX sets is leftover MX.

Choose Addy.io when the job is per-site masks, browser workflows, and compartmentalization. Shared-domain aliases are not portable to MailerZ. You do not own that namespace. Rotate those at each shop if you leave.

Choose MailerZ when hello@, billing@, and jobs@ are company names that must survive a vendor change. Recreate local-parts, exclusive MX, Gmail stays the store. Free: one domain, three aliases, HOLD, no send-as. Solo $40/year, 15 aliases, 90 days, 100 outgoing, 5/hour. Starter $8/$80, 5/50/5, 200, 10/hour. Business $19/$190. Agency $39/$390. Confirm /pricing.

Custom domains on Addy.io require an eligible paid plan per their current help. Do not paste last year’s limit. MailerZ Free includes one owned domain and three aliases. That is evaluation, not “unlimited masks.”

Send-as: MailerZ paid SMTP, dashboard SPF/DKIM/DMARC, 550 unauthorized, Free none. Addy.io reply/send behavior is alias-oriented — quote their docs. Do not copy ports between products.

Recovery: MailerZ stores hop rows and failed destination SMTP inside the window. Ask Addy.io what artifact you get when Gmail returns 550 after 250. Do not invent matching retention.

Header From: MailerZ never rewrites it. Envelope SRS only. If Addy.io’s privacy path alters headers, that is their model. Quote them. Do not demand MailerZ grow PGP or tracker stripping. We do not advertise those.

Leftover MX: if you migrate an owned domain from Addy.io to MailerZ, delete their MX. Recreate names first. Probe from another mailbox. Keep their login until probes pass. Shared-domain masks stay behind.

No inbox SLA from either side. No SOC 2 on this page. /security for MailerZ controls. Nofollow on Addy.io commercial links.

A bake-off that does not split mail

Sequential exclusive MX. Recreate owned-domain aliases on MailerZ, cut MX, probe, write results. Restore Addy.io MX only as rollback, then delete MailerZ MX. Dual MX is not A/B. It is leftover MX.

Score: masks and extensions versus HOLD, hop history, seats, and modest SMTP. If you need both jobs, keep Addy.io for personal masks and MailerZ for the company domain. Two products, two DNS names, never two MX sets on one name.

Self-send lies on both. Other mailbox. Unique subject.

Agencies: do not move a client’s privacy masks onto their public brand without a written yes. That increases correlation. Different article. This comparison is routing class.

If Addy.io Lite/Pro domain counts are why you stayed, quote their help center this morning. If MailerZ Agency 100 domains is why you leave, count clients, not feelings.

Catch-all: MailerZ paid FORWARD optional; Free HOLD. Quote Addy.io catch-all or username behavior live. Do not assume equivalence.

Start free on MailerZ if the owned-domain hop is the job. Stay on Addy.io if masks are the job. Sign in when the hop already exists. Do not leftover-MX a “hybrid.”

Closest hop competitor remains ImprovMX, not Addy.io. /alternative/improvmx and /alternative/addy-io if those routes exist. Quote live cards.

Operator Secuno LLC. We do not operate Addy.io. Envelope SRS. Header From intact. Not an open relay.

Re-read both sites before an RFP. This article is a class filter, not their price list.

Privacy aliases and a brand hop are not the same purchase

Addy.io and MailerZ can both involve a domain you own. That sentence is where most comparison pages stop, and it is why buyers pick the wrong one. Addy.io’s live positioning is anonymous email forwarding and aliases you can burn. MailerZ is a custom-domain inbound hop plus authenticated SMTP on paid plans, with envelope SRS and an untouched Header From. One product hides you. The other presents a brand that invoices already print.

If your threat model is “this shop should not store my personal Gmail,” a privacy-alias service is the class. You generate a local-part, you forward to a real mailbox, you disable the alias when the shop leaks. If your threat model is “customers must write billing@brand.com and reach the bookkeeper,” you need exclusive MX on the brand, named aliases, and a hop that will HOLD unknowns on Free instead of guessing. Those are different tickets. Do not merge them because both words include alias.

Header From behavior is a class test. MailerZ does not rewrite Header From on the inbound hop. SRS rewrites the envelope. A privacy tool may emphasize hiding the real mailbox. A brand hop emphasizes that the sender still looks like the sender. If a comparison chart says both “protect identity,” ask whose identity. The customer’s, or yours.

Catch-all policy shows the class again. MailerZ Free HOLDs unknown recipients for fourteen days. Paid can FORWARD if you enable it. A privacy product often wants you to mint aliases, not accept the entire namespace. If you enable a wide catch-all on a personal alias service, you have turned a burn bag into a brand post office. If you refuse to create billing@ on a brand hop, you have turned a post office into a burn bag. Match the policy to the domain’s job.

Sending is the third class test. MailerZ Free cannot send. Paid send-as is authenticated SMTP when enabled, not port 25, not bulk. Privacy tools may offer reply or send from an alias with different authentication story. Do not assume you can announce from founder@brand.com on Free MailerZ. Do not assume Addy.io replaces Workspace for a company calendar. Read each vendor’s live page. This article will not invent a feature to win a table.

Pricing shapes are not comparable line by line. MailerZ publishes Free at zero with one domain, three aliases, one seat, HOLD, fourteen-day store. Solo, Starter, Business, and Agency add caps you can read on /pricing. Addy.io’s plans change; quote their page on the day you buy, nofollow. A cheaper privacy plan does not make it a cheaper brand hop. A cheaper brand hop does not make it a better burn alias.

Leftover MX is a MailerZ-class failure. If you point brand.com at MailerZ and leave aspmx, you are not “also using Google for safety.” You are splitting the namespace. Privacy aliases often live on a domain the vendor gave you, or on a domain you dedicated to aliases. Mixing leftover Workspace MX with a privacy CNAME is a different mess. Still delete leftovers. Still probe from a stranger mailbox. Self-send still lies.

Data handling talk should stay inside published facts. MailerZ: Secuno LLC, store windows as priced, not SOC 2, not HIPAA, not an inbox SLA. Do not invent Addy.io certifications either. Link their security or FAQ page. Enterprise buyers who need a questionnaire should get a questionnaire, not a blog table that pretends both vendors sat the same audit.

Migration is not a class change. Moving from Addy.io to MailerZ because you now print a brand is a new exclusive MX and new named aliases. Moving from MailerZ to Addy.io because you want burn addresses is a new alias workflow, not a hop with HOLD. Do both if you have two domains with two jobs. Do not force one domain to be both the invoice address and the throwaway shop address without writing the conflict down.

Internal links stay honest. /email-forwarding for SRS. /alternative/improvmx for the closest hop competitor. Addy.io as an external nofollow for the privacy class. /pricing for caps. /register to start free on a hop, not to mint a burn alias. If you need burn aliases, open Addy.io. If you need the brand hop, start free on MailerZ and create three names before you move MX.

The buying sentence you can reuse: pick Addy.io when the address should be disposable. Pick MailerZ when the address should be printed. If a salesperson says you can have both on one leftover MX, they are selling leftover MX.

A one-page buyer script that survives a sales call

Ask four questions in order. What address will a human print next month. Who should be able to disable that address without a DNS ticket. Must replies look like the original sender. Must we send as that address this quarter. Printed brand plus Header From intact plus paid send-as points at MailerZ. Disposable merchant plus disable-without-MX points at Addy.io. “Both on leftover Google MX” is not an answer. It is a leftover.

If the buyer says they want burn aliases on the invoice domain, write the conflict. Finance will not let you disable billing@ when a shop leaks. A leak on billing@ is a finance incident, not a burn. Give merchants a different domain or a privacy tool. Keep billing@ on the hop with HOLD or named aliases. Two domains beat one clever local-part scheme that nobody can explain to a bank.

Quote live pages the day of the call. Addy.io nofollow. MailerZ /pricing and /email-forwarding. Do not recite a blog table as a contract. Plans move. Certifications you cannot show do not exist in the script. Secuno LLC, envelope SRS, no SOC 2 claimed, fourteen-day Free store. If they need a questionnaire, send a questionnaire. The script ends with start free on a hop or open the privacy product, not with a hybrid MX.

FAQ

What is the safest way to handle mailerz vs addy io?
Write the job on paper. Durable custom-domain roles that must stay stable for years belong on a forwarding-plus-SMTP layer you control. Disposable masks for signups belong on a privacy-alias product. Do not force one tool to be the other.
Does this require a new mailbox?
MailerZ assumes you keep Gmail or Outlook. It is not IMAP. A privacy-alias app may keep mail in its own view. That is a store decision, not a reason to buy Workspace by default.
Will it work with Gmail or Outlook?
MailerZ destinations are those inboxes. Confirm exclusive MX and a third-mailbox probe. Self-send is not the comparison test.
What DNS records are involved?
MailerZ needs exclusive MX and verification TXT. Sending records if you send-as. Do not dual-publish leftover hosts. Copy MailerZ values from the dashboard, not from memory.
What should I test before production?
Create one named alias on MailerZ, probe inbound, and only then decide if you still need a separate mask app for throwaway signups.

Key takeaways

  • Masks and durable brand aliases are different jobs.
  • MailerZ is forwarding plus optional SMTP around your inbox.
  • Exclusive MX. No bake-off dual publish.
  • Header From intact. Envelope SRS.
  • Quote live pricing. Do not invent competitor numbers.
  • No inboxing percentage. No SOC 2 claim.
  • HOLD on the brand zone.
  • You can keep a mask app for throwaways.

Conclusion

Pick the aisle. Durable custom-domain routing is MailerZ. Disposable anonymity is someone else’s product. Forcing a merge creates leftover MX and confused From lines.

Start free on one domain if the job is hello@yourdomain in the inbox you already trust.

Start free on MailerZ