FakecreditcardFour kinds of test email address
| Type | Example | Receives mail? | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fake, reserved domain | maria.lopez@example.com | Never | Fixtures, seed data, screenshots, documentation, load tests |
| On your own domain | k.tanaka@qa.yourcompany.com | Only if you route it | Staging environments with a catch-all mailbox or a mail catcher |
| Plus-alias of your inbox | you+signup-001@gmail.com | Yes, in your inbox | Testing real sign-up, verification and password-reset emails |
| Edge cases | "john doe"@example.com | — | Unit tests for your email validation |
Choose the output format that fits where you paste the list — one address per line, comma- or semicolon-separated (the format most email clients and CRMs accept), a JSON array for code, or "Name" <email> lines for import files.
Fake email address generator: why reserved domains
A random address on a real provider, such as john.smith84@gmail.com, almost certainly belongs to somebody. If your test system sends a welcome email, a password reset or an invoice to it, a stranger receives it — and if it doesn’t exist, the bounce counts against your sending reputation, and some invented addresses are spam traps. That is why this generator never puts random names on gmail.com, outlook.com or yahoo.com.
The fake addresses use domains reserved for exactly this purpose: example.com, example.net and example.org (RFC 2606), and the top-level domains .test, .example and .invalid (RFC 2606 and RFC 6761). example.com, example.net and example.org even publish a “null MX” record (RFC 7505) that tells every mail server they accept no mail — check with dig MX example.com. The addresses are RFC-valid, but some sign-up forms and validation libraries block these domains on purpose — when that happens, use your own domain or a plus-alias instead.
Plus addressing: unlimited test inboxes for free
Most big providers deliver name+anything@domain to name@domain: Gmail and Google Workspace, Outlook.com and Microsoft 365 (unless the administrator turned it off), Fastmail and Proton Mail all support it. Enter your own address and a tag, and the generator gives you as many unique aliases as you need — you+signup-001@gmail.com, you+signup-002@gmail.com and so on. In most apps each alias counts as a new user, every verification email lands in your inbox, and you can filter on the tag; some apps strip the tag to stop duplicate sign-ups, which is itself worth testing. A few sites reject the + sign; for a gmail.com address, tick Gmail dot variants to get j.ohn@gmail.com-style aliases instead, because Gmail ignores dots before the @ in gmail.com addresses (not in Google Workspace domains).
Receiving the emails your app sends
For development, the cleanest setup is a local mail catcher such as Mailpit (or smtp4dev on Windows): point your app’s SMTP settings at it and every message, to any address, appears in a web inbox on your machine without ever leaving it. For a shared staging environment, use a subdomain you control (for example qa.yourcompany.com) with a catch-all mailbox, and generate addresses on it with the On your domain option. Public temporary-mail websites are a poor fit for testing: their inboxes are readable by anyone who guesses the address, and many apps block their domains.
What makes an email address valid
- The part before the
@is at most 64 characters, the whole address at most 254. - Letters, digits, dots, hyphens and underscores are accepted almost everywhere;
+and other symbols are allowed by the standard but rejected by some forms. - A dot may not start or end the local part or appear twice in a row (unless the local part is quoted).
- The RFCs allow single-label domains such as
localhost, IP literals and quoted local parts, but most validators require a domain with a dot and a known top-level domain.
The Edge cases mode lists two dozen addresses that sit on these boundaries, each marked valid or invalid with the reason — paste them into your unit tests to see which ones your validator accepts.
Frequently asked questions
How do I generate a random email address?
Leave the type on Fake (reserved domains), choose a format and a quantity, and the list appears instantly; copy it or download it as CSV or TXT. For an address that really receives mail, switch to Aliases of my inbox and enter your own address.
What is a fake email address?
An address that looks real but belongs to no one, used where an email field must be filled but no message should be delivered — test data, screenshots, documentation. The safe way to make one is a reserved domain such as example.com, which can never become a real mailbox.
Can I receive emails at these addresses?
Not at the fake ones: reserved domains never accept mail. Choose Aliases of my inbox to get addresses that deliver to your real mailbox, or generate addresses on a domain whose mail you control.
Will these addresses pass email validation?
They are RFC-valid. Validators that also check DNS reject them, because example.com publishes a null MX record and .test and .invalid have no mail servers — useful for testing that branch of your code. Some forms block reserved domains outright.
How many addresses can I generate?
Up to 5,000 per click, all unique. Gmail dot variants are limited by the length of your address: a four-letter name such as john has only seven dot variants.
Is this a temporary or disposable email service?
No. Temporary email services run mail servers that receive messages for you. This tool runs entirely in your browser and only creates addresses, which is what you need for test data. To receive mail, use plus-aliases or a local mail catcher.