AOL Mail vs Fastmail Masked Email
AOL Mail
mail.aol.com
Fastmail Masked Email
fastmail.comSide by side
| Figure | AOL Mail | Fastmail Masked Email |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $1.99/mo | $4/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 11 |
| Spec score · Personal Email Services | 8.4 (#34) | 8.9 (#11) |
| Founded | 1985 | 1999 |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Headquarters | 770 Broadway, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10003, USA | Melbourne, Australia |
| Purpose | AOL Mail is a personal email service accessible through a web interface or app. | Masked Email creates a unique address for each login to keep your real address private and make addresses harder for companies to link for tracking. |
| Security | AOL Mail offers two-step verification, spam protection, and official AOL badges to help identify safe emails. | Fastmail says data is encrypted at rest and communications are encrypted in transit, with support for TLS 1.3 and Perfect Forward Secrecy. |
| Support | AOL’s Mail product page advertises a 24/7 Help Center and expert phone assistance at 800-730-2563. | Fastmail says every plan includes expert human support, and its pricing page advertises 24/7 support. |
Plans
AOL Mail
- AOL Mail Plus$1.99 a month
- Ad-Free AOL Mail$7.99 a month
- AOL MailFree
- Ad-Free AOL Mail$7.99 a month
- AOL Mail PlusPrice not published
Fastmail Masked Email
- Basic$4 a month
- Individual$6 a month
- Duo$10 a month
- Family$14 a month
- Business Basic$4 a month
- Business Standard$6 a month
- Business Professional$10 a month
- BasicPrice not published
- IndividualPrice not published
- ProfessionalPrice not published
In their own words
Fastmail Masked Email
Fastmail Masked Email creates a random email alias for each login, letting users give a site an address other than their real one. Using separate aliases can make it harder for companies to connect accounts for tracking. Messages to these addresses arrive in Fastmail; a masked icon marks them, and opening a message shows the label assigned to the address. An alias can be turned off if it starts receiving spam, which Fastmail says may help identify who exposed it. Users can connect Masked Email with 1Password or Bitwarden, or use their own domain; Fastmail says a custom domain is less anonymous than its shared domain but makes addresses portable. A JMAP extension lets apps read and manage addresses, though pending API-created aliases are deleted after 24 hours and do not appear in the interface. Fastmail supports two-step verification and passkeys and encrypts stored data and communications. Its own apps do not offer end-to-end encryption. Plans start at $4 a month, and a 30-day trial is available; there is no free plan. Access is available on Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, and the web.