Mailinator vs testmail.app
Mailinator
mailinator.comtestmail.app
testmail.appSide by side
| Figure | Mailinator | testmail.app |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $79/mo | $9/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 13 | 6 |
| Spec score · Email Testing Software | 9.0 (#3) | 8.3 (#9) |
| Headquarters | Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA | Toronto, Canada |
| Integrations | Inbound webhooks can accept HTTP POST messages from sources such as alert systems, Zapier, or Twilio and apply configured rules. | The maker documents examples for using testmail.app with Cypress, Selenium, and TestCafe, including email OTP testing examples. |
| Licence | The official Python SDK repository is released under the MIT license; Mailinator itself is delivered as a hosted service. | Terms state that all rights, title and interest in the service, software and code belong exclusively to testmail.app, indicating a proprietary service rather than open-source software. |
| Purpose | Mailinator provides temporary inboxes and email and SMS workflow testing for developers, QA teams, and businesses. | testmail.app receives, parses, spam-tests, and indexes test emails so they can be retrieved by API for automated end-to-end testing. |
| Rating on Capterra | 4.7 out of 5 from 153 reviews | 0.0 out of 5 from 0 reviews |
| Rating on G2 | 4.6 out of 5 from 12 reviews | 4.3 out of 5 from 3 reviews |
| Security | Mailinator says web traffic is served over HTTPS, private system email bodies are encrypted at rest, and public system email is not encrypted. | The maker states that HTTPS/TLS is enforced, data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and logins are passwordless. |
| Security controls | Mailinator states that traffic is HTTPS-only, servers are firewalled and Cloudflare-proxied, and production is separated from development and testing environments. | The security page states TLS 1.2 minimum, TLS 1.3 where supported, encrypted AWS volumes, WAF and DDoS protection, passwordless login and namespace-scoped API keys. |
| Support | Documentation is available 24/7/365; the support page says public issue emails are usually answered within 24–72 hours and subscribers receive priority support. | The maker says support comes from real engineers and that most priority requests are answered within minutes. |
| Trial | The pricing page offers a free Business plan trial for two weeks. | New accounts start with a 14 day free trial without a credit card and are automatically downgraded to the free plan afterward. |
| What it does | Mailinator provides public and private inboxes for automated email and SMS workflow testing, including sign-ups, 2FA and password resets. | testmail.app receives, parses, spam-tests and indexes test emails so developers can retrieve them through APIs during end-to-end tests. |
Plans
Mailinator
- Public - FreeFree
- Public - FreeFree
- Verified ProFree
- Verified ProFree
- Business$79 a month
- Business (annual)$79 a month
- Business$99 a month
- Business Plus$159 a month
- Business Plus (annual)$159 a month
- Business Plus$199 a month
testmail.app
- FreeFree
- Essential$9 a month
- Pro$29 a month
- Enterprise$89 a month
- Unlimited$269 a month
- CustomPriced on request
In their own words
Mailinator
Mailinator provides temporary inboxes and tools for testing email and SMS workflows. Developers, QA teams, and businesses can use it to check delivery for OTP, MFA, onboarding, password recovery, and other email processes at scale. Paid subscriptions include private testing domains, where messages can arrive at any address without creating an inbox first. The REST API retrieves inboxes, messages, and SMS, injects messages, and connects with CI/CD pipelines. Inbound webhooks can accept HTTP POST messages from sources such as alert systems, Zapier, or Twilio, then apply configured rules. SMS can be routed to an inbox or API for automated OTP and 2FA testing. The free public inboxes are readable by anyone, and messages typically auto-delete after several hours. Mailinator is receive-only: it cannot send email or fill out forms. The Public - Free plan is free to use without sign-up. Business costs $79 a month billed yearly; a two-week Business trial is listed. Other plans include Verified Pro at free, Business Plus at $159 a month billed yearly, and Enterprise at a price agreed with the maker with custom pricing.
testmail.app
testmail.app receives, parses, spam-tests, and indexes test emails for automated end-to-end testing. Messages sent to addresses such as `{namespace}.{tag}@inbox.testmail.app` are routed into mailboxes, allowing tests to create addresses and mailboxes dynamically. The service provides simple JSON and GraphQL APIs, with client examples for JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, Python, Go, Bash, C#, and Java. Search includes wildcard queries, live waits for new mail, sorting, pagination, attachments, and SpamAssassin reports. GraphQL adds advanced filters, field selection, and custom sorting unavailable in the simple JSON API. Documented integrations cover Cypress, Selenium, TestCafe, and email OTP testing. New accounts receive a 14-day trial without a credit card, then move to the free plan. Free includes 100 emails monthly and one-day retention. Paid plans start at $9/mo (annual). Hosting uses AWS, with encrypted data and passwordless logins.