---
title: "AliasFleet vs Fastmail Masked Email: Inbox-Agnostic Alternative (2026)"
updated: "October 2026"
author: "AliasFleet Editorial Team"
reviewed_by: "Ahsan Luqman"
canonical_url: "https://www.aliasfleet.com/compare/aliasfleet-vs-fastmail"
description: "Looking for a Fastmail Masked Email alternative that works with Gmail, Outlook, or Proton Mail? Compare AliasFleet and Fastmail across free aliases, PGP encryption, tracker stripping, and webhooks."
---

# AliasFleet vs Fastmail Masked Email

Fastmail Masked Email is built for subscribers who use Fastmail as their primary hosted mailbox. AliasFleet works with any inbox you already use (Gmail, Outlook, Proton, Apple Mail) and adds PGP encryption, server-side tracker stripping, Email X-Ray, and webhooks.

## Overview

Fastmail is a full hosted email provider with calendar, contacts, and JMAP support. Its Masked Email feature lets Fastmail subscribers generate aliases inside the Fastmail web app or through a 1Password integration.

Because Masked Email is part of a hosted mailbox, using it typically means paying for a Fastmail subscription (no permanent free tier, only a 30-day trial) and reading your mail inside Fastmail. Fastmail also does not offer server-side PGP encryption on incoming mail or HTTP webhooks for developers.

AliasFleet is a dedicated alias router that works with the inbox you already use, whether that is Gmail, Outlook, Proton Mail, Apple Mail, or Fastmail itself. It stores zero message bodies on disk and adds server-side PGP encryption, 1x1 tracker pixel stripping, link parameter scrubbing, Email X-Ray forensics, and HMAC-signed webhooks.

## Feature comparison

### Core Alias Routing & Capacity

| Feature | AliasFleet | Fastmail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Works with any existing inbox** - Use aliases directly inside Gmail, Outlook, Proton Mail, or Apple Mail. | Yes (Any email provider) | No (Fastmail mailbox centered) |
| **Permanent free plan** - Use aliases and personal subdomains without a time-limited trial. | Yes (10 aliases + 3 subdomains) | No (30-day trial only) |
| **Zero-storage in-memory routing** - Mail is parsed in memory and forwarded without saving message bodies on disk. | Yes (Zero body storage) | No (Stored in hosted mailbox) |
| **Alias expiration & self-destruct TTL** - Schedule an alias to auto-expire after 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, or a custom date. | Yes (1 free / Unlimited (Pro)) | No (Manual deletion only) |

### Privacy Controls, Sanitization & Forensics

| Feature | AliasFleet | Fastmail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Server-side tracker pixel stripping** - Neutralizes 1x1 tracking pixels at the MTA before mail reaches any client. | Yes (Pro & Business) | No (Webmail image proxy only) |
| **Link tracker parameter scrubbing** - Strips utm_*, fbclid, gclid, and redirect tokens from forwarded links. | Yes (Pro & Business) | No (Not supported) |
| **Email X-Ray header & hop forensics** - Inspect raw MIME headers, relay delays, and SPF/DKIM/DMARC verdicts. | Yes (Pro & Business) | No (Raw message view only) |
| **PGP encryption & WKD auto-lookup** - Encrypts forwarded mail with Inline PGP or PGP/MIME and queries WKD keys. | Yes (Inline, PGP/MIME & WKD (Pro & Business)) | No (Not supported) |
| **Vendor leak detection & exposure scoring** - Flags aliases when unexpected third-party domains send mail to them. | Yes (Pro & Business (1-click fix)) | No (Manual folder rules) |

### Custom Domains, Rules & Outbound Quick Send

| Feature | AliasFleet | Fastmail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Custom domain connections & catch-all** - Bring your own root domains with automated DNS diagnostics and catch-all. | Yes (3 (Pro) / 10 (Business)) | Yes (Standard & Professional) |
| **Multi-destination team routing** - Forward a single alias to up to 5 verified recipient mailboxes simultaneously. | Yes (Business (5 inboxes/alias)) | Yes (Forwarding rules) |

### Developer API, Webhooks & Observability

| Feature | AliasFleet | Fastmail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Signed HTTP webhooks & Slack/Discord cards** - HMAC-SHA256 JSON webhooks, native Slack/Discord cards, and raw MIME (Biz). | Yes (Pro (2) / Business (10)) | No (JMAP API only) |
| **Scoped Developer REST API** - Simple JSON REST API with granular scopes for aliases, rules, and webhooks. | Yes (Business) | Yes (JMAP MaskedEmail spec) |

## Why look for a Fastmail alternative

### Keep your existing inbox vs moving to a new mailbox

Fastmail is designed to replace Gmail, Outlook, or iCloud Mail as your primary email host. While you can set up forwarding rules inside Fastmail, paying for a full cloud mailbox just to forward aliases to another inbox duplicates storage and cost.

AliasFleet is built specifically as an in-memory routing layer in front of the inbox you already use. Your messages are never stored on disk at AliasFleet, and you can route different aliases to up to 5 verified inboxes on Pro or 20 inboxes on Business.

### Server-side PGP encryption, tracker stripping, and link scrubbing

Fastmail proxies remote images inside its own webmail client, but it does not strip tracking pixels or URL tracking parameters from the underlying MIME message if you read mail in Apple Mail, Thunderbird, or another IMAP client. Fastmail also does not encrypt incoming messages with your PGP public key.

AliasFleet Pro and Business remove 1x1 tracking pixels, scrub tracking query parameters (utm_*, fbclid, gclid) from hyperlinks, and encrypt the message body with your PGP key (with WKD auto-lookup) before forwarding it to your inbox.

```headers
X-AliasFleet-Alias: newsletter.88b@yourdomain.com
X-AliasFleet-Sender-Auth: spf=pass; dkim=pass; dmarc=pass
X-AliasFleet-Trackers-Stripped: 3
X-AliasFleet-Links-Scrubbed: 5
X-AliasFleet-PGP-Mode: pgp-mime
List-Unsubscribe: <https://app.aliasfleet.com/unsubscribe>
```

### REST API and signed webhooks vs JMAP

Fastmail exposes Masked Email creation through the JMAP protocol, which is how password managers like 1Password integrate with it. However, integrating JMAP into internal scripts requires JMAP session negotiation and does not provide outbound HTTP webhooks on incoming mail.

AliasFleet provides a standard JSON REST API with scoped Bearer tokens and dispatches HMAC-SHA256 signed webhooks, native Slack/Discord cards, and raw RFC 822 MIME payloads.

## Which one fits your setup

### Choose AliasFleet if
- You want to keep using Gmail, Outlook, Proton Mail, or Apple Mail rather than migrating to a new mailbox host.
- You want a free plan with 10 aliases and 3 personal subdomains.
- You want server-side PGP encryption, WKD key lookup, 1x1 tracker pixel removal, and link parameter scrubbing.
- You want Email X-Ray header forensics, vendor leak detection, and HMAC-signed webhooks.

### Choose Fastmail if
- You are looking for a full hosted mailbox, calendar, and contacts suite to replace Gmail or Outlook.
- You already use Fastmail as your daily mail client and generate aliases through 1Password.

## Moving a custom domain from Fastmail

1. **List your active custom domain addresses in Fastmail**: Review your Custom Domains and Masked Email settings in Fastmail to export any addresses that use your own domain.
2. **Add your domain in AliasFleet**: Add your domain in AliasFleet, verify your destination inbox, and recreate your aliases or enable catch-all routing.
3. **Publish AliasFleet DKIM and SPF records**: Add the af._domainkey CNAME record and update your SPF TXT record to include mail.aliasfleet.com before changing your MX records.
4. **Update your MX records**: Replace in1-smtp.messagingengine.com and in2-smtp.messagingengine.com with mail.aliasfleet.com (priority 10). Note that shared *.fastmail.com addresses remain tied to Fastmail.

```dns
; 1. Inbound Mail Routing (Apex or Subdomain)
@               IN  MX     10 mail.aliasfleet.com.

; 2. Sender Policy Framework (SPF)
@               IN  TXT    "v=spf1 include:mail.aliasfleet.com ~all"

; 3. DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM CNAME Selector)
af._domainkey   IN  CNAME  dkim.aliasfleet.com.

; 4. DMARC Policy (Recommended)
_dmarc          IN  TXT    "v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc-reports@aliasfleet.com"
```

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Can I forward AliasFleet aliases into a Fastmail inbox?
Yes. Many users keep Fastmail as their destination mailbox and use AliasFleet in front of it for tracker pixel stripping, link scrubbing, vendor leak alerts, and webhooks.

### Can I move my @fastmail.com Masked Emails to AliasFleet?
Addresses on Fastmail-owned domains stay with Fastmail. However, any aliases on your own custom domain can be moved to AliasFleet by updating your domain MX, SPF, and DKIM records.

### Does AliasFleet store copies of my emails like a mailbox provider?
No. AliasFleet is a non-storage forwarding service. Messages are processed in memory and delivered to your destination inbox without saving email bodies on disk.