• 4 min read
Brave adds five free email aliases for web sign-ups
Brave’s new browser feature creates disposable email aliases that forward messages to your real inbox and can be disabled if a site leaks them.
Image: CNET
Brave is adding a built-in way to keep your primary email address out of website sign-up forms. Its new email aliases feature generates managed addresses containing no personal information, then forwards messages sent to those addresses to the inbox associated with your Brave account.
The feature addresses several problems with using the same email address across the web. An address exposed in a breach can attract phishing attempts, while marketers and ad-tech companies can use it to connect activity across services. Brave says companies such as Google, Meta and LinkedIn publicly promote the ability to upload email addresses and match customers with existing profiles.
An alias acts as a privacy barrier and a tracking-control mechanism. A retailer, newsletter or online service sees a Brave-generated address rather than the address used for the rest of your personal and professional accounts. If one alias starts receiving spam or appears in a breach, users can identify which site had access to it and manage that address separately.
The feature is relevant to the same class of misconfiguration that can expose credentials and other private information through abandoned email domains, a problem [we covered earlier]( /abandoned-email-domains-leak-private-data/ ). An alias doesn’t prevent a company from mishandling data it has already received, but it limits the value of the exposed email address and makes reuse across services harder.
How Brave’s aliases work
Email aliases are available at no charge, with a limit of five aliases for now. They aren’t automatically enabled for existing Brave users. Brave requires an account and the user’s real email address to forward incoming mail, which means the company still holds that primary address. The privacy trade-off is that one provider becomes the forwarding point instead of every website receiving the same address.
To start using the feature in Brave’s desktop browser:
- 1Open
brave://settings/email-aliasesto reach the Brave login page. - 2Create or sign in to a free Brave account.
- 3Verify the primary email address where forwarded messages should arrive.
- 4On a website’s email field, right-click while using Brave and choose the option to create and use a new alias.
- 5Manage existing aliases from the browser’s Autofill & passwords settings.
Brave forwards mail sent to an alias to the primary address used during account registration. Brave advises users to check their spam folder, since forwarded messages may be filtered there.
What Brave says it stores
Brave says data associated with alias emails is encrypted at rest while it remains on the company’s servers. It also says it doesn’t read message contents, although the service does process messages for standard spam and virus filtering.
“Brave doesn’t read the contents of emails sent to an alias.”
According to Brave, messages are deleted from its servers within seconds after delivery. That reduces the amount of email content held by the service, but the forwarding process still requires Brave to handle each message and perform filtering before delivery.
Alias notes are another area where Brave says storage is limited. Notes users add to aliases are stored locally on the computer rather than on Brave’s servers. If Brave’s online sync service is used, those notes are encrypted end-to-end between devices on the same sync chain.
The design also creates a practical dependency on the Brave account. Losing access to that account or changing the primary forwarding address could affect where alias mail arrives, although the supplied announcement does not describe account recovery, alias deletion, or whether an alias can be reassigned.
Free now, paid expansion planned
Five addresses will cover many casual sign-ups, but the current offering is limited. Brave says it plans to add more email-alias features to its Premium plan in the future; it has not announced Premium pricing or specified which additional controls will be included.
The company also has not published independent measurements for delivery latency, spam-filter accuracy or the exact retention period in cases where filtering or delivery fails. For now, the verifiable promise is narrower: free desktop-browser aliases, forwarding to one verified primary address, encryption at rest, local alias notes and deletion of delivered messages within seconds.
Frequently asked questions
How many Brave email aliases are free?+
Brave currently provides five free email aliases. The company plans additional alias features for its Premium plan, but Premium pricing has not been announced.
Does Brave need my real email address?+
Yes. You must verify a primary email address when creating a Brave account because alias messages are forwarded to that inbox.
Does Brave read emails sent to aliases?+
Brave says it does not read their contents, but it processes messages for standard spam and virus filtering. Delivered messages are deleted from its servers within seconds, according to the company.
Where are Brave alias notes stored?+
Notes are stored locally on your computer. If Brave Sync is enabled, the notes are end-to-end encrypted between devices on the same sync chain.
Security Editor
Sophia unpacks the invisible wars happening on our networks. Covering cybersecurity, privacy legislation, and cryptography, she exposes how our data is weaponized and defended. Before joining for(geeks), she spent years as a penetration tester. She's the reason the rest of the team uses physical security keys.
