Types of email addresses and aliases

With Proton Mail, there are several types of email addresses you can use:

• Free personal address: This is the email you signed up with. For example, alicejones@protnn.me or alicejones@protonmail.com.
• Additional address: This is based on a Proton Mail domain (for example, alice-work@protonmail.com) or your own domain (for example, alice@alicejones.com).
• Plus addressing: These are unlimited extra addresses using the + sign.
• Organization user address: Users who belong to a Proton for Business organization can have individual logins and mailboxes.
• Hide-my-email aliases: These help hide your real email address using Proton Pass.

Below is a clear explanation of each type of address and the key differences between them.

Free personal address

A free personal address is the email address you sign up with when you create a Proton Mail account. It is your login and your primary identity.

Examples:

• alicejones@protnn.me
• alicejones@protonmail.com

You may also have:

• A short domain address ending in @pm.me, which can be activated in Settings. Note: Free users used to be able to activate @pm.me to receive emails only. Today, you need a paid Proton plan to activate and use @pm.me for both sending and receiving email.
• A free @protnn.me address in addition to the main address, if you signed up using @protonmail.com or @protonmail.ch before June 2022. This is no longer available, but you can still get a @protnn.me address by updating to Proton Mail Plus.
• A legacy @protonmail.ch address if you signed up before 2016.

You can’t disable these addresses. But if you have more than one Proton Mail account, you can merge accounts to send and receive mail from all associated addresses within the same mailbox.

Additional address

If you have a paid Proton plan, you can use additional addresses on any Proton domains: @protnn.me, @protonmail.com, @pm.me, or @protonmail.ch.

For example, if your free personal addresses are alicejones@protnn.me and alicejones@protonmail.com, you can create additional addresses like alice-work@protnn.me and alice-subscriptions@protonmail.com, if these addresses are available.

Note: If you’re a member of a Proton family group (Proton Family or Duo plans), only your plan administrator can create additional addresses for you.

Custom domain address

If you have a paid Proton plan and own a domain (for example, alicejones.com), you can create email addresses using that domain.

For example:

• alice@alicejones.com
• newsletter@alicejones.com
• info@alicejones.com

What are the limits of additional addresses?

If you have a paid plan, you can create at least 10 additional addresses (including custom addresses), depending on your plan.

Note that your free personal addresses don’t count toward this limit. Custom addresses also don’t count if they are disabled.

Learn more about using additional addresses in Proton Mail.

Plus addressing

Plus addressing lets you create unlimited variations of your free personal address using the + symbol.

Emails sent to these variations go to your main inbox. To use plus addressing, add + after the username (local part) in your email address.

Examples for alicejones@protnn.me:

• alicejones+bills@protnn.me
• alicejones+shopping@protnn.me
• alicejones+work@protnn.me

You do not need to set up plus addressing in advance, because they are created automatically when someone emails that email address.

Note that you can’t compose a new email this way. But you can reply to emails sent to your inbox using plus addressing.

Learn more about plus addressing in Proton Mail.

Organization user addresses

If you have a Proton business plan and a custom domain, you can create an organization and add multiple users. Unlike custom domain addresses, organization user addresses have their own login and inbox, and they use your own domain instead of Proton domains.

For example:

• staff@yourdomain.com
• admin@yourdomain.com
• alicejones@yourdomain.com

Learn more about custom domains and setting up organizations in Proton for Business.

Hide-my-email aliases

Hide-my-email aliases help protect your privacy when signing up for websites, shopping online, or subscribing to newsletters. Instead of sharing your personal email address, you can use a unique alias to keep your real address private.

Using aliases helps you:

• Avoid exposing your primary email address
• Reduce spam in your inbox
• Limit the impact of potential data breaches

Hide-my-email aliases are provided by Proton Pass. An alias looks like this: newsletter.rand0m@passmail.net.

Emails sent to your alias are automatically forwarded to your Proton Mail inbox. You can disable or delete an alias anytime.

What are the limits of hide-my-email aliases?

You can create up to 10 aliases on the Free or Mail Plus plan. If you need more, you can upgrade to a higher-tier plan to create unlimited aliases.

For step-by-step instructions, see how to create aliases in Proton Mail.