What is an email alias?
What is an email alias?
An alias is an address that points to a mailbox, but stores nothing itself. The mailbox is the real letterbox, with storage space and a password; the alias is an extra nameplate on that same box. Everything that arrives on the alias drops into the mailbox behind it.
The difference from an ordinary mailbox in one sentence: a mailbox has its own storage and its own login, an alias doesn't. So an alias is lighter and free or cheap, while an extra mailbox is a full, separate inbox. If you want to quickly look up the short definition, it's in the term alias.
Why an alias is handy
Aliases solve a very practical problem: you want to present several addresses to the outside world, but you don't want to have to check just as many mailboxes. A few recognisable situations:
- For the self-employed and starters. You use
info@on your website,invoices@for your bookkeeping and your first name for personal contact, but you read everything in one mailbox. Professional on the outside, simple on the inside. - For associations, non-profits and schools. Role addresses like
secretary@,registrations@orboard@belong to a role, not to a person. If the volunteer or employee changes, you simply adjust which mailbox the alias forwards to. The mail history and the address stay with the organisation. - To keep your overview. If you give a separate alias per purpose or per service, you see at a glance where a message comes from, and you can clean up an alias that attracts too much spam without hassle, without touching your main address.
- To divide tasks. You have a role address forward to the mailbox of the right person. If something changes in your team, you simply point the alias to another mailbox. The address on your business cards and website stays the same.
How does an alias work?
An alias works like a pass-through. This is what happens when someone mails an alias:
- The message arrives at the alias address, for example
info@yourbusiness.com. - The mail server sees that this is an alias and looks up which mailbox it should forward to.
- The message lands in that mailbox, among your ordinary mail. You read and answer it like any other mail.
For sending, you can in most cases set it up so you reply as the alias address, so the recipient sees info@yourbusiness.com and not your underlying address. If you want several colleagues to see the same incoming mail, you can have one alias forward to several mailboxes, so everyone who handles, say, info@ gets the same message. Setting it up isn't much; you'll read it step by step in creating an email alias.
What to watch out for
Aliases are handy, but keep a few things in mind:
- An alias is not a backup and not a separate inbox. All mail comes together in one mailbox. If you want messages truly stored separately and handled apart (for example by a different colleague with their own login), then you need a separate mailbox, not an alias.
- Set up folders or labels. Because everything arrives in the same mailbox, it helps to automatically label or sort incoming mail per alias. That keeps it organised.
- Reply from the right address. Check that your outgoing replies show the alias address and not your personal address, especially with role addresses.
- Aliases have limits. Every plan includes a certain number of free aliases. For most self-employed people and small organisations that's plenty. If you structurally need many more, that's often a sign that some addresses would be better off with their own mailbox.
And at Mailflux
At Mailflux you get 20 free aliases per mailbox in every plan. So you quickly create addresses like info@, sales@ or secretary@ on your own domain, while reading everything in one place. You manage them in the webmail at webmail.mailflux.eu, with coloured labels to keep incoming mail per alias organised.
If your organisation works with many addresses, there's bulk account management to arrange everything centrally, so you don't have to create each address separately. Aliases are part of the simplicity Mailflux strives for: professional email on your own domain, hosted in Europe and GDPR-compliant, without unnecessary bells and whistles. You set up your addresses in a few minutes and read everything in one place, whether you're just starting or managing a growing team. What email hosting exactly is, you'll read in what is email hosting; why your own domain pays off, in email on your own domain.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between an alias and a mailbox?
A mailbox is a full inbox with its own storage and its own login. An alias is an extra address without its own storage that forwards mail to an existing mailbox. So an alias is lighter and included for free; an extra mailbox is a separate account.
Can I also send email with an alias?
Yes. In most mail environments you set it up so you reply as the alias address, so the recipient sees the alias address and not your underlying address. That way, for example, info@yourbusiness.com appears as the sender, while you work in one mailbox.
How many aliases can I create?
At Mailflux every plan includes 20 free aliases per mailbox. For most self-employed people, associations and small businesses that's plenty to set up all the necessary role and service addresses without extra costs.
Does an alias cost extra?
Not at Mailflux: the 20 aliases per mailbox are included free in every plan. So you create addresses like info@ or sales@ without additional costs. Only when you need more full, separate inboxes with their own login does an extra mailbox come into play.