SimpleLogin vs anon.li - a developer's honest comparison

anon.li — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 09:54:08 +0000

If you care about your inbox - and your privacy - email aliasing is one of the best habits you can build. The idea is simple: instead of handing out your real address, you hand out a disposable alias that forwards mail to you. One service gets compromised? Disable the alias, never touch your real inbox.

SimpleLogin is the established name in this space, now owned by Proton. anon.li is a new privacy-focused alternative that launched in April 2026, built with a Liechtenstein jurisdiction philosophy and designed from the ground up for developers and privacy enthusiasts who want more than just forwarding.

Let's go feature by feature.

Quick overview

Feature	SimpleLogin	anon.li
Open source	✅ AGPL v3	✅ AGPL v3
Email forwarding	✅	✅
Send from alias	✅	✅
Custom domains	✅ Premium	✅ Premium
PGP forwarding	✅ Premium	✅ Free
Browser extensions	✅ Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge	✅ Chrome, Firefox
Mobile apps	✅ iOS + Android	❌ Web-first
REST API	✅	✅
CLI	❌	✅
MCP server	❌	✅
E2EE file sharing	❌	✅ (Drops)
Independent (no Big Tech parent)	❌ (Proton)	✅

Email aliasing - the core

Both services nail the fundamentals: you create an alias, emails forward to your real inbox, and you can disable or delete aliases at any time. Neither service stores your email content - messages are forwarded and immediately discarded.

Free tier: SimpleLogin requires a subscription to enable PGP encryption. anon.li offers it for free.

Replying from aliases: Both support replying from an alias. Your real address is never exposed - not even in outbound mail.

Custom domains: Both SimpleLogin & anon.li support custom domains.

The developer surface

This is where the comparison gets interesting. SimpleLogin has a solid REST API, and that's it. anon.li ships with a full developer ecosystem out of the gate.

REST API

Both services expose a REST API for programmatic alias management. With anon.li you can create, list, toggle, and delete aliases, manage recipients, and manage encrypted file drops - all from your own scripts and applications.

CLI

SimpleLogin has no official CLI. anon.li ships one. If you live in the terminal - and many developers do - this is a significant quality-of-life difference.

# Manage aliases from the terminal
anonli alias create --note "newsletter signup"
anonli alias list
anonli alias toggle abc123

# Manage encrypted file drops
anonli drop list
anonli drop toggle abc123

The CLI supports all API operations, including encrypted file drop management - useful for quickly sharing a secret, a config file, or a private key with a colleague without spinning up a separate file sharing service.

MCP server - the wildcard

This is something SimpleLogin doesn't offer at all. anon.li ships a native Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, which means AI assistants like Claude can directly manage your aliases.

With the anon.li MCP server connected, you can ask your AI assistant to list your aliases, create a new one for a specific purpose, toggle an alias on or off, list your encrypted drops, or manage recipients - all without leaving your chat interface.

This isn't a gimmick. As AI assistants become part of everyday workflows, having your privacy tooling directly accessible from the assistant that's helping you draft emails, manage sign-ups, and organize subscriptions is genuinely useful. anon.li is ahead of the curve here.

Encrypted file sharing - Drops

This is a feature category SimpleLogin doesn't touch at all. anon.li includes end-to-end encrypted file sharing, called anon.li Drop.

Files are encrypted client-side with the user's vault key before upload. Not even anon.li can read the contents or filenames. You share a drop link; the recipient downloads and decrypts. Drops support expiry dates, download count limits, and can be toggled off remotely and up to 250GB in size.

Feature	Detail
Encryption model	Client-side E2EE. Files encrypted before they leave your device. Server stores ciphertext only.
Access controls	Set download limits, expiry dates. Disable a drop remotely at any time.
API + CLI access	List, manage, and toggle drops via API, CLI, and MCP server - not just the web UI.

For a developer who occasionally needs to share a .env file, a private certificate, or a sensitive document - and wants to do it without trusting a third-party service - Drops is a genuinely useful feature that SimpleLogin simply doesn't compete on.

Privacy posture and jurisdiction

SimpleLogin is operated by Proton AG and subject to Swiss law - which has strong privacy protections, but Proton is now a large company with investor obligations, a broad product portfolio, and a corporate structure that has grown significantly since SimpleLogin was an independent project.

anon.li is independently operated with a Liechtenstein jurisdiction philosophy. It's a smaller, more focused service - which cuts both ways: fewer resources, but also no corporate parent that could change direction, get acquired, or be pressured by a larger ecosystem.

⚠️ SimpleLogin was acquired by Proton in 2022. While Proton has a strong privacy reputation, the service is no longer community-independent. If you prefer your privacy tools to be genuinely independent, anon.li is the stronger philosophical fit.

Both services are AGPL v3 open source. Neither stores email content. Both use TLS in transit. SimpleLogin has optional PGP forwarding at the premium tier; anon.li has a zero-knowledge Drops system today and PGP on the roadmap.

Ecosystem and integrations

SimpleLogin's biggest ecosystem advantage is Proton Pass integration. If you're already in the Proton ecosystem (ProtonMail, Proton VPN, Proton Pass), SimpleLogin slots in seamlessly - alias suggestions inside the password manager, one unified subscription, Proton's infrastructure behind you.

anon.li's ecosystem advantage is developer depth. The combination of REST API + CLI + browser extension + MCP server means it integrates with your workflow however you prefer to work - from the terminal, from the browser, from an AI assistant, or via scripts in your own applications.

Who should use which

Choose SimpleLogin if...

You're in the Proton ecosystem - ProtonMail + Proton Pass + SimpleLogin is the most seamless bundle for privacy-focused non-developers.
You need PGP forwarding today - SimpleLogin's PGP feature is mature and well-documented. anon.li has it on the roadmap.
You want iOS/Android apps - SimpleLogin has polished native mobile apps. anon.li is web-first for now.
You want battle-tested reliability - five years of production use, millions of aliases, Proton's infrastructure.

Choose anon.li if...

You're a developer - API + CLI + MCP server means anon.li fits into your workflow in ways SimpleLogin can't.
You want E2EE file sharing - Drops gives you a genuinely private way to share sensitive files. No equivalent exists in SimpleLogin.
You prefer independence - no Proton parent, no corporate ecosystem to navigate. One focused product, one team.
You use AI assistants in your workflow - the MCP server integration is unique. Manage aliases directly from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client.

SimpleLogin remains the most polished and widely trusted email aliasing service available. If you're already inside the Proton ecosystem, there's little reason to leave.

But anon.li is a compelling new choice for developers and power users. The MCP server is genuinely novel. The CLI is overdue in this category. The encrypted Drops feature adds a dimension that no other aliasing service offers. And being independent - not part of a larger corporate stack - is increasingly a feature, not just a differentiator.

Both are AGPL v3 open source. Both take your privacy seriously. The choice comes down to ecosystem fit and how deep you want your tooling to go.

*Try anon.li at anon.li.

DEV Community: anon.li