What Happens to Your Data When an Email Service Shuts Down
In 2021, Spamgourmet — one of the original email alias services — shut down permanently. Users who had used Spamgourmet aliases for years suddenly lost all those addresses. Every service registered with a Spamgourmet alias became inaccessible unless they had a backup email on file.
33mail followed a similar path. And it can happen to any service — including Cleanbox.
What you lose when an alias service dies
- All aliases stop working — Emails to your aliases bounce. Anyone emailing you at those addresses gets an error.
- Account recovery breaks — If you registered for a service with an alias, and the alias stops working, password reset emails cannot reach you. You may lose access to those accounts.
- No forwarding, no contacts — Your contact history, filter rules, and settings disappear with the service.
Services that have shut down
| Service | What happened | User impact |
|---|---|---|
| Spamgourmet | Shut down in 2021 after 20+ years | All aliases permanently dead |
| 33mail | Service degraded, effectively abandoned | Unreliable forwarding, aliases partially working |
| Blur (Abine) | Masked email feature discontinued | Existing masks stopped forwarding |
How to protect yourself
1. Use your own domain
This is the single most important protection. If your aliases are on @yourdomain.com instead of @servicename.me, you own the addresses regardless of which service processes them. If Cleanbox disappeared tomorrow, you could point your domain's MX records to a different service and your addresses would keep working.
With aliases on the service's domain (@cleanbox.me, @simplelogin.co, @addy.io), you have no control. The domain belongs to the service. If they shut down, the domain and all addresses on it are gone.
2. Keep a recovery email on critical accounts
For important accounts (banking, primary email, government services), make sure you have a backup recovery method that does not depend on your alias service:
- Add a phone number for SMS recovery
- Add a secondary email address on a domain you control
- Download backup codes for 2FA
3. Export your alias list regularly
Keep a record of which alias maps to which service. If you use a password manager, this data is already there — each login entry contains the alias email. If not, maintain a simple spreadsheet.
4. Prefer services with data export
Before committing to an alias service, check: can you export your aliases, contacts, and settings? Open-source services (SimpleLogin, addy.io, Forward Email) score well here because you can self-host as a fallback.
Being honest about Cleanbox
Cleanbox is an independent company. We are not acquired by a larger entity, we are not venture-funded with a burn-rate countdown, and we are profitable. But no company is immortal.
What we recommend to our own users:
- Use a custom domain for your most important aliases. Cleanbox supports custom domains from the Premium plan ($15/mo). Your domain, your addresses, portable to any service.
- Keep your password manager up to date with which alias maps to which service.
- Do not put all eggs in one basket for critical accounts — have a recovery path that does not depend on us.
For a guide on getting started with your own domain, see Custom Domain Email: The Complete Guide for Small Businesses.
