How to Create an Email Alias in Gmail, Outlook, and iCloud

You want a second email address without creating a whole new account. Maybe you want to filter sign-up emails, keep your real address private, or organize messages by purpose. Every major email provider offers some form of aliasing, but they all work differently and come with different limitations.

This guide walks through how to create an alias in Gmail, Outlook, and iCloud, compares what each option actually gives you, and explains when a dedicated alias service makes more sense.

What Is an Email Alias? A Quick Recap

An email alias is an address that forwards incoming mail to your real inbox. It is not a separate account with its own login and password. It is more like a label that points to your existing mailbox. You can give out the alias instead of your real address, and mail sent to it will still reach you.

Aliases are useful for privacy (you do not have to reveal your real address), organization (different aliases for different purposes), and control (you can disable an alias if it starts receiving spam). For a deeper dive, see our full explanation of email aliasing.

Option 1: Gmail Plus Addressing

Gmail supports something called "plus addressing" (also known as sub-addressing or tagged addressing). It is the simplest form of aliasing, but also the most limited.

How It Works

Take your Gmail address and add a plus sign followed by any tag before the @ symbol:

• Your address: yourname@gmail.com
• Alias: yourname+shopping@gmail.com
• Alias: yourname+newsletters@gmail.com
• Alias: yourname+bankname@gmail.com

All of these deliver to your regular Gmail inbox. You do not need to create them or configure anything — they work automatically. You can then set up Gmail filters to label, archive, or sort messages based on which plus address they were sent to.

Limitations of Plus Addressing

Plus addressing has significant drawbacks that limit its usefulness:

• It reveals your real address. Anyone can see that yourname+shopping@gmail.com is really yourname@gmail.com. Just strip the +tag. This means it offers zero privacy protection.
• You cannot disable a specific tag. If yourname+shopping@gmail.com starts getting spam, you cannot turn it off. You can filter it, but the address keeps working forever.
• Some websites reject the + character. Certain sign-up forms treat the plus sign as an invalid character and refuse the address entirely.
• Spammers strip plus tags. Automated systems that harvest or purchase email lists routinely strip everything between the + and @ to get the real address.

Plus addressing is fine for personal email organization (filtering newsletters, for example) but it is not a real alias and not a privacy tool.

Option 2: Gmail "Send Mail As"

Gmail lets you add another email address you already own and send mail from it through your Gmail interface. This is sometimes confused with aliasing, but it is not the same thing.

How to Set It Up

1. Open Gmail and go to Settings → See all settings → Accounts and Import.
2. Under Send mail as, click Add another email address.
3. Enter the name and address you want to send from.
4. Gmail will send a verification email to that address. Click the link to confirm.
5. Once verified, you can choose which "From" address to use when composing emails.

What This Actually Does

This feature lets you send from another address you own, but it does not create a new address or forward anything. You need to already have the other address set up somewhere (another Gmail account, a work email, a custom domain). It is useful for consolidating multiple accounts into one Gmail interface, but it is not aliasing in the traditional sense.

Option 3: Outlook.com Aliases

Outlook.com (and Hotmail/Live.com) offers real email aliases — entirely new addresses linked to your existing account. This is closer to true aliasing than what Gmail offers natively.

How to Create an Outlook Alias

1. Go to account.live.com and sign in.
2. Go to Your info → Account aliases (or navigate to Manage how you sign in to Microsoft).
3. Click Add email.
4. Choose to either create a new Outlook.com/Hotmail.com address or add an existing address.
5. If creating a new one, pick the address you want (e.g., yournewalias@outlook.com).
6. Click Add alias.

What You Get

Outlook aliases are real, independent-looking email addresses. Mail sent to them arrives in your main Outlook inbox. You can send from any alias. The addresses use Outlook.com, Hotmail.com, or Live.com domains.

Limitations

• Maximum of 10 aliases per account. And you can only add 3 per year. This is a hard limit.
• Limited to Microsoft domains. You cannot create aliases on your own custom domain through this feature.
• No per-alias controls. You cannot disable an individual alias's delivery without deleting it entirely. There is no on/off switch.
• No spam filtering per alias. All aliases share the same spam filter settings.

Outlook aliases are a solid option if you just need a few extra addresses and are happy staying within the Microsoft ecosystem.

Option 4: iCloud Hide My Email

Apple offers a built-in alias feature called Hide My Email, available to iCloud+ subscribers (paid iCloud plans starting at $0.99/month).

How to Create a Hide My Email Alias

1. On iPhone or iPad: go to Settings → [Your Name] → iCloud → Hide My Email.
2. Tap Create New Address.
3. Apple generates a random address like random_string@privaterelay.appleid.com.
4. Add a label so you remember what it is for.
5. Tap Continue, then Done.

On Mac: go to System Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → Hide My Email. In Safari, the feature also appears automatically on sign-up forms when using AutoFill.

What You Get

Hide My Email generates completely random addresses that forward to your iCloud inbox. Each address can be deactivated independently. The random format means nobody can guess your real address from the alias.

Limitations

• Requires iCloud+ (paid subscription). The free iCloud tier does not include Hide My Email for general use.
• Apple ecosystem only. Creating and managing aliases requires Apple devices or iCloud.com. If you switch to Android, you lose access to management.
• All aliases forward to your iCloud address. If your main email is Gmail or something else, you need to forward from iCloud to get the messages. That adds an extra hop and potential delivery issues.
• Random addresses are hard to remember. You cannot choose a meaningful name. If you need to type the alias from memory (like at a store checkout), it is impractical.
• No custom domains. All aliases use Apple's relay domain.
• Limited spam filtering. Mail passes through Apple's relay but does not get the same level of content inspection that dedicated alias services provide.

For a detailed comparison, see our Hide My Email vs. dedicated alias service analysis.

Option 5: Dedicated Alias Services

Beyond the native options from Gmail, Outlook, and Apple, there are services built specifically around email aliasing. These address the limitations of the provider-native options.

What Dedicated Alias Services Add

• Unlimited aliases. No cap of 10 or 3-per-year. Create as many as you need.
• Custom domains. Use your own domain for aliases, so they look professional and are under your control.
• Per-alias on/off switch. Disable any alias instantly without deleting it. Turn it back on if you need it again.
• Spam filtering per alias. Aliases that start getting spam can be individually managed.
• Works with any email provider. Your main inbox can be Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, Fastmail, ProtonMail, or anything else. The alias service delivers to wherever you want.
• Meaningful addresses. Choose addresses you can actually remember, like shopping@yourdomain.com or newsletters@yourdomain.com.

How They Work

You create an alias through the service's dashboard or API. When someone sends email to that alias, the service receives it, applies spam filtering, and delivers it to your real inbox. Your real address is never exposed to the sender. If you reply, the service can route the reply back through the alias so the recipient only sees the alias address.

Comparing All the Options

Here is how the five approaches stack up:

• Gmail plus addressing: Free, instant, unlimited tags. But it exposes your real address, cannot be disabled, and some sites reject it.
• Gmail "Send mail as": Lets you send from another address in Gmail. Not really aliasing — you need to already have the other address.
• Outlook aliases: Real separate addresses, free. But limited to 10 total, Microsoft domains only, no per-alias controls.
• iCloud Hide My Email: Random private addresses, per-alias disable. But requires iCloud+ subscription, Apple ecosystem only, no custom domains, hard-to-remember addresses.
• Dedicated alias services: Unlimited aliases, custom domains, per-alias controls, spam filtering, works everywhere. Typically requires a subscription.

The right choice depends on your needs. If you just want to tag a few emails in Gmail, plus addressing works. If you want real privacy and control, you need either iCloud Hide My Email or a dedicated service.

Where Cleanbox Fits In

Cleanbox is a dedicated alias service that works with any email provider. You create aliases on your own domain (or use a Cleanbox domain), and each alias delivers to whatever inbox you choose. Every alias can be enabled, disabled, or deleted independently. Incoming mail is scanned for spam and phishing before it reaches your inbox. And because Cleanbox handles DKIM and SPF properly at the alias level, you do not get the authentication failures that plague simple forwarding setups.

If you have been using Gmail plus addressing or are bumping up against Outlook's 10-alias limit, a dedicated service gives you the flexibility and privacy that native provider tools were not designed to offer. Learn more about how email aliasing works to decide if it is right for you.