Choosing between aliases and relay for your setup
Cleanbox offers two ways to protect your email: aliases and relay. They solve different problems and work at different levels. This guide helps you pick the right one — or use both.
Aliases
With aliases, you create new email addresses that forward to your existing inbox. When email arrives at an alias, Cleanbox scans it and delivers it to your mailbox via IMAP. Your real email address stays hidden from senders.
Best for
- Individuals who want to protect their personal email
- Signing up for services, newsletters, and online shopping
- Anyone who wants disposable or compartmentalized addresses
- Users without their own mail server
What you need: a mailbox connection (Gmail, Outlook, or any IMAP provider). Aliases are available on all plans.
Relay
With relay, Cleanbox sits in front of your existing mail server as a security gateway. You point your domain’s MX records to Cleanbox, and all inbound email is scanned before being forwarded to your server via SMTP. Your existing email addresses keep working — nothing changes for your users.
Best for
- Businesses with their own mail server or hosted email
- Organizations that want domain-wide spam and virus protection
- Anyone who wants to protect existing addresses without changing them
- IT admins who want a security layer without migrating email
What you need: your own mail server or hosted email, a verified custom domain, and an Advanced or Enterprise plan.
Quick comparison
- Scope: Aliases work per address. Relay protects your entire domain.
- Delivery: Aliases deliver via IMAP. Relay forwards via SMTP.
- Plans: Aliases are available on all plans. Relay requires Advanced or Enterprise.
- Privacy: Aliases hide your real address. Relay keeps your existing addresses as-is.
- Filters: Aliases support full filter actions like folder routing, mark as read, and forwarding. Relay supports deny filters, plus ClamAV virus scanning and DNSBL checks.
Using both
Many users combine both — relay for their business domain (company-wide protection) and aliases for personal signups. On the same domain, you can mix alias and relay addresses. They share the same contacts, Intelligence settings, and dashboard.
Which one should you pick?
“I want to hide my real email.” — Start with aliases.
“I have a mail server I want to protect.” — Set up relay.
“I want both privacy and server protection.” — Use both.
“I’m not sure yet.” — Start with aliases. You can always add relay later.
If you need help deciding, reach out to our support team — we’re happy to help you find the right setup.
