---
title: "Proxy Mail QA vs Mailtrap: email testing compared · Proxy Mail QA"
description: "Mailtrap's sandbox catches the email your own app sends through its SMTP server. Proxy Mail QA receives real email at real addresses. When to use each."
url: https://proxymail.qa/compare/mailtrap
---

1. [Home](https://proxymail.qa/)
2. [Compare](https://proxymail.qa/compare)

# Proxy Mail QA vs Mailtrap

Mailtrap's Email Sandbox is a fake SMTP server: you point your app's outgoing mail at it, and it catches every message so nothing reaches a real person. Proxy Mail QA works the other way round: it gives you real addresses that receive email over the internet, so you test the whole path, from your app and its email provider to the inbox, including auth services whose sending you can't redirect.

Updated October 17, 2026

Prices and limits below are from Mailtrap’s pricing and Email Sandbox pages on 17 October 2026\. Check them for current details.

## At a glance

|                   | Proxy Mail QA                                                                                                                     | Mailtrap Email Sandbox                                                                                   |
| ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| How mail gets in  | Sent to a real address over the internet, by any app or service                                                                   | Your app sends through Mailtrap’s SMTP server, which catches it                                          |
| Built for         | Testing sign-up and login emails by hand, in test suites and with AI agents                                                       | Checking the emails your own app sends, in development and staging                                       |
| Free              | The whole product under fair use, private addresses that last up to 30 days                                                       | 50 test emails a month, 1 sandbox holding 10 emails, 1 user, no sandbox email address                    |
| Paid              | Team: $5 a month per organisation (unlimited seats), $45 a year, or $95 once                                                      | Basic $14 a month (500 emails, 3 users); Team $34 (5,000 emails, 5 users); Business $99; Enterprise $399 |
| Codes and links   | Pulled out of each email and shown on the account’s row; returned on their own by the API and MCP server                          | Not pulled out: you read the message                                                                     |
| Email checks      | SPF, DKIM, DMARC, links to localhost or plain http, where links go, stated expiry, size, phone layout, expected text and language | HTML and CSS support across email clients, spam score, headers, device previews                          |
| Test accounts     | Personas, saved passwords, notes, tags, an account pool for parallel tests, reports                                               | Not the focus                                                                                            |
| For agents and CI | REST API, npm package, Python helper, GitHub Action and an MCP server, on the Free plan                                           | API for reading messages                                                                                 |

## Where Mailtrap is the better choice

- **Checking your templates before anyone gets them.** HTML and CSS checks across email clients, spam scores and device previews tell you how an email will look and land.
- **Development without real recipients.** Point your app’s SMTP at the sandbox and nothing it sends can reach a customer by mistake.

## Where Proxy Mail QA is the better choice

- **Hosted auth services.** Supabase, Clerk, Auth0 and Firebase send sign-up and reset emails from their own servers. A real address receives them with no change to your app; a sandbox only sees them if you can reroute the sending.
- **The whole path, not just your code.** A real address catches what a sandbox can’t: an email provider still in sandbox mode, a missing domain record, a link that points to localhost on staging.
- **Many test accounts.** Create as many private addresses as you need, each with a persona, a saved password, notes and every email, so anyone on the project can pick an account up later.
- **The code or link, ready.** It’s on the account’s row the moment the email lands, and the API and MCP server return just that, so tests and agents don’t parse emails.

## Try it on your next sign-up test

Free plan, no credit card. Create an address and watch the code or link arrive.

[Create a free account](https://app.proxymail.qa/?mode=signup)

## Questions

### Is Proxy Mail QA a Mailtrap alternative?

For testing sign-up and login emails, yes, but it works differently. Mailtrap catches mail your app sends to its SMTP server, so it suits checking templates in development. Proxy Mail QA receives mail sent to a real address, so it suits testing what users actually get, on staging or with a hosted auth service, by hand, in test suites or with AI agents.

### Can Mailtrap test emails from Supabase, Clerk or Firebase?

Only where you can change who sends the email, for example with a custom SMTP setting. Hosted auth services send from their own servers by default, so those emails never pass through a sandbox. A Proxy Mail QA address receives them the way your users would, with no change to your app.

### Does Mailtrap give each inbox an email address?

Its sandbox page says each sandbox gets its own email address on the higher plans, and its pricing page lists no sandbox address on the Free plan. Every Proxy Mail QA plan, including Free, creates as many private addresses as you need under fair use.

### Can I use both?

Yes, and many teams should. Mailtrap in development to check templates, HTML and spam scores without emailing anyone; Proxy Mail QA on staging, preview deploys and in CI to check that the real email arrives, its code or link works, and nothing points back to localhost.

## Related guides

- [Proxy Mail QA vs MailinatorPrivate inboxes for testers, test suites and agents, against the best-known public inbox and its automation plans.](https://proxymail.qa/compare/mailinator)
- [Proxy Mail QA vs MailosaurA free plan for testers, test suites and agents, against a paid platform built for automated email and SMS tests.](https://proxymail.qa/compare/mailosaur)
- [Proxy Mail QA vs MailSlurpTest accounts for people and code alike, against an API for creating inboxes, sending and SMS.](https://proxymail.qa/compare/mailslurp)
- [Proxy Mail QA vs testmail.appAddresses that last up to 30 days with codes on the row, against a low-cost API for test pipelines.](https://proxymail.qa/compare/testmail)
- [Proxy Mail QA vs Mailpit and MailHogReal inboxes on the internet, against free mail catchers you run next to your app in development.](https://proxymail.qa/compare/mailpit)
- [Proxy Mail QA vs Ethereal EmailReal inboxes that any app can email, against a free catch-all SMTP server for checking what your own Node.js code sends.](https://proxymail.qa/compare/ethereal)
- [Proxy Mail QA vs Gmail plus-addressingWhy one inbox and a pile of name+test addresses stops working for QA, and what to use instead.](https://proxymail.qa/compare/gmail-plus-addressing)

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Mailtrap is a trademark of its owner. Proxy Mail QA is independent and isn't affiliated with or endorsed by them.