---
title: "Proxy Mail QA vs testmail.app: email testing compared · Proxy Mail QA"
description: "testmail.app is a low-cost email API for automated tests, with tagged addresses on a shared namespace. Proxy Mail QA is a free web app for testing sign-up and login emails by hand."
url: https://proxymail.qa/compare/testmail
---

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

# Proxy Mail QA vs testmail.app

testmail.app gives your automated tests unlimited addresses on a namespace (namespace.tag@inbox.testmail.app) and a JSON or GraphQL API to read them. Proxy Mail QA gives people private addresses with the code or link on each account's row.

Updated October 12, 2026

Prices and limits below are from testmail.app’s pricing page on 12 October 2026\. Check it for current details.

## At a glance

|                      | Proxy Mail QA                                                                    | testmail.app                                                                                     |
| -------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Built for            | Testing email flows by hand                                                      | Reading email from automated tests                                                               |
| Addresses            | Random, custom or persona names on mailclub.dev or enable.li                     | namespace.tag@inbox.testmail.app; any tag works without setup                                    |
| Free                 | The whole product under fair use                                                 | 100 emails a month, kept 1 day                                                                   |
| Paid                 | Team plan coming soon                                                            | Essential $9 a month billed yearly ($12 monthly); Pro $29 ($39 monthly); more for higher volumes |
| How long mail stays  | 1 to 30 days, as you choose                                                      | Free: 1 day. Essential: 1 to 3 days. Pro: 1 to 30 days                                           |
| Codes and links      | Shown on each account’s row, and returned on their own by the API and MCP server | You read the message through the API                                                             |
| Test account details | Personas, notes, tags, encrypted saved passwords, QA reports                     | Not the focus                                                                                    |
| API                  | REST API that waits for the code or link, and an MCP server                      | JSON and GraphQL, with live queries                                                              |

## Where testmail.app is the better choice

- **High-volume automated tests** on a tight budget, where code creates the address and reads the email.
- **GraphQL and very high volumes.** Its paid plans go up to millions of emails a month, queried with JSON or GraphQL.

## Where Proxy Mail QA is the better choice

- **Manual and exploratory testing,** where the tester needs the code or link the moment it lands, without writing a query.
- **Longer-lived test accounts on the free plan.** Keep an address and its mail for up to 30 days, with the persona, password, notes and tags that explain what it was for.
- **Addresses that look like real people’s.** Use a generated persona’s username as the address, for sign-up forms that reject obviously generated ones.

## 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 testmail.app free?

Its pricing page lists a free plan with 100 emails a month kept for 1 day. Paid plans start at $9 a month billed yearly. Proxy Mail QA's Free plan includes around 500 incoming emails a day under fair use, kept for as long as the address lives, up to 30 days during the beta.

### Does Proxy Mail QA have tags like testmail.app?

Yes, in two ways: plus tags (name+run2@mailclub.dev arrives in name@mailclub.dev with the tag shown) and tags you add to an address, such as youth or staging, which become filters.

### Can my tests read Proxy Mail QA addresses?

Yes. GET /v1/addresses/{address}/code waits up to 30 seconds for the code and returns it on its own, and coding agents can use the MCP server. Both are on the Free plan.

## Related guides

- [Proxy Mail QA vs MailinatorPrivate inboxes for manual QA, against the best-known public inbox and its automation plans.](https://proxymail.qa/compare/mailinator)
- [Proxy Mail QA vs MailosaurA free tool for testers working by hand, against a paid platform built for automated email and SMS tests.](https://proxymail.qa/compare/mailosaur)
- [Proxy Mail QA vs MailSlurpReady-made test accounts in a web app, against an API for creating inboxes, sending and SMS.](https://proxymail.qa/compare/mailslurp)
- [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)

[See every email testing problem we solve →](https://proxymail.qa/solve)

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