Best temp mail APIs
A temp mail API lets your code create a disposable inbox, poll it, and read the verification email — no browser, no shared mailbox. It is the backbone of automated signup tests, CI email checks, and OTP flows. Here are the services worth knowing in 2026, judged on API quality, what you can automate, and cost. We build EvilMail, so we list it first — but every entry gets an honest note.
Native key-based REST API with endpoints for creating inboxes, polling, reading messages and extracting one-time codes. Adds custom domains and permanent mailboxes on paid plans, plus per-language and per-service guides.
Purpose-built for QA teams with a mature, well-documented API and team workflows. Free inboxes are public; private inboxes and private domains are paid.
One of the best FREE developer APIs for temp mail — clean, well-documented, bearer-token auth, no ads. Its own domains only, and you parse messages yourself.
The biggest consumer brand, with API access primarily through RapidAPI. Good for quick integrations if you already live on RapidAPI.
A free GraphQL API with solid spam filtering. Inboxes are public (anyone with the alias can read), so treat it as low-security.
A long-running service with an older API and, unusually, the ability to send mail as well as receive. Its own domains only.
Q1What is a temp mail API?−
An HTTP API that lets software create a disposable email address, poll it for incoming messages, and read them — so you can automate email-dependent flows like signup verification and OTP checks without a real inbox.
Q2Which temp mail API is best for automated testing?+
For programmatic testing you want a native API, per-test isolation and easy code extraction — EvilMail and Mailinator are both strong here. Mail.tm is an excellent free option if you are happy to parse messages yourself.
Q3Is there a free temp mail API?+
Yes. Mail.tm and Maildrop offer genuinely free APIs; EvilMail and Mailinator have free tiers with paid upgrades for private inboxes, custom domains and higher limits.
Q4How do I extract a verification code via API?+
Read the message body over the API and run a regex (a six-digit OTP matches \b(\d{6})\b). Some providers, including EvilMail, offer dedicated extraction endpoints so you skip the parsing.