HiddenAt / Compare
HiddenAt vs Cloudflare Email Routing
Cloudflare Email Routing is free and does the basics well: it forwards mail sent to your domain to your inbox. It's built for people who already run their domain on Cloudflare and are happy to write a little code for anything beyond simple forwarding. HiddenAt is a paid, managed service built around one job: seeing which address each sender used and shutting off the ones that leak. Here's how they compare.
| HiddenAt | Cloudflare Email Routing | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99/month or $29.99/year per domain | Free |
| Free plan | No free plan - 14-day free trial instead | Yes - free on every Cloudflare plan |
| DNS | Works with any DNS host - add two records | Your domain must use Cloudflare as its DNS (nameservers moved to Cloudflare) |
| Addresses | Unlimited - every address at your domain works instantly (catch-all), each with its own rules | Catch-all available; up to 200 custom address rules (more on request) |
| Forward one address to several inboxes | Yes | One destination per address; more needs an Email Worker (code) |
| Block or bounce one address | Yes - blackhole (silently delete) or bounce | Drop an address; bouncing (rejecting) needs an Email Worker |
| Rules per sender | Yes - forward, blackhole or bounce mail from one sender to one address | Block a sender from the activity log |
| Stats per address | Yes - message counts, last sender, senders and charts for every address | Domain-wide counts (received, forwarded, dropped, rejected) and a log of individual messages |
| Spam filtering | Yes - score headers, [SPAM] tag or block, chosen per domain | Blocklist and DMARC checks; its spam score header is experimental and not acted on |
| Largest message | 45 MB | 25 MiB |
| Buy a domain through the service | Yes - $29.99/year, set up for you | Yes - Cloudflare Registrar, sold at cost |
| Reply and send from an address | No - forwarding only | No - forwarding only (Email Workers can reply in limited cases) |
| Support | Email support from the people who run it | Community forum and developer Discord |
| Run by | A Canadian business (Ontario) | Cloudflare, Inc. (United States) |
Cloudflare Email Routing details are from their website as of October 2026. Plans change - check their site for current details. Prices in USD.
Choose Cloudflare Email Routing if…
- You want it free, and simple forwarding is all you need.
- Your domain already uses Cloudflare DNS, or you're happy to move it there.
- You're comfortable writing an Email Worker for bouncing, multiple inboxes or custom logic.
- You only hand out a few addresses and rarely need to look at who's emailing which one.
Choose HiddenAt if…
- You want to keep your DNS where it is - HiddenAt works with any DNS host, Cloudflare included.
- You want to see, per address, who's sending to it - so you know which company leaked it.
- You want to blackhole, bounce or forward per address and per sender, without writing code.
- You want spam filtered before it reaches your inbox, with a choice of how.
- You'd rather email a person for help than post on a forum.
Questions
Is Cloudflare Email Routing really free?
Yes. It's free on every Cloudflare plan, as long as your domain uses Cloudflare DNS. HiddenAt costs $2.99 a month (after a 14-day free trial) and adds per-address stats, bounce and per-sender rules, spam filtering and email support.
Can I use HiddenAt if my domain is on Cloudflare?
Yes. HiddenAt works with any DNS host. Turn off Email Routing in Cloudflare, then add HiddenAt's MX and TXT records in the same Cloudflare DNS page - your DNS stays with Cloudflare.
Why not just use Gmail's plus addresses?
Addresses like you+shop@gmail.com still contain your real address - anyone can remove the +shop part and email you directly, and some sign-up forms reject the + sign. A HiddenAt address like shop@yourname.com doesn't reveal your real inbox, and you can switch it off on its own.