Comparison
PNTR vs Mailinator
Mailinator is the default answer for throwaway test email, and its free tier has one property people routinely forget: public inboxes are readable by anyone who types the address. Anything sent there — a password reset link, an OTP, an invite token — is visible to strangers. PNTR gives you a catch-all inbox on your own subdomain instead. Mailinator's paid tiers solve this too, starting considerably higher.
PNTR compared with Mailinator
| Feature | PNTR | Mailinator |
|---|---|---|
| Free inbox privacy | Tied to your subdomain and account | Public — anyone who knows the address can read it |
| Address shape | [email protected] (catch-all) | [email protected] on the public domain |
| Private domain | Your subdomain is yours on the free tier | Business plan, $79/month |
| Free retention | 48 hours | Public inbox messages are transient |
| Paid retention | 90 days on Premium | Permanent storage on Business tiers |
| Cheapest paid plan | $5/month or $48/year | $79/month ($948/year) for Business |
| API access | REST API, CLI, and MCP | API, webhooks, and routing included on free |
| DNS records and request capture | On the same subdomain | None — email only |
| Team seats and volume tiers | None | 5 to 10 seats, up to 300,000 emails/month |
Mailinator pricing and limits last checked on . Check their site for current terms.
Choose PNTR when
- You are testing a flow that sends an OTP, a magic link, or an invite token, and you do not want it publicly readable.
- You want the test inbox on the same hostname as your DNS records and webhook capture.
- You want to read the inbox from Claude or Cursor over MCP.
- You need a private address without paying $79/month for it.
Choose Mailinator when
- You need volume — Mailinator's Business tiers handle tens or hundreds of thousands of messages a month. PNTR has no comparable capacity.
- You need permanent message storage rather than a 48-hour or 90-day window.
- You need team seats and usage statistics.
- You want an established provider with commercial support behind your test infrastructure.
- You are running a large automated QA suite. Mailinator was built for that; PNTR was not.
Questions
- Are Mailinator's free inboxes really public?
- Yes. Public inboxes are the free tier's model — anyone who enters the address can read what arrives. That is fine for throwaway signups and a genuine hazard for anything containing a token or a reset link.
- Is the PNTR inbox private?
- It is tied to your subdomain and account rather than being openly readable. The subdomain namespace is guessable, though, so treat it as test infrastructure and do not route real personal mail through it.
- What does catch-all mean here?
- Any address at your subdomain is delivered — [email protected], [email protected], anything. You do not create individual mailboxes ahead of time.
- Can PNTR send email?
- No. It receives only. If your test needs to send or reply from the address, PNTR will not do it.
- How long are messages kept?
- 48 hours on the free tier and 90 days on Premium, after which they are purged.