Open-source email alias service owned by Proton; self-hostable, crypto via reseller
Privacy 6.7
Safety 6.6
Email Aliases Reviewed 22 Oct 2026
Forward Email review
Open-source email forwarding and hosting that processes forwarded mail in memory
- Open source
- Company named
- Email required
No ID mentioned KYC 1 Documentation reviewed
Privacy
6.0/ 10
Fair
Safety
6.3/ 10
Fair
Based on terms and documentation. No test transactions published yet. See the arithmetic
Forward Email review in short
Forward Email is an email alias service. Its terms put it at KYC level 1 of 4: no ID mentioned. NoKYC Score grades it 6.0/10 for privacy (fair) and 6.3/10 for safety (fair). In its favour: open source and company named. To watch: it requires an email address. No incidents are on record.
- Category
- Email Aliases
- KYC level
- 1 of 4: No ID mentioned
- Grades
- Privacy 6.0/10, Safety 6.3/10
- Sign-up
- Email required
- Incidents on record
- 0
- Last reviewed
- 22 Oct 2026
Cite this review
NoKYC Score, "Forward Email review", reviewed 22 Oct 2026, https://nokycscore.com/service/forward-email
Also available as plain text.
What Forward Email is
Forward Email is an email forwarding and hosting service for custom domains, operated by Forward Email LLC. Its privacy policy says forwarded emails and their metadata are not written to disk or databases because forwarding runs in memory, and that logs and IP addresses are not stored apart from listed exceptions: error logs kept for seven days, server logs kept for up to thirty days and short-lived rate-limiting data. Mailboxes using IMAP or POP3 are stored in an encrypted SQLite database. The company describes its code as 100% open source and links to it on GitHub. Payment is by card or PayPal, and the FAQ says cryptocurrency is accepted as stablecoin payments through Stripe on Ethereum, Polygon and Solana.
What Forward Email offers, and what to watch
2 of 13 privacy and safety features, 1 warning in its terms.
"Not stated" means its own pages do not say.
Identity
- ID never required Not stated
- No account needed No
- No email needed No
- No phone number Not stated
Payment
- Accepts Monero Not stated
- Accepts Lightning Not stated
Access
- Tor onion address Not stated
- Works without JavaScript Not stated
Trust
- Open source Yes The code that matters is public and can be inspected.
- No-logs policy Not stated
- Independent audit Not stated
- Company named Yes The operating company and its jurisdiction are published.
- 5+ years operating Not stated
Warnings
- May ask for ID Not in terms
- Email required Yes An email address is required to use the service.
- Phone number required Not in terms
- Closed source Not in terms
- Nobody accountable Not in terms
Does Forward Email require KYC?
- 0 Never
- 1 Not mentioned
- 2 Rare
- 3 On risk flag
- 4 Mandatory
KYC level 1: No ID mentioned. No identity requirement appears anywhere in the terms or documentation.
An account is needed to manage domains; the privacy policy mentions no identity documents.
How the grades add up
Both grades start at 50 points and move by fixed, published amounts. Nothing is adjusted by hand. The total is divided by ten.
Privacy
6.0- Starting points 50
- KYC level 1: No ID mentioned +12
- Open source +2
- Requires email -4
- Total, clamped to 0–100 60
Safety
6.3- Starting points 50
- Open source +8
- Legal entity disclosed +5
- Total, clamped to 0–100 63
Test ledger
Real transactions run by our editors. A badge without a ledger is an assertion; this is the proof.
No test transactions published yet
The grades above rest on Forward Email’s terms and documentation. Tests will appear here with the date, route, amount band and result as they are run.
Incidents on record
No incidents are on record for Forward Email. If you have a documented case, report it.
User reviews
Reviews never change a grade. Reviews with a transaction reference are marked.
No reviews yet.
Write a review
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Forward Email: common questions
Does Forward Email require KYC?
Forward Email is rated KYC level 1 of 4 on this site: no ID mentioned. An account is needed to manage domains; the privacy policy mentions no identity documents.
Is Forward Email safe to use?
Forward Email has a Safety grade of 6.3 out of 10 and a Privacy grade of 6.0 out of 10. No incidents are on record. Evidence level: documentation reviewed.
Is Forward Email legit?
Forward Email is a working email alias service. It publishes the company that runs it. Being real is not the same as being safe: its Safety grade here is 6.3 out of 10, built from custody, liquidity, track record and incidents.
Is Forward Email a scam?
NoKYC Score does not label services as scams; it records documented incidents with their sources and outcomes. No incidents are on record for Forward Email.
Do I need an account or email to use Forward Email?
Email required.
Does Forward Email have a Tor onion address?
No official onion address was found on Forward Email's own pages.
Can I use Forward Email over Tor?
Forward Email does not publish an official onion address.
Listing history
- Listing added. Facts and KYC level set from the service's own terms and documentation.