# Forward Email review: KYC policy, privacy and safety grades

> 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.

Source: NoKYC Score, "Forward Email review", reviewed 22 Oct 2026, https://nokycscore.com/service/forward-email

## Key facts
- **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
- **Official website:** https://forwardemail.net

## What it 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 the terms say about ID
An account is needed to manage domains; the privacy policy mentions no identity documents.

## Features and warnings
- **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; No-logs policy: not stated; Independent audit: not stated; Company named: yes; 5+ years operating: not stated
- **Warnings:** May ask for ID: not in terms; Email required: yes; Phone number required: not in terms; Closed source: not in terms; Nobody accountable: not in terms

## 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.

## Sources
- https://forwardemail.net/en/privacy
- https://forwardemail.net/en/faq
- https://forwardemail.net/en/private-business-email

How grades are calculated: https://nokycscore.com/methodology