I learned about Spamgourmet via a friend who has been using the service for more than 10 years. Even though I couldn’t create a new account on Spamgourmet (the registration is closed), I only heard nice things about this service.

The website seems out of date with its yellowish background and it’s indeed old: it has been running since 2000! The service is free and if people like it, they could donate or buy a T-Shirt. Spamgourmet is also open-source so anyone could run it on their server.

A simple, honest, transparent service like Spamgourmet is a great inspiration for SimpleLogin because of several reasons:

• email alias is a real need.

• no important change has arrived to this domain for a long time.

• if well done, running an email alias service is actually inexpensive.

Then I stumbled upon this sad topic. Josh, Spamgourmet maintainer got brain cancer at the terminal phase. It’s touching to see how people appreciate his works. I hope one day I would be able to create a service that has so much love from its users.

For those who might ask, is SimpleLogin a concurrent to Spamgourmet? Actually no because:

• Spamgourmet Alias (or address) is temporary by design: by default, an alias can only receive up to 20 emails unless you use the Advanced Mode. A SimpleLogin alias is designed as an email replacement and is permanent unless you delete it.
• Spamgourmet targets at “geeky” people, hence the technical feel of the website. SimpleLogin targets the general public.
• Spamgourmet goal is to avoid spams. While SimpleLogin alias also protects users from spams, SimpleLogin’s ambition is to offer an alternative to the “Sign in with Facebook|Google|Apple” button and make alias a complete replacement to email.
• Spamgourmet registration is now closed.
• And more importantly, the market is big enough for all email alias services. Most of the people I talk with don’t know about the existence of email alias and its benefit. Time is more spent on market education than competing with concurrences.

All the best to Josh.

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Update on Jan 20 2020:

• Josiah, Josh’s son has decided to step up and continue his father’s work of maintaining Spamgourmet.

Update on June 14 2020:

• Josh has passed away …
• SpamGourmet is now open to registration again.