I’m working with an email delivery service and noticed that all outgoing messages include branding text like ‘via [service-name].org’ in the email headers. This happens when I use their default testing environment.
I understand that setting up a custom domain with proper DNS configuration would solve this issue, but I don’t own any domains and can’t use my workplace domains for development purposes.
Is there a way to get a no-cost domain and DNS hosting just for testing email functionality? I only need it temporarily while building my application.
Alternatively, are there other email API services that don’t add their branding to messages sent through their platform? I’m looking for clean email delivery without any service provider identifiers.
Most email services add their branding on shared infrastructure, but you’ve got options. For free domains, try .tk domains through Freenom alternatives or Dot.tk directly. If you’re a student, GitHub’s student pack includes free domain credits. For email APIs without branding - Mailgun’s sandbox mode doesn’t show visible branding when testing. SendGrid’s free tier also delivers clean emails once you verify a domain. You could also use Gmail’s API for development, though it has sending limits. For DNS hosting, Cloudflare’s free tier works great with most email services and handles MX and TXT records. Just heads up - DNS propagation takes 24-48 hours, so factor that into your dev timeline.
Had this exact problem testing email notifications for a side project. The branding thing is super annoying for professional apps. AWS SES solved it for me - 62,000 emails/month free from EC2 and zero visible branding. You’ll need domain verification, but I grabbed a cheap domain from Porkbun for $2 and used Route 53 for DNS. Took maybe 30 minutes to verify. If you can’t spend anything, just use your personal Gmail through SMTP for dev testing. Emails come from your actual Gmail address with no third-party branding, though you’re capped at 500/day. Got me through the whole dev phase before I switched to proper domain setup for production.
freenom was pretty cool for gettin domains for free, even tho they kinda changed things. you might wanna check out namecheap for .tk or .ml, those are cheap. also, cloudflare’s free dns is solid for setting up your emails. hope that helps!