Forwarding and aliases both let you use more than one email address with Hostinger, and that similarity is exactly why people mix them up.
I set up and tested both separately, including sending a real test email through an alias to confirm exactly where it ends up, since that’s the detail that actually matters when you’re deciding which one you need.
What’s the Difference Between Forwarding and an Alias?
Here’s the distinction in plain terms before either setup.
An alias is a second address for one mailbox; everything lands in the same inbox no matter which address it was sent to.
Forwarding redirects mail from one mailbox to a completely different address, somewhere else entirely, like a Gmail account.
| Email Alias | Forwarding | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Adds a second sending/receiving address to an existing mailbox | Redirects incoming mail to a different address |
| Where mail lands | The original mailbox, regardless of which address received it | The destination address you specify, not necessarily the original mailbox |
| Typical use case | Running info@, sales@, or support@ into one inbox you already check | Sending Hostinger mail to an external inbox, like Gmail, without logging into Hostinger separately |
| Requires confirmation | No | Yes, from the destination address |
With that distinction clear, here’s how to set up each one.
Step 1: Set Up an Email Alias
- In hPanel, go to Emails > Email Alias
- Click Create alias
- Under Select mailbox, confirm it shows the mailbox you want the alias tied to
- Under Enter alias, type the address you want, for example “info,” which becomes info@yourdomain.com
- Click Create
Once created, the alias shows up in a table listing your mailbox alongside every alias attached to it, along with a usage count.
Here’s the part worth actually confirming rather than taking on faith: I sent a test email from a separate account directly to the alias address, info@webhostpro.io, while the underlying mailbox is hostadvice@webhostpro.io.
The email arrived in the hostadvice inbox, showing info@webhostpro.io as the recipient address right there in the message header.
Email Forwarding and Aliases: How They Work
Step 2: Set Up Email Forwarding
Forwarding lives in a separate section, since it does something meaningfully different.
- In hPanel, go to Emails > Forwarders
- Click Create forwarder
- Under Forward all emails sent to, confirm the Hostinger mailbox address
- Under To email address, enter the destination, this can be any email address, including one on a completely different provider
- Leave Save copies of forwarded emails on if you still want messages to remain in the Hostinger mailbox too, rather than existing only at the destination
- Click Create
Unlike an alias, a forwarder doesn’t activate the moment you create it. It shows a status of Waiting confirmation, and Hostinger sends a confirmation email to the destination address, not the Hostinger mailbox.
Once that’s done, the status changes to Active, and new mail sent to the Hostinger address starts landing at the destination automatically.
This confirmation step exists to prevent someone from forwarding a mailbox they control to an address they don’t own without that address holder’s consent.
An alias and a forwarder solve two different problems that happen to look similar on the surface. An alias keeps everything inside one Hostinger mailbox under multiple names.
Forwarding sends mail somewhere else entirely, and requires the receiving end to confirm before it activates. Knowing which one you actually need before setting anything up saves a step of undoing the wrong configuration later.
Which One Do You Actually Need?
- Use an alias if you want multiple public-facing addresses, like info@, sales@, and support@, all landing in one inbox you already check regularly.
- Use forwarding if you want mail sent to your Hostinger address without checking Hostinger’s inbox at all, for example, routing everything to a Gmail account you already use daily.
- You can use both together, but not as a substitute for each other. An alias always stays tied to its original mailbox; it can’t independently forward somewhere else. If you want an alias’s mail to also land externally, you’d forward the underlying mailbox itself, which then applies to everything sent to any of its aliases too.
Troubleshooting
- Alias created but test emails aren’t arriving. Confirm the alias was tied to the correct mailbox when it was created, and check the mailbox’s spam folder before assuming the alias isn’t working.
- Hit the alias limit for your plan. Free and Business Starter plans cap out at 5 aliases per mailbox. Business Premium allows up to 50. Check your plan under Emails > Mailboxes if you’re unexpectedly blocked from adding another.
- Forwarder stuck on “Waiting confirmation.” The confirmation email goes to the destination address, not the original Hostinger mailbox. Check the destination inbox and its spam folder for an email from Hostinger.
- Forwarded mail isn’t appearing in the original Hostinger mailbox anymore. Check whether “Save copies of forwarded emails” was left off when the forwarder was created. Without it, mail only lands at the destination.
- Confused about which feature you actually set up. If mail from multiple addresses all shows up inside the same Hostinger mailbox, that’s an alias. If mail is landing entirely outside Hostinger’s email hosting, that’s forwarding.
