In a hurry?
The best alternative ID tool in 2025, as found in our independent testing, is Surfshark Alternative ID!
In programmatic advertising, identity technologies have long relied on user data and third-party cookies for over 80% of non-premium publishers’ ad revenue.
However, Google’s plan to phase out third-party cookies in Chrome, along with Safari and Firefox blocking them, puts up to $10 billion of US publisher revenue at risk.
A growing ID tech industry has emerged, facing regulatory concerns, offering privacy-friendly identifiers.
These allow publishers to use user-volunteered first-party data without compromising privacy.
These first-party IDs can be matched with advertiser-created IDs for ad placements in tools like DSPs.
This guide highlights the 7 best alternative ID tools, exploring their workings and suitability for users as the identity space evolves.
7 Best Alternative ID Tools in 2025
1. Surfshark Alternative ID
Surfshark has launched Alternative ID, a unique product that goes beyond traditional online identity protection.
This cutting-edge application not only creates a new online persona but also assigns a unique email address for your internet activities.
Alternative ID allows users to easily create another email address and link it to their primary one, providing an extra degree of security for their identity while enrolling on various websites and online platforms.
This additional function offers thorough protection of your personal information, providing you peace of mind in an ever-changing digital context.
What Can it Perform?
When you join up for a website, you are generally required to reveal your email address; however, Alternative ID can help.
This program allows you to create an alternate identity with a different name, date of birth, and address.
It allows you to create a new email address and link it to your existing one.
As a result, all login, two-factor authentication, and verification emails will be delivered to your primary inbox.
This procedure assures that your authentic email address and personal information are kept private, even in the case of a website breach.
Using Alternative ID increases the security of your online identity, giving you more peace of mind in your digital activities.
2. Burner Mail
The idea of using a temporary email address service has been around for a long time.
It is a fantastic way to protect your privacy.
This method eliminates the need to give your actual email address.
If a recipient misuses one of your temporary email addresses, you can disconnect it.
Burner Mail, a Chrome and Firefox plugin, automates the establishment of “burner addresses” for you.
Furthermore, it makes it easier to suspend or delete an address, which is especially useful when it has been sold to a spammer.
What Can it Perform?
Burner Mail, as a dedicated service, offers individuals a secure and user-friendly alternative for protecting their identity.
Burner Mail’s fundamental objective is to provide a dependable method for users to avoid disclosing their email addresses online.
Burner Mail’s revolutionary features allow users to view their emails in their personal inboxes while adding an extra layer of security.
The program protects customers from possible dangers and allows them to detect and block attempts to sell their email addresses proactively.
Furthermore, Burner Mail streamlines the process of dealing with spam by providing an easy tool for blocking senders, improving users’ overall online privacy.
3. Fabrick ID
Fabrick ID is a programmatic token that incorporates various PII from publishers and is intended to be used instead of cookies.
Clients use Fabrick ID to construct marketing campaigns that target either households or individuals.
Neustar measures campaign performance using Fabrick ID and other identifiers.
What Can it Perform?
Neustar converts user information from publishers into a token known as the Fabrick ID and returns it to the publisher.
This publisher-specific token supports connection with Neustar’s connectivity infrastructure, sometimes known as “Fabrick,” which enables programmatic media sales.
The software effortlessly links any other IDs the publisher uses to Fabrick ID and provides measuring tools.
It is vital to highlight that Neustar does not construct or allow clients to create mapping tables.
4. Unified ID 2.0
Using the user’s email address, UID 2.0 is a safe solution that benefits advertisers and publishers alike.
This decentralized, open-source project, not owned by The Trade Desk, provides a more efficient mechanism for securely matching IDs.
There are two kinds of UID 2.0: the UID 2.0 token, which is created using cryptography to convert an email address, and the decrypted UID 2.0, which acts as the actual identifier for transactions between publishers and advertisers.
What Can it Perform?
UID 2.0 gives a secure means for publishers and advertisers to target advertising to users by assigning them a hidden ID that can fit in the bid stream.
Advertisers and publishers must have the same email address to create a match.
The ID does not include data; instead, it is shared as a code.
The usual bid request does, however, include information such as the ID’s origin location.
It’s vital to stress that UID 2.0 isn’t an ID resolution platform, and it doesn’t use fingerprinting or concealed tracking.
5. Panorama ID
Panorama ID serves as a privacy-conscious predictive identifier based on user consent gained from creators and the Prebid security module.
It enables first-party advertisers and creator clients to display advertisements in a security-friendly manner.
Panorama ID, which uses numerous user data points, can be deployed across SSPs and DSPs to align with advertisements and other identifiers.
Importantly, it avoids monitoring people across several publisher websites to establish links.
Panorama ID enhances cookie functionality by ensuring privacy compliance and seamless operation across domains and platforms at the personal level.
What Can it Perform?
Panorama ID generates a unique user identity using predictive signals, but only if the user has actively granted approval.
It works seamlessly across many publisher domains, collecting data points from browser behaviors and devices to create an ID.
This ID can then be matched with other identifiers in the bid stream to run targeted adverts in real-time.
6. Ramp ID
Ramp ID is a people-based identification system that prioritizes user privacy by using verifiable offline data such as email addresses, postal addresses, names, and phone numbers.
This ID can connect with IDs kept by credible publishers, such as Facebook and Google, via smooth interfaces.
It helps conduct direct open Internet transactions and activate private marketplaces.
Once a Ramp ID is generated, LiveRamp enables cookie synchronization across the industry by using standard technology to establish matches in DSPs.
For example, it may match cookies from The Trade Desk or MediaMath.
What Can it Perform?
Publishers and marketers can use LiveRamp’s Authenticated Traffic Solutions (ATS) service, which allows them to connect with a user’s offline identification for enhancement and anonymization, simplifying large-scale matching.
Importantly, our service does not collect, store, or improve email addresses provided by publishers.
7. nonID
NonID is a secure identifying token based on publisher email addresses.
LiveIntent, the parent firm, inserts adverts inside publisher emails and collects large volumes of subscriber email or “zero-party” data to build an identity graph.
LiveIntent provides an entire platform that includes an SSP, exchange, and DSP.
External DSPs link smoothly to its exchange, allowing for secure and scalable matching of nonIDs with newsletter advertisements and other identifiers.
What Can it Perform?
NonID helps publishers collect together user identities and associate them with various identifiers.
It also provides publishers with user information, allowing them to improve consumer interaction and insert advertisements into their newsletters.
Publishers can use LiveIntent’s identity graph to create personal customer graphs, ensuring that they are totally first-party in nature.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is An ID Alternative?
Alternative ID records serve as repositories for participant identification details, like passport and national insurance numbers.
Typically, organizations employ these identification records to recognize and locate participants.
How Does ID Work?
This operates by analyzing the information submitted by an individual, whether it’s a document like a passport or biometric data such as a photograph of their face, and cross-referencing it with a validated dataset.
This dataset may encompass government records, credit references, or even mobile data.
What Is Identity Resolution?
Identity resolution is a data management procedure that connects a customer’s online actions to their distinct identity by collecting diverse sets of data and recognizing less apparent relationships.
Conclusion
In the realm of programmatic advertising, the reliance on user data and third-party cookies for non-premium publishers’ ad revenue has been significant, constituting over 80% of their income.
The impending phase-out of third-party cookies by significant browsers, spearheaded by Google, poses a substantial threat, potentially jeopardizing up to $10 billion of US publisher revenue.
In response to regulatory concerns, the ID tech industry has flourished, introducing privacy-friendly alternatives.
These alternatives empower publishers to utilize user-volunteered first-party data without compromising privacy, as highlighted by the guide featuring the 7 best alternative ID tools.
Each tool, such as Surfshark Alternative ID and Burner Mail, addresses the evolving challenges of the programmatic advertising landscape, prioritizing user privacy and secure ad placements.
This comprehensive exploration underscores the industry’s adaptability and commitment to user-centric privacy solutions.
Written by Trevor Cooke
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