UNSENT · THE UNSENT PROJECT ALTERNATIVE

The Unsent Project alternative, for letters that stay private

If you are looking for an alternative to The Unsent Project, or other sites like it, start by deciding if you want anyone else to read your words. This page compares the two fairly, at the time of writing (October 2026), including when the original is the better fit.

Write one in private

To my first loveBegin To an exBegin To MomBegin To a friend I lostBegin To someone who diedBegin

Each one opens a blank letter with the moment already on the envelope. No account needed.

What one can sound like

To my mother-in-law, Linda

Linda,

You said the lasagna was "fine" and meant it as an insult, and I have been chewing on that for six years. I'm not going to say it to your face at Christmas.

I'll say this much: you raised a man who cleans up after himself, and I'm grateful. I just wish you'd stop correcting how I load the dishwasher.

I'll see you in December. I will be nice.

Beth

AN EXAMPLE TO BORROW FROM
MAKE IT YOURS

What happens to it

There's no send button. These letters have no address.

Fold it and keep it on your shelf, where only you can see it.

Or let it go. It's deleted for good.

How privacy works

If you're not safe right now

Free, confidential, any hour. Find a free line where you are.

Someone writing in a notebook while sitting on the grass — Photo: StockSnap on Pixabay

What The Unsent Project is

The Unsent Project was started in 2015 by the artist Rora Blue. At the time of writing (October 2026), people write an anonymous message to their first love, choose a color for it, and the message goes into a public archive that anyone can search by name.

It says it has received more than 5 million submissions, and most people find it through search. It is funded by advertising and a merch shop, and its rules ban under-18s and posting identifying details.

It is loved, and nothing on this page is an attack on it. It does one thing well: it lets strangers read what other people never said. For more, read our plain explainer, what The Unsent Project is.

EXAMPLE LETTERS

Letters to borrow from

We wrote these to show what a letter like this can sound like. Borrow a line, then make it yours: the small, true details are what make it land.

To the manager who let me go

Mr. Caldwell,

You told me on a Thursday, in a room with a dying plant, and you read from a card. I said thank you. I still don't know why I said thank you.

I trained three people in that building, and none of them know what I did to keep it running.

I'm not writing to be answered. I'm fine. I just wanted it written down somewhere.

Andre

AN EXAMPLE TO BORROW FROM
MAKE IT YOURS

To Dev, after a long silence

Dev,

It's been four years since your wedding and I never came. I told you it was work. It wasn't work. I was jealous, and I was ashamed of being jealous, and then the shame got bigger than the jealousy.

I miss you. I miss the stupid group chat. I don't think I can send this.

Isaiah

AN EXAMPLE TO BORROW FROM
MAKE IT YOURS

To Callum, with the names left in

Callum,

The back seat of your brother's Corolla. The mixtape with the tracks in the wrong order. Mr. Hendry's science class, where you drew a tiny horse on my hand. I left every name in because nobody is going to read this but me.

I loved you hard and badly at seventeen. I hope Ohio is treating you all right.

Nia

AN EXAMPLE TO BORROW FROM
MAKE IT YOURS

To Dad, on a Tuesday

Dad,

Nothing happened today. That's why I'm writing. I made your soup from the recipe in your handwriting and it came out wrong in the same way yours always did.

I still talk to you in the car. I don't think that counts as a letter, so here's a letter.

AN EXAMPLE TO BORROW FROM
MAKE IT YOURS

Websites like The Unsent Project, and what is different here

If you searched for sites like Unsent Project, or websites like Unsent Project, here is one option. Open When has a department called Unsent. It is not an archive, so it works differently in four ways.

Private by default. There is no send button and no address. You fold the letter and keep it on your own shelf on your device, where only you can see it. Unsent letters are never public, and they are never on the public shelf.
Delete any time. You can let a letter go, and it is deleted for good. At the time of writing (October 2026), The Unsent Project offers no way to delete a message once it has been submitted.
Any person, not only a first love. A parent, an ex, a boss, a friend you lost, someone who died, or who you used to be. At the time of writing, The Unsent Project is about first loves only.
A way forward. If one day you want a letter to reach them, you can turn it into an Open When letter.

It is free to write one, and no account is needed. An email is optional.

When The Unsent Project is the better fit

A private shelf is quiet on purpose. If that is not what you want, the original is a better home for your words.

You want to be read by strangers. A public archive means someone, somewhere, may read what you wrote. A private letter never will.
You like browsing. The archive is public and searchable by name, so you can read what other people wrote. A private shelf has nothing to browse.
Your letter is to a first love, and you want it in that archive. That is exactly what it is for.

If you do submit there, keep to its rules: it bans under-18s and posting identifying details. Because there is no way to delete a message at the time of writing, write the version you are comfortable having in public.

Other places for unsaid words

Sites like The Unsent Project are one kind of place for unsaid words. A few others, for context, as they stand at the time of writing (October 2026):

PostSecret. People mail real postcards with a secret on them, and a few are published each Sunday. It has run for more than 20 years.
The Drifting Post Office, in Japan. A real post office that holds letters to people who have died or cannot be reached.
The Wind Phone, in Otsuchi, Japan. A disconnected phone booth where people call those they have lost.

Each does something different from the others, and from this site. Pick the one that matches what you need: to be heard, or to be private.

How to choose

A rough guide.

Choose The Unsent Project if you want your words in a public archive and you are fine with them staying there.
Choose an unsent letter here if you want to say it without anyone reading it, keep the choice to delete, or write to someone who is not a first love.
Choose a postcard, a trip to Japan or a phone booth if the place matters to you more than the website.

You do not have to decide for good. You can write the private version first, then decide what, if anything, to do with it. The Unsent hub is the place to start.

IF YOU ARE STUCK

Questions that help you start

What would you write if you knew no one else would ever read it?
What did you leave out of the version you told other people?
What detail, a name or a place, do you want to keep that you would never post in public?
What do you want to say that you would not want a stranger to read?
What would you ask them, knowing the answer will never come?
Which part of this do you want to keep, and which part do you want to let go?
Who has never heard this from you, and what would you call them?

Open When never writes your letter for you. These are only here to get the first line down.

QUESTIONS

Questions people ask

What are some sites like The Unsent Project?

It depends on what you are looking for. PostSecret takes real postcards with a secret on them, and a few are published each Sunday. For letters to people who have died, the Drifting Post Office in Japan is a real post office that holds them, and the Wind Phone in Otsuchi is a disconnected phone booth. For private letters on the web, there is the Unsent department here.

Can you delete a message from The Unsent Project?

At the time of writing (October 2026), it offers no way to delete a message once it has been submitted, and every message is public. Think before you submit, leave out identifying details (its rules ban them anyway), and write only what you are comfortable having in a public archive. An unsent letter here can be let go, and it is then deleted for good.

Is there a private alternative to The Unsent Project?

Yes, in a different shape. Unsent letters here are private. There is no send button and no address, and the letter stays on your own shelf on your device, where only you can see it. You can let it go and it is deleted for good. Unsent letters are never public, and nobody at Open When reads private letters. It is free, and no account is needed.

Is The Unsent Project only for first loves?

At the time of writing (October 2026), yes. People write an anonymous message to their first love. If your letter is to a different ex, a parent, a friend, a boss, someone who died or yourself, it does not fit the project as described. Unsent letters here can go to anyone, so there is no rule about who it is to.

Which should I choose?

They do different jobs. Choose The Unsent Project if you want a stranger to be able to read your message in a public archive. Choose a private unsent letter if you want to say something without anyone reading it, keep the choice to delete it, or write to someone other than a first love. You can also write privately first and decide later.

KEEP READING

More letters like this

Letters unsent: write the one you cannot sendRead →What is The Unsent Project?Read →Letter to my ex: what to say when you cannot send itRead →How privacy worksRead →