aerc vs Mailpile
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted mail servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
| Feature | aerc | Mailpile |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,300 | ★ 8,825 |
| First released | 2019 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Gmail, Outlook | Gmail |
Why pick each one
Choose aerc if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (3.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Choose Mailpile if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Mature project with 8.8k GitHub stars
- Written in Python
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is aerc or Mailpile better?
Neither is universally better. Mailpile has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are aerc and Mailpile free and open-source?
Yes. aerc is licensed under MIT and Mailpile under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run aerc and Mailpile with Docker?
aerc: check the project docs for container support. Mailpile: check the project docs for container support.