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.
| Feature | aerc | Mailpile |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| 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 | ★ 8,816 |
| First released | 2019 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Gmail, Outlook | Gmail |
What are aerc and Mailpile?
aerc
aerc is an email client for the terminal designed for power users, with support for multiple accounts, embedded terminal, and a tab-based workflow. It handles IMAP, Maildir, JMAP, and notmuch backends.
- Terminal email client
- Multiple account support
- IMAP, JMAP, and notmuch
- Embedded terminal viewer
Mailpile
Mailpile is a free email client that emphasizes privacy, fast search, and built-in encryption. It runs as a personal web application that you host yourself.
- Fast local email search
- Built-in PGP encryption
- Privacy-respecting design
- Self-hosted personal webmail
aerc vs Mailpile: key differences
Aerc is written in Go, while Mailpile is built with Python. Licensing differs — MIT for aerc versus AGPL-3.0 for Mailpile. Aerc is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Mailpile. Mailpile is the more established project (first released 2013), while aerc arrived in 2019. Mailpile has the considerably larger community, at 8,816 GitHub stars versus 3,300.
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
Watch out for
- Development has slowed
- Single-user focus
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.
Which is lighter on resources, aerc or Mailpile?
aerc has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Mailpile. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.