aerc vs SnappyMail
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?
aerc
Efficient terminal-based email client
VS
SnappyMail
Lightweight, fast and modern webmail client
| Feature | aerc | SnappyMail |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,300 | ★ 1,670 |
| First released | 2019 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Gmail, Outlook | Gmail, Outlook Web |
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
Frequently asked questions
Is aerc or SnappyMail better?
Neither is universally better. aerc has the larger community, while SnappyMail is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are aerc and SnappyMail free and open-source?
Yes. aerc is licensed under MIT and SnappyMail under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run aerc and SnappyMail with Docker?
aerc: check the project docs for container support. SnappyMail: yes.