afew vs Dovecot Pigeonhole
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?
afew
Initial tagging script for the notmuch mailer
VS
Dovecot Pigeonhole
Sieve mail filtering engine for Dovecot
| Feature | afew | Dovecot Pigeonhole |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | ISC | LGPL-2.1 |
| Language | Python | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 344 | ★ 95 |
| First released | 2011 | 2008 |
| Replaces | Gmail filters | Gmail filters |
Why pick each one
Choose afew if…
- Released under the ISC license
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Choose Dovecot Pigeonhole if…
- Released under the LGPL-2.1 license
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is afew or Dovecot Pigeonhole better?
Neither is universally better. afew has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are afew and Dovecot Pigeonhole free and open-source?
Yes. afew is licensed under ISC and Dovecot Pigeonhole under LGPL-2.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run afew and Dovecot Pigeonhole with Docker?
afew: check the project docs for container support. Dovecot Pigeonhole: check the project docs for container support.