Afterlogic DAV vs Postal

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?
FeatureAfterlogic DAVPostal
CategoryMail ServersMail Servers
LicenseAGPL-3.0MIT
LanguagePHPRuby
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM256 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentsourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 2★ 16,724
First released20152017
ReplacesMicrosoft Exchange Web AccessSendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark

Why pick each one

Choose Afterlogic DAV if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • Written in PHP
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Afterlogic DAV details

Choose Postal if…

  • Great for application email
  • Strong API
Postal details

Frequently asked questions

Is Afterlogic DAV or Postal better?

Neither is universally better. Postal has the larger community, while Afterlogic DAV is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Afterlogic DAV and Postal free and open-source?

Yes. Afterlogic DAV is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Postal under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Afterlogic DAV and Postal with Docker?

Afterlogic DAV: check the project docs for container support. Postal: yes.

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