alot 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?
alot
Terminal-based mail user agent for notmuch
VS
Postal
Complete mail delivery platform for outgoing email
| Feature | alot | Postal |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Python | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 751 | ★ 16,724 |
| First released | 2011 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Mutt | SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark |
Why pick each one
Choose alot if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is alot or Postal better?
Neither is universally better. Postal has the larger community, while alot is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are alot and Postal free and open-source?
Yes. alot is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Postal under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run alot and Postal with Docker?
alot: check the project docs for container support. Postal: yes.