b1gMail 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?
b1gMail
Complete email solution that runs on any webspace with PHP and MariaDB
VS
Postal
Complete mail delivery platform for outgoing email
| Feature | b1gMail | Postal |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | PHP | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | — | ★ 16,724 |
| First released | 2020 | 2017 |
| Replaces | — | SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark |
Why pick each one
Choose b1gMail if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in PHP
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is b1gMail or Postal better?
Neither is universally better. Postal has the larger community, while b1gMail is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are b1gMail and Postal free and open-source?
Yes. b1gMail is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Postal under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run b1gMail and Postal with Docker?
b1gMail: check the project docs for container support. Postal: yes.