Claws Mail vs MailHog
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?
Claws Mail
Lightweight and fast GTK email client
VS
MailHog
Email testing tool with a fake SMTP server
| Feature | Claws Mail | MailHog |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | C | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 200 | ★ 16,107 |
| First released | 2001 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Microsoft Outlook | Mailtrap |
Why pick each one
Choose Claws Mail if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Choose MailHog if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 16.1k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is Claws Mail or MailHog better?
Neither is universally better. MailHog has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Claws Mail and MailHog free and open-source?
Yes. Claws Mail is licensed under GPL-3.0 and MailHog under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Claws Mail and MailHog with Docker?
Claws Mail: check the project docs for container support. MailHog: yes.