SHSelfHostIndex

Cyrus IMAP 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?
CY Cyrus IMAP Scalable IMAP and POP server for large deployments VS MA MailHog Email testing tool with a fake SMTP server
FeatureCyrus IMAPMailHog
CategoryMail ServersMail Servers
LicenseBSD-3-ClauseMIT
LanguageCGo
Setup difficultyHardEasy
Min. RAM1,024 MB64 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, sourcedocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 641★ 16,107
First released19942014
ReplacesMicrosoft ExchangeMailtrap

Why pick each one

Choose Cyrus IMAP if…

  • Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
  • Written in C
Cyrus IMAP details

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
MailHog details

Frequently asked questions

Is Cyrus IMAP or MailHog better?

MailHog is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Cyrus IMAP if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Cyrus IMAP and MailHog free and open-source?

Yes. Cyrus IMAP is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and MailHog under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Cyrus IMAP and MailHog with Docker?

Cyrus IMAP: check the project docs for container support. MailHog: yes.

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