DebOps vs mailcow
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?
Compare DebOps with
choose an app… listmonk Docker Mailserver Mailspring Postal MailHog Mail-in-a-Box Stalwart Mail Server Mautic Mailpit
Compare mailcow with
choose an app… listmonk Docker Mailserver Mailspring Postal MailHog Mail-in-a-Box Stalwart Mail Server Mautic Mailpit Mailpile Mailu Roundcube Himalaya SimpleLogin MailCatcher Maddy Mail Server Mox Mailtrain Haraka AnonAddy RainLoop imapsync smtp4dev NeoMutt Modoboa aerc Dittofeed Rspamd Keila emailwiz SendPortal SOGo WildDuck Mailvelope iRedMail Cypht SnappyMail Forward Email Cuttlefish swaks parsedmarc Cozy PostfixAdmin Dovecot Nextcloud Groupware Apache James Nextcloud Mail chasquid Sup Betterbird imapfilter OpenTrashmail notmuch Sieve Editor meli phpList Exim alot alps Lieer Cyrus IMAP OfflineIMAP Larch OpenSMTPD Postfix ViMbAdmin Chatmail Mailman isync MailWhale Afterlogic WebMail Lite afew Apache SpamAssassin Sympa Simple NixOS Mailserver EGroupware msmtp fdm Group-Office DragonFly Mail Agent Horde Groupware Claws Mail Fetchmail DAViCal HyperKitty Kolab Groupware piler Postorius Nullmailer getmail6 OpenDMARC OpenDKIM bogofilter Citadel Schleuder Dovecot Pigeonhole Kopano Groupware Core Tine DKIMpy Milter mpop Courier Mail Server Afterlogic DAV b1gMail Dovel EmailRelay Inboxen Sendmail Sendy SquirrelMail
Feature DebOps mailcow Category Mail Servers Mail Servers License GPL-3.0 GPL-3.0 Language Jinja JavaScript Setup difficulty Medium Medium Min. RAM 512 MB 6,144 MB Deployment bare-metal docker GitHub stars ★ 1,416 ★ 13,245 First released 2026 2016 Replaces — Microsoft Exchange, Google Workspace
Why pick each one
Choose DebOps if… Released under the GPL-3.0 license Active community (1.4k GitHub stars) Written in Jinja Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM DebOps details Choose mailcow if… All components preconfigured Active community mailcow details
Frequently asked questions Is DebOps or mailcow better? Neither is universally better. mailcow has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are DebOps and mailcow free and open-source? Yes. DebOps is licensed under GPL-3.0 and mailcow under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run DebOps and mailcow with Docker? DebOps: check the project docs for container support. mailcow: yes.