Dovecot Pigeonhole 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?
Dovecot Pigeonhole
Sieve mail filtering engine for Dovecot
VS
mailcow
Dockerized full-stack mail server suite
| Feature | Dovecot Pigeonhole | mailcow |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | LGPL-2.1 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | C | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 6,144 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 95 | ★ 13,245 |
| First released | 2008 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Gmail filters | Microsoft Exchange, Google Workspace |
Why pick each one
Choose Dovecot Pigeonhole if…
- Released under the LGPL-2.1 license
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Dovecot Pigeonhole 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 Dovecot Pigeonhole and mailcow free and open-source?
Yes. Dovecot Pigeonhole is licensed under LGPL-2.1 and mailcow under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Dovecot Pigeonhole and mailcow with Docker?
Dovecot Pigeonhole: check the project docs for container support. mailcow: yes.