Dovel 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?
Dovel
SMTP server that sends and receives emails according to a simple
VS
Postal
Complete mail delivery platform for outgoing email
| Feature | Dovel | Postal |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | LGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | 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 Dovel if…
- Released under the LGPL-3.0 license
- Written in Go
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Dovel or Postal better?
Neither is universally better. Postal has the larger community, while Dovel is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Dovel and Postal free and open-source?
Yes. Dovel is licensed under LGPL-3.0 and Postal under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Dovel and Postal with Docker?
Dovel: check the project docs for container support. Postal: yes.