chasquid vs emailwiz
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted mail servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | chasquid | emailwiz |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 78 · Good | 25 · At risk |
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Shell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 977 | ★ 2,166 |
| First released | 2016 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Google Workspace | Google Workspace |
What are chasquid and emailwiz?
chasquid
chasquid is an SMTP server written in Go with a focus on being easy to configure and maintain for small personal mail servers. It handles message submission and delivery securely.
- Easy-to-configure SMTP server
- Automatic TLS via certificates
- SPF and DKIM support
- Lightweight Go implementation
emailwiz
emailwiz is a shell script that automatically configures a complete, secure email server with Postfix, Dovecot, Spamassassin, and DKIM on a Debian or Ubuntu system. It targets quick, opinionated setups.
- One-script mail server setup
- Postfix, Dovecot and SpamAssassin
- Automatic DKIM and TLS
- Opinionated, secure defaults
chasquid vs emailwiz: key differences
Chasquid is written in Go, while emailwiz is built with Shell. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for chasquid versus GPL-3.0 for emailwiz. Chasquid is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for emailwiz. Chasquid is the more established project (first released 2016), while emailwiz arrived in 2019. Emailwiz has the considerably larger community, at 2,166 GitHub stars versus 977. Chasquid lists first-class Docker deployment; emailwiz does not.
Why pick each one
Choose chasquid if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Watch out for
- SMTP only, needs IMAP separately
- Small personal-use focus
Choose emailwiz if…
- Fast to deploy
- Transparent shell script
Watch out for
- No webmail included
- Limited customization
Frequently asked questions
Is chasquid or emailwiz better?
Neither is universally better. emailwiz has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are chasquid and emailwiz free and open-source?
Yes. chasquid is licensed under Apache-2.0 and emailwiz under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run chasquid and emailwiz with Docker?
chasquid: yes. emailwiz: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, chasquid or emailwiz?
chasquid has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for emailwiz. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.