chasquid 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?
Featurechasquidmailcow
CategoryMail ServersMail Servers
LicenseApache-2.0GPL-3.0
LanguageGoJavaScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM128 MB6,144 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, sourcedocker
GitHub stars★ 977★ 13,245
First released20162016
ReplacesGoogle WorkspaceMicrosoft Exchange, Google Workspace

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
chasquid details

Choose mailcow if…

  • All components preconfigured
  • Active community
mailcow details

Frequently asked questions

Is chasquid 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 chasquid and mailcow free and open-source?

Yes. chasquid is licensed under Apache-2.0 and mailcow under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run chasquid and mailcow with Docker?

chasquid: yes. mailcow: yes.

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