Cypht 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?
Cypht
Lightweight webmail aggregator for many accounts
VS
Postal
Complete mail delivery platform for outgoing email
| Feature | Cypht | Postal |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | LGPL-2.1 | MIT |
| Language | PHP | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,672 | ★ 16,724 |
| First released | 2015 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Gmail, Outlook Web | SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark |
Why pick each one
Choose Cypht if…
- Released under the LGPL-2.1 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in PHP
Frequently asked questions
Is Cypht or Postal better?
Neither is universally better. Postal has the larger community, while Cypht is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Cypht and Postal free and open-source?
Yes. Cypht is licensed under LGPL-2.1 and Postal under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cypht and Postal with Docker?
Cypht: yes. Postal: yes.