Cypht vs SnappyMail

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?
FeatureCyphtSnappyMail
CategoryMail ServersMail Servers
LicenseLGPL-2.1AGPL-3.0
LanguagePHPPHP
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM128 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 1,672★ 1,670
First released20152021
ReplacesGmail, Outlook WebGmail, Outlook Web

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
Cypht details

Choose SnappyMail if…

  • Very lightweight
  • Actively maintained RainLoop fork
SnappyMail details

Frequently asked questions

Is Cypht or SnappyMail better?

Neither is universally better. Cypht has the larger community, while SnappyMail is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Cypht and SnappyMail free and open-source?

Yes. Cypht is licensed under LGPL-2.1 and SnappyMail under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Cypht and SnappyMail with Docker?

Cypht: yes. SnappyMail: yes.

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