Dovecot vs Citadel
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Dovecot
Secure, high-performance IMAP and POP3 server
VS
Citadel
All-in-one groupware, mail and collaboration server
| Feature | Dovecot | Citadel |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Mail Servers | Groupware |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | C | C |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,233 | ★ 100 |
| First released | 2002 | 1987 |
| Replaces | Microsoft Exchange | Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft 365 |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Dovecot or Citadel better?
Neither is universally better. Dovecot has the larger community, while Citadel is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Dovecot and Citadel free and open-source?
Yes. Dovecot is licensed under MIT and Citadel under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Dovecot and Citadel with Docker?
Dovecot: yes. Citadel: check the project docs for container support.