Dovecot vs SOGo
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
SOGo
Scalable groupware server with webmail, calendar and contacts
| Feature | Dovecot | SOGo |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Mail Servers | Groupware |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | C | Objective-C |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,233 | ★ 2,143 |
| First released | 2002 | 2009 |
| Replaces | Microsoft Exchange | Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft 365 |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Dovecot or SOGo better?
Neither is universally better. SOGo has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Dovecot and SOGo free and open-source?
Yes. Dovecot is licensed under MIT and SOGo under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Dovecot and SOGo with Docker?
Dovecot: yes. SOGo: yes.