Haraka vs smtp4dev
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?
Haraka
High-performance, pluggable SMTP server in Node.js
VS
smtp4dev
Fake SMTP server for development email testing
| Feature | Haraka | smtp4dev |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | C# |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,612 | ★ 3,941 |
| First released | 2011 | 2015 |
| Replaces | SendGrid, Mailgun | Mailtrap |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Haraka or smtp4dev better?
Neither is universally better. Haraka has the larger community, while smtp4dev is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Haraka and smtp4dev free and open-source?
Yes. Haraka is licensed under MIT and smtp4dev under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Haraka and smtp4dev with Docker?
Haraka: yes. smtp4dev: yes.