Keila 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?
Keila
Open-source newsletter tool for senders
VS
Postal
Complete mail delivery platform for outgoing email
| Feature | Keila | Postal |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Elixir | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,181 | ★ 16,724 |
| First released | 2021 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Mailchimp, Sendinblue | SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark |
Why pick each one
Choose Keila if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.2k GitHub stars)
Frequently asked questions
Is Keila or Postal better?
Neither is universally better. Postal has the larger community, while Keila is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Keila and Postal free and open-source?
Yes. Keila is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Postal under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Keila and Postal with Docker?
Keila: yes. Postal: yes.