Mail-in-a-Box vs Mailu
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?
Compare Mail-in-a-Box with
choose an app… Nextcloud listmonk Docker Mailserver Mailspring Postal MailHog Stalwart Mail Server mailcow Mautic Mailpit Mailpile CryptPad Roundcube Himalaya SimpleLogin ONLYOFFICE Docs MailCatcher Maddy Mail Server Mox Mailtrain Haraka AnonAddy RainLoop imapsync smtp4dev NeoMutt Modoboa Collabora Online aerc OnlyOffice Community Server Dittofeed Rspamd Keila emailwiz SendPortal SOGo WildDuck Mailvelope iRedMail Cypht SnappyMail Forward Email Cuttlefish DebOps swaks parsedmarc Cozy PostfixAdmin Dovecot Nextcloud Groupware Apache James Nextcloud Mail chasquid Sup Betterbird imapfilter OpenTrashmail notmuch Sieve Editor meli phpList Exim alot alps LibreOffice Online Lieer Cyrus IMAP OfflineIMAP Larch OpenSMTPD Postfix ViMbAdmin Chatmail Mailman isync MailWhale Afterlogic WebMail Lite afew Apache SpamAssassin Sympa Simple NixOS Mailserver Calligra Suite EGroupware msmtp fdm Group-Office DragonFly Mail Agent Claws Mail Fetchmail HyperKitty piler Postorius Nullmailer getmail6 OpenDMARC OpenDKIM bogofilter Citadel Schleuder Dovecot Pigeonhole Tine DKIMpy Milter mpop Courier Mail Server Afterlogic DAV b1gMail Dovel EmailRelay Inboxen Sendmail Sendy SquirrelMail
Compare Mailu with
choose an app… Nextcloud listmonk Docker Mailserver Mailspring Postal MailHog Stalwart Mail Server mailcow Mautic Mailpit Mailpile CryptPad Roundcube Himalaya SimpleLogin ONLYOFFICE Docs MailCatcher Maddy Mail Server Mox Mailtrain Haraka AnonAddy RainLoop imapsync smtp4dev NeoMutt Modoboa Collabora Online OnlyOffice Community Server emailwiz SOGo iRedMail Cozy Nextcloud Groupware chasquid LibreOffice Online Calligra Suite EGroupware Group-Office Citadel Tine
Feature Mail-in-a-Box Mailu Category Mail Servers Mail Servers License CC0-1.0 MIT Language Python Python Setup difficulty Easy Medium Min. RAM 1,024 MB 2,048 MB Deployment bare-metal, one-click docker, kubernetes GitHub stars ★ 15,385 ★ 7,443 First released 2014 2016 Replaces Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 Google Workspace, Microsoft 365
Why pick each one
Choose Mailu if… Lighter than mailcow Kubernetes support Mailu details
Frequently asked questions Is Mail-in-a-Box or Mailu better? Mail-in-a-Box is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Mailu if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Mail-in-a-Box and Mailu free and open-source? Yes. Mail-in-a-Box is licensed under CC0-1.0 and Mailu under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Mail-in-a-Box and Mailu with Docker? Mail-in-a-Box: check the project docs for container support. Mailu: yes.