Mailman 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?
Mailman
Free software for managing electronic mailing lists
VS
Postal
Complete mail delivery platform for outgoing email
| Feature | Mailman | Postal |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Python | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 400 | ★ 16,724 |
| First released | 1998 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Google Groups | SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Mailman or Postal better?
Neither is universally better. Postal has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Mailman and Postal free and open-source?
Yes. Mailman is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Postal under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Mailman and Postal with Docker?
Mailman: yes. Postal: yes.