Mailu vs mailcow
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 Mailu with
choose an app… Nextcloud listmonk Docker Mailserver Mailspring Postal MailHog Mail-in-a-Box Stalwart Mail Server 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
Compare mailcow with
choose an app… listmonk Docker Mailserver Mailspring Postal MailHog Mail-in-a-Box Stalwart Mail Server Mautic Mailpit Mailpile Roundcube Himalaya SimpleLogin MailCatcher Maddy Mail Server Mox Mailtrain Haraka AnonAddy RainLoop imapsync smtp4dev NeoMutt Modoboa aerc 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 Lieer Cyrus IMAP OfflineIMAP Larch OpenSMTPD Postfix ViMbAdmin Chatmail Mailman isync MailWhale Afterlogic WebMail Lite afew Apache SpamAssassin Sympa Simple NixOS Mailserver EGroupware msmtp fdm Group-Office DragonFly Mail Agent Horde Groupware Claws Mail Fetchmail DAViCal HyperKitty Kolab Groupware piler Postorius Nullmailer getmail6 OpenDMARC OpenDKIM bogofilter Citadel Schleuder Dovecot Pigeonhole Kopano Groupware Core Tine DKIMpy Milter mpop Courier Mail Server Afterlogic DAV b1gMail Dovel EmailRelay Inboxen Sendmail Sendy SquirrelMail
Feature Mailu mailcow Category Mail Servers Mail Servers License MIT GPL-3.0 Language Python JavaScript Setup difficulty Medium Medium Min. RAM 2,048 MB 6,144 MB Deployment docker, kubernetes docker GitHub stars ★ 7,443 ★ 13,245 First released 2016 2016 Replaces Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 Microsoft Exchange, Google Workspace
Why pick each one
Choose Mailu if… Lighter than mailcow Kubernetes support Mailu details Choose mailcow if… All components preconfigured Active community mailcow details
Frequently asked questions Is Mailu or mailcow better? Neither is universally better. mailcow has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Mailu and mailcow free and open-source? Yes. Mailu is licensed under MIT and mailcow under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Mailu and mailcow with Docker? Mailu: yes. mailcow: yes.