Mailu vs Tine

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureMailuTine
CategoryMail ServersGroupware
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguagePythonHTML
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM2,048 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetesdocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 7,443★ 21
First released20162007
ReplacesGoogle Workspace, Microsoft 365Microsoft 365, Google Workspace

Why pick each one

Choose Mailu if…

  • Lighter than mailcow
  • Kubernetes support
Mailu details

Choose Tine if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in HTML
Tine details

Frequently asked questions

Is Mailu or Tine better?

Neither is universally better. Mailu has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Mailu and Tine free and open-source?

Yes. Mailu is licensed under MIT and Tine under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Mailu and Tine with Docker?

Mailu: yes. Tine: yes.

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