Mox 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?
FeatureMoxPostal
CategoryMail ServersMail Servers
LicenseMITMIT
LanguageGoRuby
Setup difficultyEasyHard
Min. RAM256 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, sourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 5,771★ 16,724
First released20232017
ReplacesGoogle Workspace, Microsoft 365SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark

Why pick each one

Choose Mox if…

  • Very easy to deploy
  • Strong modern defaults
Mox details

Choose Postal if…

  • Great for application email
  • Strong API
Postal details

Frequently asked questions

Is Mox or Postal better?

Neither is universally better. Postal has the larger community, while Mox is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Mox and Postal free and open-source?

Yes. Mox is licensed under MIT and Postal under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Mox and Postal with Docker?

Mox: yes. Postal: yes.

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