Mox vs MailHog

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?
FeatureMoxMailHog
CategoryMail ServersMail Servers
LicenseMITMIT
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM256 MB64 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, sourcedocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 5,771★ 16,107
First released20232014
ReplacesGoogle Workspace, Microsoft 365Mailtrap

Why pick each one

Choose Mox if…

  • Very easy to deploy
  • Strong modern defaults
Mox details

Choose MailHog if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 16.1k GitHub stars
MailHog details

Frequently asked questions

Is Mox or MailHog better?

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

Are Mox and MailHog free and open-source?

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

Can I run Mox and MailHog with Docker?

Mox: yes. MailHog: yes.

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