Postal vs Mailspring
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 Postal with
choose an app… listmonk Docker Mailserver MailHog Mail-in-a-Box Stalwart Mail Server mailcow Mautic Mailpit Mailpile Mailu Roundcube Himalaya SimpleLogin MailCatcher Maddy Mail Server Mox Mailtrain Haraka AnonAddy RainLoop imapsync smtp4dev NeoMutt Modoboa aerc Dittofeed Rspamd Keila emailwiz SendPortal WildDuck Mailvelope iRedMail Cypht SnappyMail Forward Email Cuttlefish DebOps swaks parsedmarc PostfixAdmin Dovecot 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 msmtp fdm DragonFly Mail Agent Claws Mail Fetchmail HyperKitty piler Postorius Nullmailer getmail6 OpenDMARC OpenDKIM bogofilter Schleuder Dovecot Pigeonhole DKIMpy Milter mpop Courier Mail Server Afterlogic DAV b1gMail Dovel EmailRelay Inboxen Sendmail Sendy SquirrelMail
Compare Mailspring with
choose an app… listmonk Docker Mailserver MailHog Mail-in-a-Box Stalwart Mail Server mailcow Mautic Mailpit Mailpile Mailu Roundcube Himalaya SimpleLogin MailCatcher Maddy Mail Server Mox Mailtrain Haraka AnonAddy RainLoop imapsync smtp4dev NeoMutt Modoboa aerc Dittofeed Rspamd Keila emailwiz SendPortal WildDuck Mailvelope iRedMail Cypht SnappyMail Forward Email Cuttlefish DebOps swaks parsedmarc PostfixAdmin Dovecot 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 msmtp fdm DragonFly Mail Agent Claws Mail Fetchmail HyperKitty piler Postorius Nullmailer getmail6 OpenDMARC OpenDKIM bogofilter Schleuder Dovecot Pigeonhole DKIMpy Milter mpop Courier Mail Server Afterlogic DAV b1gMail Dovel EmailRelay Inboxen Sendmail Sendy SquirrelMail
Feature Postal Mailspring Category Mail Servers Mail Servers License MIT GPL-3.0 Language Ruby JavaScript Setup difficulty Hard Easy Min. RAM 2,048 MB 512 MB Deployment docker, bare-metal binary, source GitHub stars ★ 16,724 ★ 17,730 First released 2017 2017 Replaces SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark Outlook, Apple Mail
Why pick each one
Choose Mailspring if… Released under the GPL-3.0 license Easy to set up — beginner-friendly Mature project with 17.7k GitHub stars Written in JavaScript Mailspring details
Frequently asked questions Is Postal or Mailspring better? Mailspring is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Postal if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Postal and Mailspring free and open-source? Yes. Postal is licensed under MIT and Mailspring under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Postal and Mailspring with Docker? Postal: yes. Mailspring: check the project docs for container support.