Postal vs OpenTrashmail
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?
Postal
Complete mail delivery platform for outgoing email
VS
OpenTrashmail
Complete trashmail solution that exposes an SMTP server and has a web
| Feature | Postal | OpenTrashmail |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Ruby | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 16,724 | ★ 919 |
| First released | 2017 | 2020 |
| Replaces | SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark | — |
Why pick each one
Choose OpenTrashmail if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in PHP
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Postal or OpenTrashmail better?
Neither is universally better. Postal has the larger community, while OpenTrashmail is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Postal and OpenTrashmail free and open-source?
Yes. Postal is licensed under MIT and OpenTrashmail under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Postal and OpenTrashmail with Docker?
Postal: yes. OpenTrashmail: yes.