Postal vs SimpleLogin
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
SimpleLogin
Open source email alias solution to protect your email address
| Feature | Postal | SimpleLogin |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 16,724 | ★ 6,896 |
| First released | 2017 | 2026 |
| Replaces | SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark | — |
Why pick each one
Choose SimpleLogin if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 6.9k GitHub stars
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Postal or SimpleLogin better?
Neither is universally better. Postal has the larger community, while SimpleLogin is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Postal and SimpleLogin free and open-source?
Yes. Postal is licensed under MIT and SimpleLogin under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Postal and SimpleLogin with Docker?
Postal: yes. SimpleLogin: yes.