SnappyMail 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?
SnappyMail
Lightweight, fast and modern webmail client
VS
MailHog
Email testing tool with a fake SMTP server
| Feature | SnappyMail | MailHog |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | PHP | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,670 | ★ 16,107 |
| First released | 2021 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Gmail, Outlook Web | Mailtrap |
Why pick each one
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
Frequently asked questions
Is SnappyMail 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 SnappyMail and MailHog free and open-source?
Yes. SnappyMail is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and MailHog under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run SnappyMail and MailHog with Docker?
SnappyMail: yes. MailHog: yes.