SnappyMail vs WildDuck

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?
FeatureSnappyMailWildDuck
CategoryMail ServersMail Servers
LicenseAGPL-3.0EUPL-1.2
LanguagePHPJavaScript
Setup difficultyEasyHard
Min. RAM128 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 1,670★ 2,107
First released20212017
ReplacesGmail, Outlook WebMicrosoft Exchange, Gmail

Why pick each one

Choose SnappyMail if…

  • Very lightweight
  • Actively maintained RainLoop fork
SnappyMail details

Choose WildDuck if…

  • API-driven management
  • Horizontally scalable
WildDuck details

Frequently asked questions

Is SnappyMail or WildDuck better?

Neither is universally better. WildDuck has the larger community, while SnappyMail is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are SnappyMail and WildDuck free and open-source?

Yes. SnappyMail is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and WildDuck under EUPL-1.2. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run SnappyMail and WildDuck with Docker?

SnappyMail: yes. WildDuck: yes.

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