SHSelfHostIndex

Stalwart Mail Server 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?
ST Stalwart Mail Server Modern all-in-one mail server in a single binary VS SI SimpleLogin Open source email alias solution to protect your email address
FeatureStalwart Mail ServerSimpleLogin
CategoryMail ServersMail Servers
LicenseAGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageRustPython
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, bare-metaldocker
GitHub stars★ 14,059★ 6,896
First released20202026
ReplacesMicrosoft Exchange, Google Workspace—

Why pick each one

Choose Stalwart Mail Server if…

  • Single modern binary
  • Strong security defaults
Stalwart Mail Server details

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
SimpleLogin details

Frequently asked questions

Is Stalwart Mail Server or SimpleLogin better?

Neither is universally better. Stalwart Mail Server has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Stalwart Mail Server and SimpleLogin free and open-source?

Yes. Stalwart Mail Server is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and SimpleLogin under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Stalwart Mail Server and SimpleLogin with Docker?

Stalwart Mail Server: yes. SimpleLogin: yes.

Related comparisons