Sympa vs mailcow
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?
Compare Sympa with
choose an app… listmonk Docker Mailserver Mailspring Postal MailHog Mail-in-a-Box Stalwart Mail Server Mautic Mailpit Mailman HyperKitty Postorius Schleuder Mailman3
Compare mailcow with
choose an app… listmonk Docker Mailserver Mailspring Postal MailHog Mail-in-a-Box Stalwart Mail Server Mautic Mailpit Mailpile Mailu Roundcube Himalaya SimpleLogin MailCatcher Maddy Mail Server Mox Mailtrain Haraka AnonAddy RainLoop imapsync smtp4dev NeoMutt Modoboa aerc Dittofeed Rspamd Keila emailwiz SendPortal SOGo WildDuck Mailvelope iRedMail Cypht SnappyMail Forward Email Cuttlefish DebOps swaks parsedmarc Cozy PostfixAdmin Dovecot Nextcloud Groupware Apache James Nextcloud Mail chasquid Sup Betterbird imapfilter OpenTrashmail notmuch Sieve Editor meli phpList Exim alot alps Lieer Cyrus IMAP OfflineIMAP Larch OpenSMTPD Postfix ViMbAdmin Chatmail Mailman isync MailWhale Afterlogic WebMail Lite afew Apache SpamAssassin Simple NixOS Mailserver EGroupware msmtp fdm Group-Office DragonFly Mail Agent Horde Groupware Claws Mail Fetchmail DAViCal HyperKitty Kolab Groupware piler Postorius Nullmailer getmail6 OpenDMARC OpenDKIM bogofilter Citadel Schleuder Dovecot Pigeonhole Kopano Groupware Core Tine DKIMpy Milter mpop Courier Mail Server Afterlogic DAV b1gMail Dovel EmailRelay Inboxen Sendmail Sendy SquirrelMail
Feature Sympa mailcow Category Mail Servers Mail Servers License GPL-2.0 GPL-3.0 Language Perl JavaScript Setup difficulty Hard Medium Min. RAM 1,024 MB 6,144 MB Deployment docker, bare-metal, source docker GitHub stars ★ 310 ★ 13,245 First released 1997 2016 Replaces Google Groups Microsoft Exchange, Google Workspace
Why pick each one
Choose Sympa if… Handles very large list deployments Mature and feature-rich Sympa details Choose mailcow if… All components preconfigured Active community mailcow details
Frequently asked questions Is Sympa or mailcow better? mailcow is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Sympa if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Sympa and mailcow free and open-source? Yes. Sympa is licensed under GPL-2.0 and mailcow under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Sympa and mailcow with Docker? Sympa: yes. mailcow: yes.