Citadel vs mailcow
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories
— licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one
replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Compare Citadel with
choose an app… Calcom Calendar Nextcloud Docker Mailserver Mail-in-a-Box Stalwart Mail Server CryptPad Mailu ONLYOFFICE Docs Maddy Mail Server Mox Rallly Colanode Radicale Easy!Appointments Collabora Online Baïkal OnlyOffice Community Server SOGo WildDuck Twake Workplace iRedMail ZenTao Nextcloud Deck Cozy Dovecot Nextcloud Groupware Apache James Twake Drive Exim Davis Openmeetings LibreOffice Online Cyrus IMAP Postfix Calligra Suite EGroupware Group-Office Horde Groupware DAViCal Kolab Groupware Kontact Feng Office Kopano Groupware Core Tine Courier Mail Server Cozy Contacts
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 Sympa 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 Schleuder Dovecot Pigeonhole Kopano Groupware Core Tine DKIMpy Milter mpop Courier Mail Server Afterlogic DAV b1gMail Dovel EmailRelay Inboxen Sendmail Sendy SquirrelMail
Feature Citadel mailcow Category Groupware Mail Servers License GPL-3.0 GPL-3.0 Language C JavaScript Setup difficulty Medium Medium Min. RAM 512 MB 6,144 MB Deployment bare-metal, source docker GitHub stars ★ 100 ★ 13,245 First released 1987 2016 Replaces Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft 365 Microsoft Exchange, Google Workspace
Why pick each one
Choose mailcow if… All components preconfigured Active community mailcow details
Frequently asked questions Is Citadel or mailcow better? Neither is universally better. mailcow has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Citadel and mailcow free and open-source? Yes. Citadel is licensed under GPL-3.0 and mailcow under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Citadel and mailcow with Docker? Citadel: check the project docs for container support. mailcow: yes.