Group-Office 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 Group-Office 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 Modoboa Collabora Online Baïkal OnlyOffice Community Server emailwiz SOGo Twake Workplace iRedMail ZenTao Nextcloud Deck Cozy Nextcloud Groupware Twake Drive chasquid Davis Openmeetings LibreOffice Online Calligra Suite EGroupware Horde Groupware DAViCal Kolab Groupware Kontact Feng Office Citadel Kopano Groupware Core Tine 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 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 Group-Office mailcow Category Groupware Mail Servers License AGPL-3.0 GPL-3.0 Language PHP JavaScript Setup difficulty Medium Medium Min. RAM 1,024 MB 6,144 MB Deployment docker, bare-metal docker GitHub stars ★ 275 ★ 13,245 First released 2003 2016 Replaces Microsoft 365, Google Workspace Microsoft Exchange, Google Workspace
Why pick each one
Choose Group-Office if… Released under the AGPL-3.0 license First-class Docker support for quick deployment Written in PHP Group-Office details Choose mailcow if… All components preconfigured Active community mailcow details
Frequently asked questions Is Group-Office 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 Group-Office and mailcow free and open-source? Yes. Group-Office is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and mailcow under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Group-Office and mailcow with Docker? Group-Office: yes. mailcow: yes.