mailcow vs Larch
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 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 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 Citadel Schleuder Dovecot Pigeonhole Kopano Groupware Core Tine DKIMpy Milter mpop Courier Mail Server Afterlogic DAV b1gMail Dovel EmailRelay Inboxen Sendmail Sendy SquirrelMail
Compare Larch with
choose an app… listmonk Docker Mailserver Mailspring Postal MailHog Mail-in-a-Box Stalwart Mail Server Mautic Mailpit
Feature mailcow Larch Category Mail Servers Mail Servers License GPL-3.0 GPL-2.0 Language JavaScript Ruby Setup difficulty Medium Medium Min. RAM 6,144 MB 128 MB Deployment docker binary, source GitHub stars ★ 13,245 ★ 616 First released 2016 2009 Replaces Microsoft Exchange, Google Workspace Hosted migration services
Why pick each one
Choose mailcow if… All components preconfigured Active community mailcow details Choose Larch if… Released under the GPL-2.0 license Written in Ruby Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM Larch details
Frequently asked questions Is mailcow or Larch 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 mailcow and Larch free and open-source? Yes. mailcow is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Larch under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run mailcow and Larch with Docker? mailcow: yes. Larch: check the project docs for container support.