mailcow vs Sendmail
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 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 Citadel Schleuder Dovecot Pigeonhole Kopano Groupware Core Tine DKIMpy Milter mpop Courier Mail Server Afterlogic DAV b1gMail Dovel EmailRelay Inboxen Sendy SquirrelMail
Compare Sendmail with
choose an app… listmonk Docker Mailserver Mailspring Postal MailHog Mail-in-a-Box Stalwart Mail Server Mautic Mailpit
Feature mailcow Sendmail Category Mail Servers Mail Servers License GPL-3.0 Sendmail Language JavaScript C Setup difficulty Medium Medium Min. RAM 6,144 MB 512 MB Deployment docker bare-metal GitHub stars ★ 13,245 — First released 2016 2020 Replaces Microsoft Exchange, Google Workspace —
Why pick each one
Choose mailcow if… All components preconfigured Active community mailcow details Choose Sendmail if… Released under the Sendmail license Written in C Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM Sendmail details
Frequently asked questions Is mailcow or Sendmail 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 Sendmail free and open-source? Yes. mailcow is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Sendmail under Sendmail. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run mailcow and Sendmail with Docker? mailcow: yes. Sendmail: check the project docs for container support.