MailCatcher vs MailHog
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted mail servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | MailCatcher | MailHog |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 72 · Good | 26 · At risk |
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,780 | ★ 16,167 |
| First released | 2010 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Mailtrap | Mailtrap |
What are MailCatcher and MailHog?
MailCatcher
MailCatcher runs a simple SMTP server that catches any message sent to it and displays it in a web interface for developers. It is a development tool for inspecting outgoing email without delivering it.
- Catch-all SMTP server
- Web UI for inspecting mail
- View HTML and plain text
- Developer testing tool
MailHog
MailHog is an email testing tool that provides a fake SMTP server for developers, capturing messages and presenting them in a web UI. It includes an API and chaos-testing features.
- Fake SMTP for testing
- Web UI and JSON API
- Chaos monkey testing
- Single Go binary
MailCatcher vs MailHog: key differences
MailCatcher is written in Ruby, while MailHog is built with Go. MailHog is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for MailCatcher. MailCatcher is the more established project (first released 2010), while MailHog arrived in 2014. MailHog has the considerably larger community, at 16,167 GitHub stars versus 6,780.
Why pick each one
Choose MailCatcher if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 6.8k GitHub stars
Choose MailHog if…
- Zero-config SMTP capture
- Handy web viewer
- Built-in chaos testing
Watch out for
- Development largely stalled
- Development use only
Frequently asked questions
Is MailCatcher or MailHog better?
Neither is universally better. MailHog has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are MailCatcher and MailHog free and open-source?
Yes. MailCatcher is licensed under MIT and MailHog under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run MailCatcher and MailHog with Docker?
MailCatcher: yes. MailHog: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, MailCatcher or MailHog?
MailHog has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for MailCatcher. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.