MailHog vs Mailpit
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 MailHog with
choose an app… listmonk Docker Mailserver Mailspring Postal Mail-in-a-Box Stalwart Mail Server mailcow Mautic Mailpile Mailu Roundcube Himalaya SimpleLogin MailCatcher Maddy Mail Server Mox Mailtrain Haraka AnonAddy RainLoop imapsync smtp4dev NeoMutt Modoboa aerc Dittofeed Rspamd Keila emailwiz SendPortal WildDuck Mailvelope iRedMail Cypht SnappyMail Forward Email Cuttlefish DebOps swaks parsedmarc PostfixAdmin Dovecot 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 msmtp fdm DragonFly Mail Agent Claws Mail Fetchmail HyperKitty piler Postorius Nullmailer getmail6 OpenDMARC OpenDKIM bogofilter Schleuder Dovecot Pigeonhole DKIMpy Milter mpop Courier Mail Server Afterlogic DAV b1gMail Dovel EmailRelay Inboxen Sendmail Sendy SquirrelMail
Compare Mailpit with
choose an app… listmonk Docker Mailserver Mailspring Postal Mail-in-a-Box Stalwart Mail Server mailcow Mautic Mailpile Mailu Roundcube Himalaya SimpleLogin MailCatcher Maddy Mail Server Mox Mailtrain Haraka AnonAddy RainLoop imapsync smtp4dev NeoMutt Modoboa aerc Dittofeed Rspamd Keila emailwiz SendPortal WildDuck Mailvelope iRedMail Cypht SnappyMail Forward Email Cuttlefish DebOps swaks parsedmarc PostfixAdmin Dovecot 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 msmtp fdm DragonFly Mail Agent Claws Mail Fetchmail HyperKitty piler Postorius Nullmailer getmail6 OpenDMARC OpenDKIM bogofilter Schleuder Dovecot Pigeonhole DKIMpy Milter mpop Courier Mail Server Afterlogic DAV b1gMail Dovel EmailRelay Inboxen Sendmail Sendy SquirrelMail
Feature MailHog Mailpit Category Mail Servers Mail Servers License MIT MIT Language Go Go Setup difficulty Easy Easy Min. RAM 64 MB 64 MB Deployment docker, binary, source docker, binary GitHub stars ★ 16,107 ★ 10,067 First released 2014 2022 Replaces Mailtrap Mailtrap, MailHog
Why pick each one
Choose MailHog if… Released under the MIT license Easy to set up — beginner-friendly First-class Docker support for quick deployment Mature project with 16.1k GitHub stars MailHog details
Frequently asked questions Is MailHog or Mailpit 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 MailHog and Mailpit free and open-source? Yes. MailHog is licensed under MIT and Mailpit under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run MailHog and Mailpit with Docker? MailHog: yes. Mailpit: yes.