Mailspring 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 Mailspring with
choose an app… listmonk Docker Mailserver Postal MailHog 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 Postal MailHog 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 Mailspring Mailpit Category Mail Servers Mail Servers License GPL-3.0 MIT Language JavaScript Go Setup difficulty Easy Easy Min. RAM 512 MB 64 MB Deployment binary, source docker, binary GitHub stars ★ 17,730 ★ 10,067 First released 2017 2022 Replaces Outlook, Apple Mail Mailtrap, MailHog
Why pick each one
Choose Mailspring if… Released under the GPL-3.0 license Easy to set up — beginner-friendly Mature project with 17.7k GitHub stars Written in JavaScript Mailspring details
Frequently asked questions Is Mailspring or Mailpit better? Neither is universally better. Mailspring has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Mailspring and Mailpit free and open-source? Yes. Mailspring is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Mailpit under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Mailspring and Mailpit with Docker? Mailspring: check the project docs for container support. Mailpit: yes.