Best self-hosted communication - email - complete solutions
Simple deployment of [E-mail](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email) servers, e.g. for inexperienced or impatient admins.
We track 18 self-hosted communication - email - complete solutions projects. The median health score in this category is 63, against 6 projects rated healthy or better and 1 showing little recent activity. The table below is ordered by health score, not popularity — the most starred project in a category is frequently not the best maintained one.
| # | Project | Health | Activity | Stars | Built with | Last release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stalwart Mail Server All-in-one mail server with JMAP, IMAP4, and SMTP support and a wide range of modern features. | Thriving · 82 | 15k | Rust, Docker | 27 Sept 2026 | |
| 2 | Forward Email Privacy-focused encrypted email for everyone. All-in-one alternative to Gmail + Mailchimp + Sendgrid. | Healthy · 80 | 1.7k | Nodejs, Docker | 25 Sept 2026 | |
| 3 | Modoboa Mail hosting and management platform including a modern and simplified web user interface. | Healthy · 77 | 3.5k | Python | 17 Sept 2026 | |
| 4 | Mailcow Mail server suite based on Dovecot, Postfix and other open source software, that provides a modern Web UI for administra | Healthy · 76 | 14k | Docker, PHP | 21 Sept 2026 | |
| 5 | docker-mailserver Production-ready fullstack but simple mail server (SMTP, IMAP, LDAP, Antispam, Antivirus, etc.) running inside a contain | Healthy · 69 | 19k | Docker | 4 Sept 2026 | |
| 6 | Mailu Simple yet full-featured mail server as a set of Docker images. | Healthy · 68 | 7.5k | Docker, Python | 23 Sept 2026 | |
| 7 | DebOps Your Debian-based data center in a box. A set of general-purpose Ansible roles that can be used to manage Debian or Ubun | Steady · 67 | 1.4k | Ansible, Python | 14 Sept 2026 | |
| 8 | SimpleLogin Open source email alias solution to protect your email address. Comes with browser extensions and mobile apps. | Steady · 63 | 7k | Docker, Python | 23 Sept 2026 | |
| 9 | Mox Complete e-mail solution with IMAP4, SMTP, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MTA-STS, DANE and DNSSEC, reputation-based and content-base | Steady · 62 | 5.9k | Go | 19 Aug 2026 | |
| 10 | wildduck Scalable no-SPOF IMAP/POP3 mail server. | Steady · 61 | 2.1k | Nodejs, Docker | 22 Sept 2026 | |
| 11 | Postal Complete and fully featured mail server for use by websites & web servers. | Steady · 55 | 17k | Docker, Ruby | 3 Jun 2026 | |
| 12 | AnonAddy Email forwarding service for creating aliases. | Slowing · 51 | 4.9k | PHP, Docker | 2 Sept 2026 | |
| 13 | Mail-in-a-Box Turns any Ubuntu server into a fully functional mail server with one command. | Slowing · 46 | 15k | Shell | 26 Sept 2026 | |
| 14 | Maddy Mail Server All-in-one mail server that implements SMTP (both MTA and MX) and IMAP. Replaces Postfix, Dovecot, OpenDKIM, OpenSPF, Op | Slowing · 45 | 6.1k | Go | 23 May 2026 | |
| 15 | iRedMail Full-featured mail server solution based on Postfix and Dovecot. | At risk · 32 | 1.8k | Shell | — | |
| 16 | Simple NixOS Mailserver Complete mailserver solution leveraging the Nix Ecosystem. | Unrated | — | Nix | 16 Dec 2019 | |
| 17 | b1gMail Complete email solution that runs on any webspace with PHP and MariaDB. It supports POP3 catchall mailboxes and can also | Unrated | — | PHP | — | |
| 18 | Inboxen Lets you have an infinite number of unique inboxes. | Unrated | — | Python | — |
Which one should you run?
If you want the safest bet on longevity, Stalwart Mail Server is the best-maintained project in this category right now at 82/100. Forward Email is the closest runner-up (80/100) — see the side-by-side comparison.
A health score measures whether a project is alive and shipping. It does not measure whether it has the feature you need. Use it to rule options out, then compare on features.