Mailpit vs MailDev
Two local SMTP catchers: a single Go binary against an npm install that suits Node projects.
What matters for developers picking email infrastructure
The question here is which one a backend engineer would rather operate. That means SDK depth in the language already in use, whether a retry can safely be replayed, how much the event log tells you when a customer says the email never arrived, and whether the pricing curve stays sane as volume grows.
| Priority | Mailpit | MailDev |
|---|---|---|
| DX score | 9/10 | 6/10 |
| SDKs | None | None |
| Idempotency keys | No | No |
| Operating since | Not published | Not published |
| Event stream | No | No |
| Best published rate per 1,000 | Tiers not published in comparable form | Tiers not published in comparable form |
| Webhooks | No | Yes |
| Deliverability | Not applicable; capture-only. | Not applicable. |
| Free tier | Free, MIT-licensed | Free |
For a developer-owned stack running password resets, receipts, and magic links shipped from application code, the split is even: Mailpit takes developer experience, MailDev takes webhook coverage. Neither pulls ahead on this audience's priorities. On free tier, Mailpit offers Free, MIT-licensed against Free from MailDev. That ordering reflects this audience. Weigh the same table differently and the answer changes.
Side by side
| Feature | Mailpit | MailDev |
|---|---|---|
| DX score | 9/10 | 6/10 |
| SDKs | None | None |
| Webhooks | No | Yes |
| Deliverability | Not applicable; capture-only. | Not applicable. |
| Free tier | Free, MIT-licensed | Free |
| Tagline | Modern local SMTP catcher. | Node-based local SMTP catcher. |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Pricing model | self-hosted | self-hosted |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| SMTP | Yes | Yes |
| Templates | none | none |
| React Email | No | No |
| Inbound | No | No |
| Multi-tenant | No | No |
| Idempotency | No | No |
| Dedicated IP | No | No |
| Best for | Replacing MailHog in any local or CI email-capture setup. | Node-centric local development and CI. |
Mailpit
- ›Single Go binary or small Docker image with no runtime dependencies
- ›Reuses MailHog's 1025 and 8025 ports, so most existing configs work unchanged
- ›Views for rendered HTML, plain text, raw source, headers, and attachments
- ›Built-in HTML-compatibility check, link check, and spam-score view
- ›REST API and real-time inbox updates for automated tests
- ›Local development and staging only, not a production sender
- ›No hosted or shared team-inbox mode
MailDev
- ›Installs with a single npm install or docker run
- ›SMTP on 1025 with a web UI and REST API on 1080
- ›Optional webhook on new mail for CI assertions
- ›Relay mode can forward caught mail to a real SMTP host
- ›Vue UI renders modern HTML email less faithfully than Mailpit
- ›Release cadence is slower than Mailpit