Self-hosted email
Open-source platforms that run on your own infrastructure. Trade operational ownership for independence from a vendor and the ability to keep all data in your environment.
Open-source email servers and platforms that run on your own infrastructure.
Best self-hosted email
Open-source platforms you can run on your own infrastructure.
Full ranking →- 01
Postal
Self-hosted TransactionalMost mature open-source SMTP-server replacement.
- 02
mailcow
Self-hostedFull Dockerized mail and groupware suite with admin UI, Postfix, Dovecot, Rspamd, and SOGo.
- 03
maddy
Self-hostedCompact all-in-one mail server with SMTP, MX receipt, IMAP, DKIM, SPF, DMARC, DANE, and MTA-STS.
- 04
Plunk
Self-hosted MarketingUnified marketing plus transactional in a single AGPL app.
- 05
Listmonk
Newsletter Self-hostedSingle-binary newsletter manager. Bring your own SMTP.
Best open-source email stack
A reference stack for teams that want to own every layer.
Full ranking →- 01
Postal
Self-hosted TransactionalOutbound and inbound delivery server.
- 02
mailcow
Self-hostedFull self-hosted mail and groupware suite with a strong admin UI.
- 03
maddy
Self-hostedCompact all-in-one SMTP, MX, IMAP, and authentication stack.
- 04
Listmonk
Newsletter Self-hostedNewsletter manager and broadcast.
- 05
Novu
Notifications Self-hostedNotification orchestration across channels.
Directory (8)
Ghost
Open-source publishing with built-in memberships and email.
Listmonk
Self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager.
Postal
Open-source mail delivery platform.
Plunk
Open-source unified email platform.
Novu
Open-source notification infrastructure.
maddy
Composable all-in-one mail server.
mailcow
Dockerized groupware and email server suite.
Cuttlefish
Open-source transactional email server with a web UI.
reading this as 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.
Applied to self-hosted email, that means weighing developer experience, SDK breadth, idempotency keys, and operating track record ahead of the rest, against password resets, receipts, and magic links shipped from application code.