docker-mailserver vs Postal

Two self-hosted Communication - Email - Complete Solutions apps, compared on the facts we track: GitHub popularity and activity, license, language, Docker images and a rough hosting estimate.

Side by side

	docker-mailserver	Postal
Description	Production-ready fullstack but simple mail server (SMTP, IMAP, LDAP, Antispam, Antivirus, etc.) running inside a container. Only configuration files, no SQL database.	Complete and fully featured mail server for use by websites & web servers.
GitHub stars	19,721	16,923
Forks	–	–
Open issues	–	–
Commits (12 months)	116	18
Last activity	2026-11-02	2026-10-01
Latest release	v16.0.1 (2026-09-04)	3.3.7 (2026-06-03)
Maintenance health	Active	Active
License	MIT	MIT
Language / platform	Docker	Docker, Ruby
Docker Hub image	–	–
Docker pulls	–	–
Est. server size	~4 GB, 2 vCPU	~4 GB, 2 vCPU
Est. hosting from	$20/mo	$20/mo
Categories	Communication - Email - Complete Solutions	Communication - Email - Complete Solutions
Links	Website · Source	Website · Source

What the numbers say

docker-mailserver and Postal have a similar number of GitHub stars (19.7k vs 16.9k).
docker-mailserver had more commits in the last 12 months (116 vs 18).
docker-mailserver has more recent repository activity (2026-11-02 vs 2026-10-01).
docker-mailserver published a release more recently (v16.0.1 on 2026-09-04; Postal's latest is 3.3.7 on 2026-06-03).
Both are licensed under MIT.
Postal is written in Ruby; the language of docker-mailserver is not listed upstream.
Deployment options listed upstream: docker-mailserver: Docker; Postal: Docker.

Summary: docker-mailserver leads on commit activity and recent activity. The right choice depends on the features you need — read both project descriptions and docs.

This summary is generated from GitHub, Docker Hub and awesome-selfhosted data as of 2026-11-05. It does not rate features or quality.

Frequently asked questions

Is docker-mailserver or Postal more popular?

They are close: docker-mailserver has 19,721 GitHub stars and Postal has 16,923 (as of 2026-11-05).

Which is more actively maintained, docker-mailserver or Postal?

docker-mailserver had more commits over the last 12 months (116 vs 18). The last recorded activity was 2026-11-02 for docker-mailserver and 2026-10-01 for Postal. Our health labels: docker-mailserver is “Active”, Postal is “Active”.

What licenses do docker-mailserver and Postal use?

Both use MIT.

Can I run docker-mailserver and Postal with Docker?

We did not detect a Docker Hub image for either app. The upstream listing mentions Docker as a deployment option for docker-mailserver and Postal. Check each project's documentation for install options.