DragonFly
Small MTA for home and office use. Works on Linux and FreeBSD.
DragonFly vs Haraka
Two self-hosted Communication - Email - Mail Transfer Agents apps, compared on the facts we track: GitHub popularity and activity, license, language, Docker images and a rough hosting estimate.
Side by side
| DragonFly | Haraka | |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Small MTA for home and office use. Works on Linux and FreeBSD. | Fast, highly extensible, and event driven SMTP server. |
| GitHub stars | 266 | 5,633 |
| Forks | – | – |
| Open issues | – | – |
| Commits (12 months) | 12 | 94 |
| Last activity | 2026-08-30 | 2026-11-03 |
| Latest release | v0.14 (2025-01-03) | v3.3.5 (2026-10-17) |
| Maintenance health | Active | Active |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language / platform | C | Nodejs |
| Docker Hub image | – | – |
| Docker pulls | – | – |
| Est. server size | ~512 MB, 1 vCPU | ~1 GB, 1 vCPU |
| Est. hosting from | $3.5/mo | $5/mo |
| Categories | Communication - Email - Mail Transfer Agents | Communication - Email - Mail Transfer Agents |
| Links | Website · Source | Website · Source |
What the numbers say
- Haraka is more popular on GitHub: 5.6k stars vs 266 for DragonFly.
- Haraka had more commits in the last 12 months (94 vs 12).
- Haraka has more recent repository activity (2026-11-03 vs 2026-08-30).
- Haraka published a release more recently (v3.3.5 on 2026-10-17; DragonFly's latest is v0.14 on 2025-01-03).
- DragonFly is licensed under BSD-3-Clause, Haraka under MIT.
- DragonFly is written in C; Haraka in Nodejs.
- Our rough hardware estimate is lighter for DragonFly (~512 MB server) than Haraka (~1 GB); this is an estimate from the stack and category, not a benchmark.
Summary: Haraka leads on GitHub popularity, 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 DragonFly or Haraka more popular?
Haraka has more GitHub stars (5,633 vs 266 for DragonFly, as of 2026-11-05). Stars measure interest, not quality.
Which is more actively maintained, DragonFly or Haraka?
Haraka had more commits over the last 12 months (94 vs 12). The last recorded activity was 2026-08-30 for DragonFly and 2026-11-03 for Haraka. Our health labels: DragonFly is “Active”, Haraka is “Active”.
What licenses do DragonFly and Haraka use?
DragonFly: BSD-3-Clause. Haraka: MIT.
Can I run DragonFly and Haraka with Docker?
We did not detect a Docker Hub image for either app. Check each project's documentation for install options.
Read more
Haraka
Fast, highly extensible, and event driven SMTP server.
Browse all self-hosted Communication - Email - Mail Transfer Agents apps.