Mail in a box Mailinabox by mail-in-a-box

Mail-in-a-Box helps individuals take back control of their email by defining a one-click, easy-to-deploy SMTP+everything else server: a mail server in a box.

smtpemailmailserver
Verdict 68/100 health $4.13/mo cheapest, hetzner 4/5 setup difficulty Last release 16 days ago

Self-host Mail in a box Mailinabox on hetzner CAX11 for $4.13/mo.

Health score
68 /100
6-dim composite
Self-hosts from
$4.13 /mo
hetzner · CAX11
Difficulty
4 /5
OAuth / SMTP needed
GitHub stars
15k
1.5k forks

About Mail in a box Mailinabox

From the project's README at github.com/mail-in-a-box/mailinabox. Lightly cleaned for readability; for the full source see the upstream repo.

Mail-in-a-Box helps individuals take back control of their email by defining a one-click, easy-to-deploy SMTP+everything else server: a mail server in a box.

Please see https://mailinabox.email for the project's website and setup guide!

Make deploying a good mail server easy. Promote decentralization, innovation, and privacy on the web. Have automated, auditable, and idempotent configuration. Not make a totally unhackable, NSA-proof server. Not make something customizable by power users.

Additionally, this project has a Code of Conduct, which supersedes the goals above. Please review it when joining our community.

Health score breakdown

6-dimension composite. See methodology for formula and weights.

activity
63
maturity
85
community
77
security
85
sustainability
65
adoption
38

Adoption signals

Real-world usage data, pulled from each registry. The bigger the numbers, the more battle-tested the project.

SignalValueSource
GitHub stars 15k github.com/mail-in-a-box/mailinabox
GitHub forks 1.5k github.com/mail-in-a-box/mailinabox

Release & maintenance

Is this project actively maintained, or about to die? Check the recency of last commit and last release.

Project age12.7 yearssince Aug 2013
Last commit16 days agoApr 21, 2026
Releases shipped37last: 16 days ago
Security policySECURITY.mddeclared by maintainers

Self-hosting cost across providers

Detected requirements: 4GB RAM, 40GB disk minimum. Cheapest plan per provider that meets the requirement.

ProviderPlanSpecsMonthly
hetzner CAX11 2c · 4GB · 40GB $4.13 USD Deploy →
vultr VC2 1c · 1GB · 25GB $5 USD Deploy →
linode Nanode 1GB 1c · 1GB · 25GB $5.12 USD Deploy →
digitalocean Basic Regular 1GB 1c · 1GB · 25GB $6 USD Deploy →

What people say on Hacker News

Ready to self-host Mail in a box Mailinabox?

Spin up a hetzner CAX11 (4GB RAM, 40GB disk) for $4.13/mo and follow the project's official install docs.

Data last refreshed May 7, 2026.

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Frequently asked questions

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