Mailu by Mailu
Insular email distribution - mail server as Docker images
About Mailu
From the project's README at github.com/Mailu/Mailu. Lightly cleaned for readability; for the full source see the upstream repo.
Mailu is a simple yet full-featured mail server as a set of Docker images. It is free software (both as in free beer and as in free speech), open to suggestions and external contributions. The project aims at providing people with an easily setup, easily maintained and full-featured mail server while not shipping proprietary software nor unrelated features often found in popular groupware.
Most of the documentation is available on our Website, you can also try our demo server before setting up your own, and come talk to us on Matrix.
Main features include: Standard email server, IMAP and IMAP+, SMTP and Submission with auto-configuration profiles for clients Advanced email features, aliases, domain aliases, custom routing, full-text search of email attachments Web access, multiple Webmails and administration interface User features, aliases, auto-reply, auto-forward, fetched accounts, managesieve Admin features, global admins, announcements, per-domain delegation, quotas Security, enforced TLS, DANE, MTA-STS, Letsencrypt!, outgoing DKIM, anti-virus scanner, Snuffleupagus, block malicious attachments Antispam, auto-learn, greylisting, DMARC and SPF, anti-spoofing Freedom, all FOSS
Health score breakdown
6-dimension composite. See methodology for formula and weights.
Adoption signals
Real-world usage data, pulled from each registry. The bigger the numbers, the more battle-tested the project.
| Signal | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | 7.2k | github.com/Mailu/Mailu |
| GitHub forks | 979 | github.com/Mailu/Mailu |
Release & maintenance
Is this project actively maintained, or about to die? Check the recency of last commit and last release.
| Project age | 10.3 years | since Jan 2016 |
| Last commit | 5 days ago | May 2, 2026 |
| Releases shipped | 148 | last: 10 days ago |
| Security policy | SECURITY.md | declared by maintainers |
| Funding links | 1 | declared by maintainers |
Self-hosting cost across providers
Detected requirements: 4GB RAM, 40GB disk minimum. Cheapest plan per provider that meets the requirement.
| Provider | Plan | Specs | Monthly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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
- IndyCar Officiating explains roots of Long Beach P2P failure
- Mail2github: Send Email and create files in GitHub with Email content
- Show HN: Prism – Self-hosted notification gateway for privacy
- MailVault Pro – Local Outlook email archive with sub-10ms FTS5 search
- Nostr Mail – Nostr Mail Documentation
Ready to self-host Mailu?
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.
Similar open-source projects
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