Mailu: simple yet full-featured mail server as a set of Docker images
Mailu is a self-hosted email tool. A simple yet full-featured mail server as a set of Docker images.
Why self-host Mailu
The case for running Mailu at home is straightforward: you get the full feature set, no subscription cost, and no data sitting on someone else’s server.
What it does
Mailu falls into the Email category of self-hosted software. It is designed to be deployed on your own infrastructure, whether that is a home server, a VPS, or a local machine running Docker.
Community traction
The project has 6k stars on GitHub, which is a reasonable proxy for how widely it is used. Active repositories tend to ship bug fixes faster and have better documentation than projects that stall after the initial release.
Deployment
Getting Mailu running usually takes under an hour if you have a working Docker setup. The official documentation covers the basic deployment steps.
Alternatives
If Mailu does not fit your needs, common alternatives include Gmail, Microsoft Outlook. The self-hosted versions of these tools often differ in resource requirements and feature focus, so it is worth testing the one that matches your workload.
Maturity
The current release is 2024.06.6. The project has moved past early development and tends to ship stable, documented releases.
License
It is licensed under MIT, making it freely available for personal and commercial use.
Links
For anyone already running a home server, Mailu is a natural addition. It handles email without requiring a paid subscription or an account with a third party.