Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

iRedMail VS Modoboa

Compare iRedMail VS Modoboa and see what are their differences

iRedMail logo iRedMail

A fully fledged, free email server solution, an open source project (GPL v2).

Modoboa logo Modoboa

Modoboa is a mail hosting and management platform including a modern and simplified Web User Interface.
  • iRedMail Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-10-18
  • Modoboa Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-08-05

iRedMail features and specs

  • Open Source
    iRedMail is open source, which means it is free to use and its source code is available for anyone to inspect, modify, and enhance.
  • Comprehensive Features
    Includes a wide range of features such as anti-spam, anti-virus, webmail, and support for multiple domains and mailboxes, providing a complete email server solution.
  • Easy Installation
    Offers a straightforward installation process with a well-documented guide, making it accessible even for users with limited server management experience.
  • Excellent Documentation
    Comes with thorough and clear documentation that helps users set up, configure, and troubleshoot the mail server.
  • Strong Community Support
    An active community and forum that can provide support and assist with common issues and best practices.
  • Security Features
    Integrates robust security features, including SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and SSL/TLS, helping to protect against email spoofing and ensuring email privacy.

Possible disadvantages of iRedMail

  • Resource Intensive
    Can be resource-intensive, requiring significant server resources, which might not be ideal for small-scale deployments or low-power servers.
  • Learning Curve
    The complexity of the mail server can present a steep learning curve for new users, especially those unfamiliar with email server configurations.
  • Limited GUI Options
    While it includes a basic web interface, advanced configuration and management typically require command-line proficiency, which can be challenging for non-technical users.
  • Manual Upgrades
    Requires manual interventions for upgrades and updates, which can be time-consuming and risk potential downtimes if not handled correctly.
  • Support Costs
    While the software itself is free, businesses might need to invest in professional support for complex configurations or troubleshooting, which can incur additional costs.
  • Potential Compatibility Issues
    Compatibility with certain third-party software or custom configurations might require additional tweaks, posing potential challenges during integration.

Modoboa features and specs

  • Open Source
    Modoboa is open source, which means it is free to use and can be customized to suit specific needs, making it a cost-effective solution for email hosting.
  • Integration
    It offers seamless integration with many tools and protocols like Postfix, Dovecot, Amavis, and Let's Encrypt, allowing for a comprehensive email system.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    Modoboa provides an intuitive web-based interface that makes it easy for administrators to manage email accounts, domains, and other settings.
  • Mail Security
    It includes security features such as spam filtering and virus protection, enhancing the security of hosted emails.
  • Scalability
    Modoboa is scalable, allowing it to handle small to medium-sized email systems effectively.

Possible disadvantages of Modoboa

  • Installation Complexity
    Setting up Modoboa can be complicated for less experienced users, requiring a good understanding of Linux systems and email protocols.
  • Limited Community Support
    The community around Modoboa is not as large as other open-source projects, which might limit quick access to help and resources.
  • Documentation
    While documentation exists, it might not be as comprehensive or detailed, potentially making troubleshooting more challenging.
  • Resource Intensive
    Modoboa can be resource-heavy, requiring a well-configured server to run optimally, particularly under heavy load.
  • Feature Limitations
    While it covers most essential features for email hosting, some advanced features found in commercial products may be lacking.

Analysis of iRedMail

Overall verdict

  • iRedMail is considered a good and reliable choice for those needing a robust mail server solution. It offers excellent value for small to medium-sized businesses or individuals who need an open-source alternative. Its comprehensive features and active community support make it highly effective for managing email services at a low cost.

Why this product is good

  • iRedMail is a popular open-source mail server solution due to its comprehensive feature set, ease of installation, and strong community support. It integrates seamlessly with major Linux distributions and offers a wide range of features including anti-spam, webmail, and SSL encryption. Its all-in-one nature helps simplify the deployment and maintenance of a full-featured mail server.

Recommended for

    iRedMail is recommended for small to medium-sized businesses, educational institutions, and tech-savvy individuals seeking a cost-effective, fully-featured mail server solution. It's ideal for users who want control over their email infrastructure and prefer open-source software options.

iRedMail videos

Part 1: iRedMail

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Complete Email Server iRedMail Installation Tutorial

Modoboa videos

Mailserver auf Linux vServer (OpenVZ) installieren - Modoboa

More videos:

  • Review - #52 Modoboa - Eigenen Mailserver installieren
  • Tutorial - How To Set Up a Mail Server with Modoboa on Ubuntu 20.04

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to iRedMail and Modoboa)
Email
69 69%
31% 31
SMTP Server
81 81%
19% 19
Self-hosted Email
58 58%
42% 42
Email Service Provider
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using iRedMail and Modoboa. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare iRedMail and Modoboa

iRedMail Reviews

10 Microsoft Exchange Server Alternatives
iRedMail is a free email server solution that is a fully-fledged and open source project. This platform can use the official binary package from the distributions of Linux/BSD, having the support of both i386 and x86/64. It is easy to use with a fast deployment process in almost less than one minute. iRedMail allows the user to work on both virtualized and non-virtualized...
15 Best iRedMail Alternatives 2021
You might want a service that offers better security and protections, more features, or faster processes than what iRedMail provides. Hence, it’s important to consider other options out there that can competently replace iRedMail.
The BEST Email Hosting Providers for Small Business in 2021
There are three products offered by iRedmail. The first one is the iRedMail downloadable installer. To start with iRedMail you need to download the installer package, and after installation, you need to set up DNS records for your iRedMail server. After you have done these two steps, you will need to upgrade with additional installations. The second one is iRedMail Easy....
15 Best Email Hosting for Small Business (2019)
iRedMail is an open source mail server since 2007. It works on most Linux/BSD distributions. It offer paid version ($499/year) with professional support.

Modoboa Reviews

15 Best iRedMail Alternatives 2021
You don’t have to worry about data security because Modoboa routes your mail services through secure server connections and certificates like POP3, SMTP, IMAP, TLS, and SSL. With Modoboa’s easy-to-use administration dashboard, you can manage all your mail accounts, aliases, and domains.
15 Best Email Hosting for Small Business (2019)
Modoboa is a free and open source email hosting and management platform that support SMTP, IMAP/POP. It is written in Python and released under ISC license.
3 Awesome Complete Open Source Mail Servers Solutions For Linux and UNIX servers
Modoboa is a mail hosting and management platform including a modern and simplified Web User Interface. It provides useful components such as an administration panel or a webmail. Modoboa integrates with well known software such as Postfix or Dovecot. A SQL database (MySQL, PostgreSQL or SQLite) is used as a central point of communication between all components. It is...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Modoboa should be more popular than iRedMail. It has been mentiond 7 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

iRedMail mentions (3)

  • Ask HN: Custom domain for personal email – yay or nay?
    Yay! I use the free version of iRedMail [0] under OpenBSD since 2017 and every email I send gets through with any issues (except the first days when I screwed up my SPF/DKIM configuration). [0] https://iredmail.org/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Selfhosted backup solution for iCloud Backup
    For photo I use Immich. For contact and calendar I use my own mail server (iRedMail). For Cloud I have my own nextcloud server. With nextcloud you can sync contact and calendar of uou don't have a mail server likes iRedMail. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • I am highly excited and overjoyed to share this post.
    I used to spend all my time maintaining e-mail quirks for my server. Adjust this, updated that, fix this breakage, yada yada. But then I decided to setup iRedMail which uses postfix, dovecot, certbot, roundcube, spamassasin, mariadb, ldap and all the bells and whistles. All I have to do now is make sure I don’t break it doing any software upgrades on freebsd. 10/10 scores after configuring and blacklist free. Source: about 3 years ago

Modoboa mentions (7)

  • Ask HN: Are you aware of a sane path to selfhosted email server?
    I own domain names, but I'm not smart or techie enough to do it myself. I found Modoboa: https://modoboa.org/en/ and when I finally do it and if they are still around, I'll probably go with them. HTH. - Source: Hacker News / 12 months ago
  • I don't know how I feel about email
    Setting it up from scratch is extremely annoying but there are foss solutions which manages everything mentioned and more, you only need to install & add the specified DNS records. Modoboa does a great job at this: https://modoboa.org/en/ > Also apparently there's no real way to migrate between email servers either This seems false (unless I'm misunderstanding), you can just setup a second mailserver, change DNS... - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Modoboa Failed
    I did ask over the Form on their website. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Alternative to free Yandex Email Hosting
    Or an open source mail server like https://modoboa.org/en/. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Just finished migrating my old tower servers to a Kubernetes cluster on my new rack!
    For receiving email, I use Modoboa, but I am planning on moving the backend to Docker Mailserver. I usually reply with a Gmail address though. Until I get the email server configured to send emails through something like Sendgrid. Source: over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing iRedMail and Modoboa, you can also consider the following products

Zimbra - Zimbra is trusted by over 500 million users to increase productivity with a complete set of collaboration tools while maintaining total control over security and privacy.

mailcow - An open source mailserver suite.

Mail-in-a-box - Mail-in-a-Box provides webmail and an IMAP/SMTP server for use with mobile devices and desktop mail software and also includes contacts and calendar synchronization.

Roundcube - Web-based IMAP email client

Postfix - Postfix is a mail transfer agent (MTA) that routes and delivers electronic mail.

Mailu - Mailu is a simple yet full-featured mail server as a set of Docker images.