Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Mailu VS Modoboa

Compare Mailu VS Modoboa and see what are their differences

Mailu logo Mailu

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

Modoboa logo Modoboa

Modoboa is a mail hosting and management platform including a modern and simplified Web User Interface.
Not present
  • Modoboa Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-08-05

Mailu features and specs

  • Open Source
    Mailu is an open-source software, which means it is free to use and its source code is available for users to review, modify, and improve.
  • Lightweight
    Designed to be lightweight with minimal resources requirements, making it suitable for small to medium installations on limited hardware.
  • Modularity
    Its modular architecture allows users to enable or disable components based on their specific needs.
  • Docker-based Deployment
    Mailu uses Docker containers for deployment, simplifying the installation and maintenance process, and providing consistent environment management.
  • Self-hosting Support
    Mailu supports self-hosting, giving users complete control over their email server and data, enhancing security and privacy.

Possible disadvantages of Mailu

  • Complex Configuration
    The setup can be complex for users without Docker experience or familiarity with mail server administration.
  • Limited Out-of-the-box Features
    Compared to some commercial solutions, Mailu may lack advanced features or integrations that are available with enterprise-grade email services.
  • Community Support
    Being a community-driven project, support is primarily available through forums and community channels, which might not be as responsive as professional support services.
  • Scalability
    The lightweight design, while an advantage in small setups, might present scalability challenges for very large deployments without careful resource management.
  • Updates and Bug Fixes
    As an open-source project, timely updates and bug fixes may sometimes be dependent on community contributions and interest.

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.

Mailu videos

From zero to full mail server in 20 minutes with Mailu Docker images!

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 Mailu and Modoboa)
Email
45 45%
55% 55
Self-hosted Email
47 47%
53% 53
Email Service Provider
43 43%
57% 57
Email Management
53 53%
47% 47

User comments

Share your experience with using Mailu 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 Mailu and Modoboa

Mailu Reviews

20+ Options for hosting our own mail server
Mailu To be frank, this one I liked very much. It can be easy as to run 3 to 5 commands if you docker and docker-compose installed already. As you might have noticed, above link to mailu itself is pointing to the docs. Go get it. Github issues is a best place, if you are stuck at something Mailu Issues. From my personal experience and as per docs, atleast 2GB of RAM is...
Source: dev.to

Modoboa Reviews

15 Best iRedMail Alternatives 2021
You donโ€™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 Modoboaโ€™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

Modoboa might be a bit more popular than Mailu. We know about 7 links to it since March 2021 and only 6 links to Mailu. 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.

Mailu mentions (6)

  • Email Hosting for 100+ mailboxes with 200GB storage
    Self hosted: I use https://mailu.io/2.0/ and it's awesome because it's easy to install and back up, it's lightweight and has all the features I need in a self hosted email solution. I don't send emails directly from my server though because of deliverability issues. Instead I use https://www.zoho.com/zeptomail/ as SMTP relay in Mailu to send emails so I never have to worry about deliverability. Mailu is free and... Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Domains and Email hosting
    I just used Mailu[https://mailu.io/2.0/] to setup my email server last week for my domain configured with cloudflare too. It took a while, but I was able to configure it successfully. Source: about 2 years ago
  • should i get 1 or 2 Homeservers
    I thought about using this docker container for email https://mailu.io/2.0/ , I think most of the work is already done there. Source: over 2 years ago
  • How to create my own SMTP Server with my own domain?
    You can use Mailu it's a FOSS and it's pretty much straightforward because it runs on docker. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Maddy: Composable all-in-one mail server
    I see no one has mentioned Mailu (https://mailu.io/1.7/). Itโ€™s a self hosted mail server made up of a couple docker images. I would recommend it based on my use and experience. Iโ€™ve been using it for my personal email and for automated no-reply messages in a few projects with no delivery issues. It handles spam with rspamd, sets you up with DMARC, DKIM, has an admin interface, web mail interface. - Source: Hacker News / over 4 years ago
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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 / over 1 year 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 / about 2 years ago
  • Modoboa Failed
    I did ask over the Form on their website. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Alternative to free Yandex Email Hosting
    Or an open source mail server like https://modoboa.org/en/. Source: over 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
View more

What are some alternatives?

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

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.

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.

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

Postfix Admin - Postfix Admin is a web based interface used to manage mailboxes, virtual domains and aliases.

Poste.io - Full featured email server built in docker with free plan.