Top pick · highest health
Maddy Mail Server
All-in-one mail server that implements SMTP (both MTA and MX) and IMAP. Replaces Postfix, Dovecot, OpenDKIM, OpenSPF, OpenDMARC with single daemon.
Go
Communication - Email - Mail Transfer Agents
Open source alternatives to SendGrid
We track 4 open-source SendGrid alternatives, of which 2 currently score 70 or above on Repoly's GitHub health scale and 1 ship a Docker image. Maddy Mail Server leads on health at 80/100 with 26 commits in the last 90 days; across all 4 projects you are choosing between GPL-3.0, IPL-1.0, MIT.
updated Oct 2026 4 alternatives best health 80 ★ 29k combined 47 commits / 90d 1 with Docker
Top picks to replace SendGrid
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Healthiest
Health 80/100: 26 commits in 90 days, latest release v0.9.6.
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Most starred
16,902 stars, the biggest community among SendGrid alternatives.
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Permissive licence
MIT, so you can fork or embed it without publishing changes; health 71/100.
Showing 4 of 4 tools
All 4 SendGrid alternatives, ranked by health
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Haraka
Fast, highly extensible, and event driven SMTP server.
Nodejs -
Postal
Complete and fully featured mail server for use by websites & web servers.
DockerRuby -
Postfix
Fast, easy to administer, and secure Sendmail replacement.
Cdeb
SendGrid alternatives compared
Maddy Mail Server edges Haraka 80 to 71, and most of the difference is commit activity: 26 commits in 90 days against 18 commits in 90 days. Postal has the largest following at 17k stars, yet ranks #3 of 4, held back mostly by commit activity (3 commits in 90 days).
The most recent release is Haraka v3.3.5, published 13 days ago. None of the measured options scores under 40. By stack, C (1), Go (1) and Nodejs (1) are the most common. Haraka and Postal are permissively licensed; Maddy Mail Server is copyleft. Postfix is not hosted on a forge Repoly can read, so it has no measured score yet.
| Tool | Health | Stars | Licence | Last commit | Docker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maddy Mail Server Up 29 points since 11 Sep | 80 | 6.1k | GPL-3.0 | today | No |
| Haraka Up 4 points since 11 Sep | 71 | 5.6k | MIT | today | No |
| Postal Down 2 points since 11 Sep, no release for 4 months | 65 | 17k | MIT | today | Yes |
| Postfix | 10 | 0 | IPL-1.0 | unknown | No |
SendGrid alternatives: common questions
What is the most maintained open source alternative to SendGrid?
Maddy Mail Server scores highest at 80/100, with 26 commits in the last 90 days, 6.1k stars on GitHub and its latest release (v0.9.6) published 27 days ago. It is also the most active by raw commit count.
Which SendGrid alternatives use a permissive licence?
2 of 4 are permissively licensed (MIT, Apache, BSD or similar): Haraka (MIT), Postal (MIT). 1 use copyleft licences such as GPL or AGPL, which require you to publish changes if you distribute a modified version.
Which SendGrid alternatives run in Docker?
1 of 4 publish a Docker image or Compose file: Postal. Docker support contributes 10 of the 100 available health points, because it is the clearest signal that self-hosting is a supported path rather than an afterthought.
Is Maddy Mail Server or Haraka the better SendGrid alternative?
On measured health Maddy Mail Server leads, 80 to 71. Maddy Mail Server has 26 commits in 90 days, 6.1k stars and v0.9.6 from 27 days ago; Haraka has 18 commits in 90 days, 5.6k stars and v3.3.5 from 13 days ago. Pick Haraka if licensing matters: it is MIT, while Maddy Mail Server is GPL-3.0.
Are the SendGrid alternatives still maintained?
2 of the 3 measured options score 70 or above. Every measured option had commits in the last 90 days. None scores under 40.
What languages are the SendGrid alternatives written in?
C: Postfix. Go: Maddy Mail Server. Nodejs: Haraka. The stack matters if you plan to extend or patch the tool yourself.
