Skip to content
repoly

Search tools

Forward Email

Privacy-focused encrypted email for everyone. All-in-one alternative to Gmail + Mailchimp + Sendgrid.

Description from awesome-selfhosted (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Still maintained? Yes: 250 commits in the last 90 days, latest release v2.18.12 (Oct 2026).

Also an alternative to Gmail.

Docker #6 of 18 in Communication - Email - Complete Solutions

At a glance

Forward Email quick facts

Health score
93/100 GOOD
Stars
1,695
Last commit
yesterday (Oct 2026)
Latest release
v2.18.12, Oct 2026
Licence
BUSL-1.1, MPL-2.0
View forwardemail/forwardemail.net on GitHub ↗ Website ↗

Top alternatives to Forward Email

Full rankings: Gmail alternatives

Why it ranks here

Health score explained

Forward Email scores 93/100, #6 of 18 in Communication - Email - Complete Solutions: 250 commits in the last 90 days earn 35.0 of 35 points, the latest release (v2.18.12, 2 days ago) earns 25.0 of 25, 1,695 stars add 12.9 of 20, an active, unarchived repository keeps 10 and Docker support adds the final 10. That places it in the good band (70 and above). The biggest shortfall is star count, worth 7.1 more points.

Recomputed nightly from the GitHub API. How the score is calculated.

  • Commit activity 35.0 / 35

    250 commits in 90 days (30+ scores full marks)

  • Release recency 25.0 / 25

    v2.18.12 released 2 days ago

  • Stars biggest shortfall 12.9 / 20

    1.7k stars on GitHub (logarithmic)

  • Not archived 10.0 / 10

    Repository is active

  • Docker support 10.0 / 10

    Docker image or Compose file available

Commit activity

1451 commits over the last 12 months
250
Last 90 days
1,451
Last 12 months
yesterday
Last push

Ranked #6 of 18 tools in Communication - Email - Complete Solutions by health , between SimpleLogin (#5) and wildduck (#7) .

Details

LicenceBUSL-1.1, MPL-2.0
PlatformsNodejs, Docker
Latest releasev2.18.12 · 2 days ago
Stars1,695
Open issues56
DockerYes
Repositoryforwardemail/forwardemail.net ↗
Visit website ↗ Source code ↗

Forward Email vs its top 5 alternatives

Active tools that share a comparison page or a category with Forward Email (Communication - Email - Complete Solutions), scored on the same five terms.

Tool Health Stars Licence Last commit
docker-mailserver 97 20k MIT 4 days ago
Mailcow 97 14k GPL-3.0 yesterday
Mailu 96 7.6k MIT yesterday
Forward Email (this tool) 93 1.7k BUSL-1.1 yesterday
Modoboa 84 3.5k ISC yesterday
Maddy Mail Server 80 6.1k GPL-3.0 today

Forward Email: common questions

What does Forward Email replace?

Repoly lists Forward Email as an open-source alternative to Gmail. Each comparison page ranks every alternative by the same health score, so you can see where Forward Email stands against the others.

Is Forward Email still maintained?

Forward Email had 250 commits in the last 90 days and its last push was yesterday; the latest tagged release, v2.18.12, is from 2 days ago. Repoly recomputes this nightly.