Mailu
Simple yet full-featured mail server as a set of Docker images.
Description from awesome-selfhosted (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Still maintained? Yes: 166 commits in the last 90 days, latest release 2024.06.67 (Oct 2026).
Also an alternative to Gmail.
At a glance
Mailu quick facts
- Health score
- 96/100 GOOD
- Stars
- 7,592
- Last commit
- yesterday (Oct 2026)
- Latest release
- 2024.06.67, Oct 2026
- Licence
- MIT
Top alternatives to Mailu
Full rankings: Gmail alternatives
In its own words
The project's README opens: "Mailu is a simple yet full-featured mail server as a set of Docker images. It is free software (both as in free beer and as in free speech), open to suggestions and external contributions. The project aims at providing people with an easily setup, easily maintained and full-featured mail server while not shipping proprietary software nor unrelated features often found in popular groupware."
Why it ranks here
Health score explained
Mailu scores 96/100, #4 of 18 in Communication - Email - Complete Solutions: 166 commits in the last 90 days earn 35.0 of 35 points, the latest release (2024.06.67, 7 days ago) earns 25.0 of 25, 7,592 stars add 15.5 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 4.5 more points.
Recomputed nightly from the GitHub API. How the score is calculated.
- Commit activity 35.0 / 35
166 commits in 90 days (30+ scores full marks)
- Release recency 25.0 / 25
2024.06.67 released 7 days ago
- Stars biggest shortfall 15.5 / 20
7.6k 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
- 166
- Last 90 days
- 255
- Last 12 months
- yesterday
- Last push
Ranked #4 of 18 tools in Communication - Email - Complete Solutions by health , between Stalwart Mail Server (#3) and SimpleLogin (#5) .
Details
| Licence | MIT |
| Platforms | Docker, Python |
| Latest release | 2024.06.67 · 7 days ago |
| Stars | 7,592 |
| Open issues | 76 |
| Docker | Yes |
| Repository | Mailu/Mailu ↗ |
Mailu vs its top 5 alternatives
Active tools that share a comparison page or a category with Mailu (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 (this tool) | 96 | 7.6k | MIT | yesterday |
| Modoboa | 84 | 3.5k | ISC | yesterday |
| Maddy Mail Server | 80 | 6.1k | GPL-3.0 | today |
| iRedMail | 39 | 1.8k | GPL-3.0 | 2 days ago |
Mailu: common questions
What does Mailu replace?
Repoly lists Mailu as an open-source alternative to Gmail. Each comparison page ranks every alternative by the same health score, so you can see where Mailu stands against the others.
Is Mailu still maintained?
Mailu had 166 commits in the last 90 days and its last push was yesterday; the latest tagged release, 2024.06.67, is from 7 days ago. Repoly recomputes this nightly.
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