What is Forward Email used for?

Forward Email is an open-source, privacy-focused email service offering encrypted mailboxes, custom-domain forwarding and sending, positioned against Gmail and Mailchimp. It is a good fit for private email on a custom domain, replacing separate mailbox and newsletter tools, and studying an open-source email stack.

Is Forward Email open source?

Yes. Forward Email is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at forwardemail/forwardemail.net and is written mainly in JavaScript.

Is Forward Email free?

Yes. Forward Email is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence. A managed cloud version is also available, with paid plans from $3 per month.

Can I self-host Forward Email?

Yes. Forward Email can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Forward Email an alternative to?

Forward Email is an open-source alternative to Fastmail, HEY, Google Workspace and Gmail. Other open-source alternatives to Fastmail include Mail-in-a-Box, Stalwart and Mailcow.

Is Forward Email actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Forward Email was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v2.17.0, published on 1 October 2026. The project has 1.7k stars on GitHub.

Forward Email: open-source alternative to Fastmail, HEY

About Forward Email

Forward Email is an open-source email service focused on privacy. It handles custom-domain email forwarding and also provides mailboxes accessible over IMAP, POP and SMTP, with encryption using algorithms such as AES-256 and ChaCha20, and it positions itself as an all-in-one alternative to Gmail, Mailchimp and Sendgrid.

Its topics and documentation point to features such as sending mail, newsletters, SQLite-based storage, push notifications, and calendar and contact support through CalDAV and CardDAV, plus autodiscovery records and Domain Connect integration for setting up DNS. The README includes a local development guide and detailed notes on server infrastructure, load balancing, provisioning and deployment, including automated setup with Ansible.

The code is JavaScript and the project says it is fully open source, so the service can be inspected and, with the published infrastructure guidance, run on your own servers. Most consumers simply use the hosted service at forwardemail.net. It suits individuals and small organizations that want private email on their own domain and developers interested in how such a stack is built.

Key features

Custom-domain email forwarding
Encrypted mailboxes over IMAP, POP, and SMTP
Outbound sending and newsletter support
CalDAV and CardDAV support
Email autodiscovery and Domain Connect setup
Ansible-based deployment guidance

Good fit for

→Private email on a custom domain
→Replacing separate mailbox and newsletter tools
→Studying an open-source email stack

Built with: JavaScript; SQLite
Tags: email; privacy; encrypted-email; email-forwarding; imap; smtp; newsletter; javascript; custom-domain

Forward Email: questions and answers

What is Forward Email used for?: Forward Email is an open-source, privacy-focused email service offering encrypted mailboxes, custom-domain forwarding and sending, positioned against Gmail and Mailchimp. It is a good fit for private email on a custom domain, replacing separate mailbox and newsletter tools, and studying an open-source email stack.
Is Forward Email open source?: Yes. Forward Email is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at forwardemail/forwardemail.net and is written mainly in JavaScript.
Is Forward Email free?: Yes. Forward Email is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence. A managed cloud version is also available, with paid plans from $3 per month.
Can I self-host Forward Email?: Yes. Forward Email can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Forward Email an alternative to?: Forward Email is an open-source alternative to Fastmail, HEY, Google Workspace and Gmail. Other open-source alternatives to Fastmail include Mail-in-a-Box, Stalwart and Mailcow.
Is Forward Email actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Forward Email was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v2.17.0, published on 1 October 2026. The project has 1.7k stars on GitHub.