What is Mailcow used for?

Mailcow is a dockerized mail server suite combining SMTP, IMAP, spam filtering and webmail so you can host your own email and groupware. It is a good fit for hosting company email on your own server and replacing hosted email for small domains.

Is Mailcow open source?

Yes. Mailcow is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at mailcow/mailcow-dockerized and is written mainly in JavaScript.

Yes. Mailcow is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Mailcow?

Yes. Mailcow can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.

What is Mailcow an alternative to?

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

Is Mailcow actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Mailcow was on 1 October 2026, and the latest release is 2026-09, published on 21 September 2026. The project has 14k stars on GitHub.

Mailcow: open-source alternative to Google Workspace, Gmail

About Mailcow

mailcow: dockerized is an open-source mail server package that runs as a set of Docker containers managed with Docker Compose. It bundles the pieces needed to run your own email, so administrators do not have to assemble and configure each component separately.

The stack is built around established open-source software: Postfix for SMTP, Dovecot for IMAP, Rspamd for spam filtering, ClamAV for antivirus scanning, SOGo for groupware and webmail, and ACME support for certificates. A web administration interface sits on top. Topics in the repository also mention the Olefy component for document scanning.

mailcow is released under the GNU General Public License v3 and installed on your own server following the official documentation. It is managed and maintained by The Infrastructure Company GmbH, and the project offers support contracts through Servercow as well as a one-time support payment option. The community gathers on Telegram, Mastodon and GitHub Sponsors.

Key features

Complete mail server in Docker containers
Postfix and Dovecot for SMTP and IMAP
Rspamd spam filtering and ClamAV scanning
SOGo webmail and groupware
Automatic certificates through ACME
Web interface for administration

Good fit for

→Hosting company email on your own server
→Replacing hosted email for small domains

Built with: JavaScript; Docker
Tags: email; mail-server; docker; self-hosted; groupware; postfix; dovecot; rspamd

Mailcow: questions and answers

What is Mailcow used for?: Mailcow is a dockerized mail server suite combining SMTP, IMAP, spam filtering and webmail so you can host your own email and groupware. It is a good fit for hosting company email on your own server and replacing hosted email for small domains.
Is Mailcow open source?: Yes. Mailcow is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at mailcow/mailcow-dockerized and is written mainly in JavaScript.
Is Mailcow free?: Yes. Mailcow is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Mailcow?: Yes. Mailcow can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.
What is Mailcow an alternative to?: Mailcow is an open-source alternative to Google Workspace, Gmail, Fastmail and Zoho Mail. Other open-source alternatives to Google Workspace include Stalwart, Mail-in-a-Box and Forward Email.
Is Mailcow actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Mailcow was on 1 October 2026, and the latest release is 2026-09, published on 21 September 2026. The project has 14k stars on GitHub.