Postfix AlternativesMail Servers and other similar apps like Postfix

Postfix is described as 'Mail transfer agent (MTA) that routes and delivers electronic mail. It attempts to be fast, easy to administer, and secure. The software is also known by its former names VMailer and IBM Secure Mailer' and is a Mail Server in the online services category. There are more than 25 alternatives to Postfix for a variety of platforms, including Linux, Mac, Windows, Self-Hosted and BSD apps. The best Postfix alternative is Mail-in-a-box, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Postfix are Exim, Mailpit, MailHog and Stalwart.

More about Postfix

Postfix alternatives page was last updated Jul 13, 2026

Mail-in-a-box
23 likes
Easy-to-deploy mail server.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (CC0-1.0)
Application type
Mail Server
Origin
United States
Platforms
Self-Hosted
Roundcube
Is Mail-in-a-box a good alternative to Postfix?

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1comment
Mail-in-a-box vs Postfix Comments

Guest
Negative commentAug 7, 2021
2
Mail-in-a-box uses Postfix internally
Mail-in-a-box is Free and Open SourcePostfix is also Free and Open Source
Mail-in-a-box is Privacy focusedPostfix is not according to our users
Exim
11 likes
Exim is a message transfer agent (MTA) developed at the University of Cambridge for use on Unix systems connected to the Internet.
18 Exim alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application type
Mail Server
Origin
International
Platforms
Mac
Linux
Is Exim a good alternative to Postfix?
Mailpit
4 likes
An email and SMTP testing tool with API for developers.
37 Mailpit alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (MIT)
Origin
Germany
EU
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
Is Mailpit a good alternative to Postfix?
MailHog
8 likes
MailHog is an email testing tool inspired by MailCatcher, but easier to install.
35 MailHog alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Alerts
Discontinued
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
Docker
Is MailHog a good alternative to Postfix?

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1comment
Discontinued
The last version (1.0.1) is from August 2020, and the project is unmaintained. https://github.com/mailhog/MailHog/issues/442
MailHog vs Postfix Comments

Guest
Negative commentMay 9, 2021
0
Mailhog is for testing if another application can send mails.

Postfix is for sending and receiving mails.
MailHog is Free and Open SourcePostfix is also Free and Open Source
Stalwart
3 likes
Stalwart is an open-core mail server solution with JMAP, IMAP4, POP3, and SMTP support and a wide range of modern features. It is written in Rust and designed to be secure, fast, robust and scalable.
6 Stalwart alternatives
Cost / License
Freemium
Open Source (AGPL-3.0)
Application type
Mail Server
Origin
United States
Platforms
Self-Hosted
Docker
Linux
Windows
Mac
Is Stalwart a good alternative to Postfix?
KumoMTA
4 likes
KumoMTA is the only true Open-Source PowerMTA alternative, capable of matching performance of several million messages per hour while providing granular traffic shaping configuration and automation across unlimited IPs.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (Apache-2.0)
Application type
Mail Server
Platforms
Self-Hosted
Is KumoMTA a good alternative to Postfix?
OpenSMTPD
6 likes
OpenSMTPD is a FREE implementation of the server-side SMTP protocol as defined by RFC 5321, with some additional standard extensions. It allows ordinary machines to exchange e-mails with other systems speaking the SMTP protocol.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Platforms
Linux
BSD
Self-Hosted
Is OpenSMTPD a good alternative to Postfix?
Haraka
3 likes
Haraka is an open source SMTP server written in Node.js which provides extremely high performance coupled with a flexible plugin system allowing Javascript programmers full access to change the behaviour of the server.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (MIT)
Origin
International
Platforms
Self-Hosted
Node.JS
Is Haraka a good alternative to Postfix?
Sendmail
4 likes
Sendmail is a general purpose internetwork email routing facility that supports many kinds of transfer and delivery methods, including the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) used for email transport over the Internet.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application type
Mail Server
Origin
United States
Platforms
Mac
Linux
Is Sendmail a good alternative to Postfix?
Courier-MTA
7 likes
The Courier mail transfer agent (MTA) is an integrated mail/groupware server based on open commodity protocols, such as ESMTP, IMAP, POP3, LDAP, SSL, and HTTP. Courier provides ESMTP, IMAP, POP3, webmail, and mailing list services within a single, consistent, framework.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application type
Mail Server
Platforms
Mac
Linux
BSD
Self-Hosted
Is Courier-MTA a good alternative to Postfix?
S
S
sSMTP
3 likes
sSMTP is a simple MTA to deliver mail from a computer to a mail server. sSMTP is simple and lightweight, there are no daemons or anything hogging up CPU; Just sSMTP. Unlike Exim4, sSMTP does not receive mail, expand aliases, or manage a queue.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (GPL-2.0)
Alerts
Discontinued
Platforms
Linux
S
Is sSMTP a good alternative to Postfix?
MailDotNull
1 like
MailDotNull is a local mail catcher for development. It emulates the HTTP send APIs of popular email providers (Resend, SendGrid, Mailjet, Mailgun, Postmark, Brevo, Amazon SES) plus plain SMTP with STARTTLS and SMTPS.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (MIT)
Platforms
Online
Is MailDotNull a good alternative to Postfix?

12 of 27 Postfix alternatives