Dovecot
IMAP and POP3 server written primarily with security in mind.
Best self-hosted Communication - Email - Mail Delivery Agents software in 2026
Mail Delivery Agents (MDAs) - IMAP/POP3 server software.
We track 3 open-source, self-hosted Communication - Email - Mail Delivery Agents apps. 3 of them had commits in the last 90 days, 0 can run with Docker, and the most common licenses are MIT (1), LGPL-2.1 (1), GPL-2.0 (1). The most-used languages are C, Java. Below are the top picks by GitHub stars, followed by every app ranked by stars weighted by maintenance health.
Top 3 by GitHub stars
| # | App | Stars | Health | Last activity | License | Language | Docker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dovecot | 1.3k | Active | 2026-11-09 | MIT, LGPL-2.1 | C, deb | – |
| 2 | DavMail | 775 | Active | 2026-11-09 | GPL-2.0 | Java | – |
| 3 | Cyrus IMAP | 653 | Active | 2026-11-10 | BSD-3-Clause-Attribution | C | – |
- Dovecot — IMAP and POP3 server written primarily with security in mind.
- DavMail — POP/IMAP/SMTP/Caldav/Carddav/LDAP exchange gateway allowing users to use any mail/calendar client with an Exchange server, even from the internet or behind a firewall through Outlook Web Access.
- Cyrus IMAP — Email (IMAP/POP3), contacts and calendar server.
Head-to-head comparisons
All 3 self-hosted Communication - Email - Mail Delivery Agents apps
Ranked by GitHub stars weighted by maintenance health.
DavMail
POP/IMAP/SMTP/Caldav/Carddav/LDAP exchange gateway allowing users to use any mail/calendar client with an Exchange server, even from the internet or behind a firewall through Outlook Web Access.
Cyrus IMAP
Email (IMAP/POP3), contacts and calendar server.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best self-hosted Communication - Email - Mail Delivery Agents software in 2026?
By GitHub stars, the most popular self-hosted Communication - Email - Mail Delivery Agents apps are Dovecot (1,283 stars), DavMail (775 stars), Cyrus IMAP (653 stars). Popularity is only one signal: also check maintenance health, license and whether it fits your setup.
How many self-hosted Communication - Email - Mail Delivery Agents apps are actively maintained?
3 of the 3 apps listed had commits in the last 90 days.
Which licenses do self-hosted Communication - Email - Mail Delivery Agents apps use?
The most common licenses in this category are MIT (1 apps), LGPL-2.1 (1 apps), GPL-2.0 (1 apps).
How much does it cost to self-host Communication - Email - Mail Delivery Agents software?
The software itself is free to download. Based on our rough hardware estimates, the cheapest suitable VPS plan starts at about $3.5/month (median $3.5/month across apps in this category). Several light apps can share one server.
Figures from GitHub and Docker Hub as of 2026-11-15; hosting costs are rough estimates.