Docker Mailserver vs Stalwart
Docker Mailserver and Stalwart are both email server software. Docker Mailserver is open source under MIT, with 20k GitHub stars. Stalwart is open source under a license set out in its repository, with 16k GitHub stars.
Which to pick
- Pick Docker Mailserver when
- You want a simple self-hosted mail server without a web admin panel.
- Pick Stalwart when
- You want to self-host email, calendars and contacts in one modern binary instead of assembling Postfix, Dovecot and Rspamd.
Side by side
A single container mail server with SMTP, IMAP, anti-spam, antivirus and LDAP support, configured by files and environment variables.
A Rust mail and collaboration server that handles SMTP, IMAP, POP3 and JMAP, plus CalDAV, CardDAV and WebDAV, with built-in spam filtering, DKIM, DMARC and a web admin.
No GUI or webmail, and self-hosted mail brings deliverability and security work.
Some features are reserved for the paid Enterprise edition, it only recently reached 1.0, and running any mail server means owning deliverability.
Production-ready
Usable
Self-hosted server (both)
Docker, Postfix, Dovecot and Rspamd
Rust, RocksDB and PostgreSQL
Open source, MIT (permissive)
Open source, license unclear on GitHub
You can build it into a product you sell, as long as you keep its copyright notice.
GitHub could not read the license. Check it in the repository before reusing any code.
20k GitHub stars
16k GitHub stars
Established: started 11 years ago, latest release v16.0.1.
Established: started 3 years ago, latest release v1.0.3.
Other comparisons
More email servers and webmail
Both sides were judged on 2026-11-03 from each project's README and GitHub data. License, age and popularity lines are worked out directly.