# Horde review (2026): is it any good? > Free open-source webmail, calendar, contacts and tasks suite Checked Nov 13, 2026 ยท graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. Horde is a free, community-maintained groupware suite you install on your own server. Its Webmail Edition bundles an IMAP and POP3 client with calendars, contacts, tasks, notes and files, and it syncs with CalDAV, CardDAV and ActiveSync clients. The project is licensed under LGPL and GPL terms and is not backed by a paid enterprise tier. - **Category:** Email Apps - **Made by:** Horde Project - **Website:** https://www.horde.org - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you don't want to run and update a server. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, Horde is free to use. - **Pricing model:** Free - **Free plan:** The whole suite is free to download and run yourself; the project sells no paid tier. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Horde Groupware | $0 | Free LGPL and GPL software you host yourself. Paid support comes from third-party sponsors such as B1 Systems. | Read from https://www.horde.org/ on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Horde before buying. ## Key features - **Webmail client:** IMAP and POP3 mail with 3-pane and 3-column layouts, conversation view, filtering, searching and a WYSIWYG composer. - **Message security:** Encrypting and signing messages with S/MIME and PGP, plus quota support and shared IMAP folders. - **Calendars, contacts and tasks:** Shared calendars, address books, task lists and notepads, with unlimited resources per user. - **Sync with other clients:** CalDAV, CardDAV and ActiveSync support, plus responsive, basic and mobile interfaces. - **Wider app suite:** Applications for files, bookmarks, time tracking and more can be added, and the PHP libraries underneath are reusable. - **Translations:** The groupware pages say it is translated into 41 languages, including right-to-left scripts. ## Good for - Admins who want a free groupware suite with webmail on their own server - Organizations that need shared calendars and address books without licensing fees - Developers who want to reuse Horde's PHP libraries ## Worth knowing - You install and maintain it yourself; it is a client and groupware layer that needs your own mail server. - Support is community-based; the project points to B1 Systems for paid hosting and support. - The project blog describes recent releases (Horde 6, IMP 7) with rough edges and a security fix shortly after launch. - It is community-maintained with no vendor behind it, so there is no service-level guarantee. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.4 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. Horde is a free webmail, calendar, contacts and tasks suite that you install yourself. It needs your own mail server, there's no vendor behind it, and the project's blog describes recent releases as rough with a security fix soon after. - **Value for money: C.** Free, but only if you host it yourself, so there's a server to pay for. - **Free plan and trial: B.** The whole suite is free under open-source licences, with no paid tier. You supply the server. - **Features: B.** Webmail, calendar, contacts, tasks, CalDAV, CardDAV and ActiveSync. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the groupware job. - **Ease of use: D.** You install and maintain it yourself, on top of a mail server. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** A web interface with sync to other clients over CalDAV, CardDAV and ActiveSync. No apps of its own. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from the Horde project's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among email apps - Horde's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 54 of the 122 other email apps we grade, and level with 19. - It stands best on features (B, above 79 of 122) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0). - Horde has no paid plan. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. Nothing scores higher for less, though at least one tool matches that score at a lower price. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/email ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** Horde is free, so making your own would save you nothing. And it is not the kind of software a weekend replaces. - You could make: Calendar, tasks and notes: an app builder makes these well. - You could not: An email client: sending, receiving, threading and searching years of mail. - You could not: Sharing with other people, which means accounts and invitations. - You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with CalDAV, CardDAV, ActiveSync **Tags:** Open source, Self-hostable, Email client, Calendar, Tasks, Notes ## Alternatives - [Roundcube](https://toolgpa.com/tools/roundcube): Free open-source webmail client you host yourself. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/horde-vs-roundcube) - [SOGo](https://toolgpa.com/tools/sogo): Open-source groupware with webmail, calendars and contacts. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/horde-vs-sogo) - [Zimbra](https://toolgpa.com/tools/zimbra): Self-hosted email, calendar and file sharing for organizations. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/horde-vs-zimbra) - [SnappyMail](https://toolgpa.com/tools/snappymail): Open-source webmail client you install on your own server. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/horde-vs-snappymail) - [Kopano](https://toolgpa.com/tools/kopano): Container-based business email and calendar for hosting providers. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/horde-vs-kopano) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://www.horde.org/ - https://www.horde.org/apps/webmail/ - https://www.horde.org/apps/groupware/ - https://www.horde.org/community/support/ Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/horde Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).