# mailcow review (2026): is it any good? > Dockerized open-source mail server with a web admin UI Checked Nov 13, 2026 ยท graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. mailcow: dockerized is an open-source email and groupware suite that runs as a set of Docker containers on your own server. It bundles Postfix, Dovecot, Rspamd, ClamAV and the SOGo webmailer behind a web admin interface for domains, mailboxes and spam settings. Paid support and a managed hosted version are sold separately by Servercow. - **Category:** Email Apps - **Made by:** The Infrastructure Company GmbH - **Website:** https://mailcow.email - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you don't want to look after a server. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, mailcow is free to use. - **Pricing model:** Free - **Free plan:** The software is free to run on your own server, with best-effort community support. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | mailcow: dockerized | $0 | Free open-source software you host yourself; community support is voluntary and carries no guarantee. | Read from https://docs.mailcow.email/ on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with mailcow before buying. ## Key features - **Complete mail stack in containers:** Postfix, Dovecot, Rspamd spam filtering, optional ClamAV scanning, an Unbound resolver and automatic Let's Encrypt certificates. - **Web admin interface:** Create domains and mailboxes, manage aliases, DKIM and ARC keys, allow and block lists, quarantine and per-user spam scores. - **SOGo webmail and sync:** SOGo provides the webmailer plus CalDAV and CardDAV, with ActiveSync device support. - **Groups and shared resources:** Groups with distribution lists, send-as permissions, shared mailboxes and shared calendars. - **Sign-in and two-factor options:** Login through Keycloak, LDAP or Active Directory, or OIDC, plus TOTP, Yubikey OTP and WebAuthn. - **Mailbox migration:** Built-in imapsync jobs pull or migrate mail from remote mailboxes, including Microsoft 365 and Google over OAuth2. ## Good for - Admins who want a ready-made self-hosted mail server for a few domains - Small organizations replacing hosted mail with their own server - People comfortable maintaining Docker, DNS records and updates ## Worth knowing - You run the server yourself: DNS records, TLS, backups of the Docker volumes and updates are yours to manage. - Official support is community-driven and best-effort; paid support is a separate subscription sold by Servercow. - Stored mail is compressed and encrypted, and the key pair sits in a Docker volume that must be backed up. - A managed mailcow is sold by Servercow, whose pages are in German and whose prices were not read here. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.4 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. mailcow is a free, Dockerized mail server with a web admin panel and SOGo webmail. You run it yourself, so DNS, TLS, backups and updates are on you, and support is community best-effort. - **Value for money: C.** Free software, but you rent and run the server, so it's a C by our rule. - **Free plan and trial: B.** The software is free with nothing held back. Paid support is a separate subscription from Servercow. - **Features: B.** A full mail stack with web admin, SOGo webmail, groups, shared resources, two-factor sign-in and mailbox migration. The listing shows no gap in the job. - **Ease of use: D.** You run Docker, DNS records, TLS and backups of the volumes yourself. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** A web admin and webmail, with Outlook, Thunderbird, Keycloak, Nextcloud and Roundcube connections. No apps of its own. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from the mailcow 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 - mailcow'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). - mailcow 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.** mailcow 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: an app builder makes this well. - You could not: An email client: sending, receiving, threading and searching years of mail. - You could not: It plugs into other products, SOGo, Keycloak and Nextcloud among them. - You could not: What a company asks for before it lets staff use something: roles and permissions. - 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 SOGo, Keycloak, Nextcloud, Roundcube, Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird **Tags:** Open source, Self-hostable, Email client, Calendar ## Alternatives - [Mailu](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mailu): Free Docker-based mail server with webmail and admin UI. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mailcow-vs-mailu) - [Mail-in-a-Box](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mail-in-a-box): Free script that turns a cloud server into your own mail server. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mail-in-a-box-vs-mailcow) - [docker-mailserver](https://toolgpa.com/tools/docker-mailserver): Self-hosted mail server packaged as a Docker container. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/docker-mailserver-vs-mailcow) - [iRedMail](https://toolgpa.com/tools/iredmail): Open-source mail server installer for Linux and BSD. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/iredmail-vs-mailcow) - [Modoboa](https://toolgpa.com/tools/modoboa): Open-source mail server with a web admin panel and webmail. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mailcow-vs-modoboa) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://docs.mailcow.email/ - https://mailcow.email/ - https://servercow.de/mailcow/?lang=en Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/mailcow Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).