Mailu: A Fully-Featured Mail Server in Docker, Minus the Headaches
Hosting email is supposed to be hard. DNS quirks, TLS configs, spam filtering, DKIM, DMARC, webmail — the works. And yet, somehow, Mailu makes it… tolerable.
It’s a complete mail stack wrapped in Docker Compose. You get Postfix, Dovecot, Rspamd, Roundcube, Let’s Encrypt, admin panel — all running together, with sane defaults and security baked in.
More importantly: you can deploy it in 10 minutes, tweak one config file, and actually understand what’s going on.
Where It Helps
| What It Does Well | Typical Usage Scenario |
| Full-stack email server | Deploy a self-hosted alternative to Gmail or Exchange |
| Simple Docker-based install | One Compose file = ready-to-go mail stack |
| Admin UI for domains & users | Manage accounts and aliases without touching shell |
| Integrated spam/virus filtering | Rspamd and ClamAV work out of the box |
| TLS, DKIM, DMARC by default | No fumbling with mail reputation basics |
| Works on any modern Linux host | From VPS to bare-metal, scalable and lightweight |
What’s the Catch?
– Linux-only — no Windows host support
– Requires Docker and basic Compose knowledge
– Webmail (Roundcube) is functional but not modern-looking
– Updates require image rebuild and restart — not ideal for some environments
– No enterprise features like shared calendars or groupware tools
Mailu is clean and practical, but not designed for heavy collaboration use.
Is It Production-Ready?
Yes — and getting more popular in privacy-conscious and self-hosting circles. Mailu is a good fit for small teams, non-profits, dev collectives, or sysadmins managing personal mail domains.
Just don’t expect enterprise groupware — this is lean, container-native email.
What Could You Use Instead?
| Alternative | How It Compares |
| MailEnable | Windows-based, integrates with AD and Outlook, but not containerized |
| hMailServer | Lightweight, no Docker required — but lacks integrated webmail/spam tools |
| Piler Email Archiving | Archival layer only — not a full MTA |
Final Thought
Email’s not going away. And for those who want to run it themselves — securely, openly, and without 50 pages of documentation — Mailu is the answer that doesn’t make you regret the decision later.
