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Should I use Mailu?

Mailu - mailu.io

Depends. Mailu is a solid free choice only for hands-on self-hosters with Docker and DNS skills who accept deliverability battles and patching duties. Businesses or non-technical teams needing email that just works should buy hosted email instead.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~20 public sources; many snippets truncated, and no named company users found.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityNo support evidence in sources
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Self-hosted (open source)

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
Managed via Elest.ioPlan-based VPS tiers

Best for

  • Docker-savvy self-hosters
  • Privacy-focused individuals
  • Homelab tinkerers
  • Small orgs wanting full mail control

Not for

  • Businesses needing guaranteed email uptime and deliverability
  • Non-technical teams wanting email that just works
  • Anyone without server admin and DNS skills
  • Orgs requiring vendor SLAs or compliance support

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Self-hosted mail often lands in spam; expect ongoing deliverability battles

high

CVE-2026-85751 (CVSS 9.8) affects Mailu 2.0–2024.06.54; patch immediately

medium

Mailbox migration is painful in any direction; plan before committing

medium

Core product has community-only support unless you pay managed hosting

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Completely free and open source
  • 'Simple yet full-featured' per official positioning
  • Ships as Docker images for containerized deployment
  • Web administration interface included by default
  • Managed option with backups and SSL via

Cons

  • Setup is hard; users report struggling to get running
  • Some users migrate away to Mailcow
  • Critical CVSS 9.8 CVE affected recent versions
  • Community project; no commercial vendor behind core
  • Reddit calls self-hosting email in 2026 'effectively impossible' for many

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/30/2026 - 12 sources - Actively maintained with published advisories, but a critical CVSS 9.8 CVE hit recent versions in 2026.

official x4review x5security x3
  • CVE-2026-85751 (CVSS 9.8), Affects Mailu 2.0 through 2024.06.54 and helm-charts < 2.7.3; rated critical.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Free and open source
  • Ease of use: 2/5. Users report struggling through setup
  • Feature depth: 4/5. 'Simple yet full-featured' official mail stack
  • Support quality. No support evidence in sources
  • Security posture: 2/5. Critical CVSS 9.8 CVE in 2026
  • $0 Price Free, open source (GitHub)
  • CVSS 9.8 Latest CVE severity CVE-2026-85751, critical
  • Docker Deployment Ships as a set of Docker images

Pricing

Self-hosted (open source)

$0

  • Full stack: SMTP, IMAP, webmail
  • Web admin interface
  • Community support

Managed via Elest.io

Plan-based VPS tiers

  • Automated backups and SSL
  • Fully managed deployment

Security

Actively maintained with published advisories, but a critical CVSS 9.8 CVE hit recent versions in 2026.

  • CVE-2026-85751 (CVSS 9.8)Affects Mailu 2.0 through 2024.06.54 and helm-charts < 2.7.3; rated critical.⁸

What users say

Reddit users mostly compare Mailu against Mailcow and Stalwart, report rough setup experiences, and some migrate away.

“Struggling to get Mailu running”
Reddit, r/selfhosted
“Migrating from Mailu to Mailcow – looking for advice”
Reddit, r/selfhosted
“What are your experiences with Mailcow / Mailu / Stalwart?”
Reddit, r/selfhosted
Full analysis

Based on ~20 public sources; many snippets truncated, and no named company users found.

Free, full-featured Docker mail server for tinkerers — hard setup, critical 2026 CVE, businesses should buy hosted email.

Methodology

Based on ~20 public sources; many snippets truncated, and no named company users found.

Sources

  1. Mailu — official sitemailu.io
    official
  2. Mailu on GitHubgithub.com
    official
  3. Mailu managed hosting — Elest.ioelest.io
    official
  4. Struggling to get Mailu running — Redditreddit.com
    review
  5. Migrating from Mailu to Mailcow — Redditreddit.com
    review
  6. Mailcow / Mailu / Stalwart experiences — Redditreddit.com
    review
  7. Self-hosting email in 2026 — Redditreddit.com
    review
  8. CVE-2026-85751 — Rapid7rapid7.com
    security
  9. CVE-2026-85751 — Strixstrix.ai
    security
  10. Mailu security advisories — GitHubgithub.com
    security
  11. Mailu — LFX Crowdfundingcrowdfunding.linuxfoundation.org
    official
  12. Mailu alternatives — AlternativeToalternativeto.net
    review

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