# Dovecot

18 Hacker News commenters recommended Dovecot and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 15 years (4 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Used to self-host IMAP mail with little upkeep; praised as mature, free and lock-in free. Caveat: a significant investment to set up.

## Why people recommend it

- Low maintenance once running (2 comments): "Absolutely zero maintenance has been required since I set it up" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49043371)) "it's pretty much set and forget" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46449368))
- Simple Postfix and Dovecot setup (6 comments): "he could easily just throw up a postfix+dovecot on some VPS" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47651647)) "it only took me an afternoon to set up Postfix/Dovecot" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50113463)) "standing up SMTPD and Dovecot there is super simple" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46007194))
- Mature, free, lock-in free software (2 comments): "These are all mature solutions that are free of vendor lock-in" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47509230)) "it works perfect for boring old and feature complete software" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48025399))
- Good IMAP access and search (2 comments): "Dovecot if you want IMAP access" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46330555)) "Dovecot has good SEARCH support" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50075831))

## What people warn about

- Significant setup investment (1 comments): "I like the freedom it gives me but I have to say it's a significant investment." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49329598))
- Full-text search must be enabled (1 comments): "it looks like that's because I never enabled the Solr-based Full-Text Search" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50090416))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Stalwart Mail Server](https://hackerapproved.com/p/stalwart-mail-server.md): 27 recommend
- [Postfix](https://hackerapproved.com/p/postfix.md): 21 recommend
- [qmail](https://hackerapproved.com/p/qmail.md): 15 recommend
- [mailcow](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mailcow.md): 15 recommend
- [Mox email server](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mox.md): 14 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Dovecot", https://hackerapproved.com/p/dovecot/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).