# mailcow 15 Hacker News commenters recommended mailcow and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 2 years (5 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Recommended for making a self-hosted mail server easy to set up in Docker and keep updated with routine upgrades, with documentation praised. ## Why people recommend it - Easy Docker-based setup (3 comments): "I was aiming to run whole thing on Docker and forget about configuring dozens of config files on Linux host." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47136027)) "MailCow made the technical setup trivial, blowing objection #2 out." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49961576)) "it's quite easy with docker-compose apps like mailcow" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46694265)) - Easy upkeep and maintenance (2 comments): "It's literally just running mailcow update every now and then and that's it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47204751)) "it now is so much easier to maintain and onboard friends & family" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47124177)) - Often named as top option (3 comments): "the fastest reliable way to get up and running is mail-in-a-box or mailcow" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48073510)) "use something like Zimbra, Mailcow, iRedMail, mail-in-a-box" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49083763)) "I'd recommend mailcow for regular usage" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49042047)) ## 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 - [Dovecot](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dovecot.md): 18 recommend - [qmail](https://hackerapproved.com/p/qmail.md): 15 recommend - [Mox email server](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mox.md): 14 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "mailcow", https://hackerapproved.com/p/mailcow/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).