Sendy vs Stalwart Mail Server
| Tagline | Self-hosted email newsletter app that sends via Amazon SES | Modern all-in-one mail server with JMAP, IMAP4, and SMTP in a single Rust binary |
| Category | Email & Newsletters | Email & Newsletters |
| Replaces | Mailchimp, SendGrid | Gmail / Google Workspace, SendGrid, Mailchimp |
| GitHub stars | 100 | 15k |
| Language | PHP | Rust |
| License | Proprietary | AGPL-3.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 2/5 Simple | 3/5 Moderate |
| Deploy options | Docker Manual | Docker Docker Compose Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 4 months ago | yesterday |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
Sendy
- Requires paid one-time license fee; not truly open source
- Tightly coupled to AWS SES, limiting provider flexibility
- No built-in visual email builder; limited automation
Stalwart Mail Server
- No built-in newsletter/broadcast campaign tooling
- Web admin UI is functional but less refined than commercial email service dashboards
- Third-party anti-virus (ClamAV) integration requires additional setup
- Community support only on the free tier; paid support plans are limited
Bottom line
Choose Sendy if you want the lower-effort setup; choose Stalwart Mail Server for the larger community and ecosystem. Stalwart Mail Server has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.
Stalwart Mail Server
Modern all-in-one mail server with JMAP, IMAP4, and SMTP in a single Rust binary