Cloud Mail vs Postal
Which should you use? A side-by-side look at what each one does, who it suits, what it costs, how hard it is to set up, and where each falls short.
Open source · MIT
Self-hosted email service you run on Cloudflare, letting you create many mailboxes on one domain.
Open source · MIT
Self-hosted mail server for sending and receiving email from your own websites and apps.
The short answer
Choose Cloud Mail if you need…
- People who want their own email service on a domain they control
- Developers who already use Cloudflare Workers, D1, KV, or R2
- Small teams or individuals who want to keep hosting costs low
- Admins who need to create users in bulk through the API
Choose Postal if you need…
- Teams that want to run their own transactional email sending infrastructure
- Developers who need to send email from a web application and prefer self-hosting
- Organisations that want to keep mail data on servers they control
- Ruby developers who want to read or modify the mail server code
Side-by-side
| Cloud Mail | Postal | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | App | App |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 15.3k | 16.9k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Advanced |
| How you get it | Clone and build from source | Clone and build from source |
| Main language | JavaScript | Ruby |
| Last code update | 12 days ago | 7 days ago |
What each one is
Cloud Mail
Cloud Mail is a web-based email platform that runs on Cloudflare Workers. With one domain you can create multiple mailboxes, similar to large email providers, and host the service yourself to avoid running a traditional server. The README describes it as a self-deployed email service with a web interface.
Postal
Postal is an open source mail server that you run on your own machines. It is meant for websites and web servers that need to send and receive email, and the README positions it as a self-hosted alternative to hosted services such as Sendgrid, Mailgun or Postmark. The README excerpt provided does not detail its internal feature set, so the full capabilities come from the linked documentation.
Best for
Cloud Mail
- People who want their own email service on a domain they control
- Developers who already use Cloudflare Workers, D1, KV, or R2
- Small teams or individuals who want to keep hosting costs low
- Admins who need to create users in bulk through the API
Postal
- Teams that want to run their own transactional email sending infrastructure
- Developers who need to send email from a web application and prefer self-hosting
- Organisations that want to keep mail data on servers they control
- Ruby developers who want to read or modify the mail server code
Strengths
Cloud Mail
- Low running cost, since it is designed to deploy on Cloudflare Workers
- Covers many features in one package: admin roles, API, attachments, forwarding
- Open source under the MIT license with a large community following
Postal
- Open source under the MIT license, so the code can be inspected and modified
- Positioned as a full mail server covering both incoming and outgoing mail
- Active project with a large community, roughly 16,900 stars, and recent activity
Not ideal for
Cloud Mail
- People who want a managed email service with no setup, since the README describes self-deployment
- Users who need a guarantee of deliverability, as the README does not discuss it
- Anyone unfamiliar with Cloudflare accounts and configuration, since deployment requires it
Postal
- People who just need to send a few emails and want no server to manage, since a hosted service is simpler
- Anyone without server administration experience, because running a mail server involves DNS, IP reputation and security setup
- Users who need a turnkey desktop email client rather than server software
Trade-offs
Cloud Mail
- Depends on Cloudflare services such as Workers, D1, KV, and R2, which ties it to that platform
- README says some features are still in development
- Setup details are in an external docs site, and this README is truncated
Postal
- Operating a mail server is complex, and deliverability depends on your own DNS and IP setup
- The README excerpt gives little detail on requirements, so you must read the installation docs closely
- Self-hosting shifts maintenance, security and uptime responsibility to you
Getting started
Cloud Mail
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/maillab/cloud-mailPostal
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/postalserver/postalFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between Cloud Mail and Postal?
Cloud Mail: Self-hosted email service you run on Cloudflare, letting you create many mailboxes on one domain. Postal: Self-hosted mail server for sending and receiving email from your own websites and apps. Cloud Mail suits people who want their own email service on a domain they control, while Postal suits teams that want to run their own transactional email sending infrastructure.
Are Cloud Mail and Postal free?
Cloud Mail: Free and open source. Postal: Free and open source.
Which is easier to set up, Cloud Mail or Postal?
Cloud Mail is easier to get started with (rated intermediate); Postal is rated advanced and usually needs more setup.
Is Cloud Mail or Postal more popular?
Postal has more GitHub stars (16.9k) than Cloud Mail (15.3k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to Cloud Mail and Postal?
Other options people compare them with include Cloudflare 临时邮箱, docker-mailserver.
Keep comparing
Built from our catalogue entries for both products: open-source details come from each project's README (AI-assisted, refreshed weekly) and GitHub data; AI-tool details are editorial. Spotted something wrong? Let us know from either product's page.