Comparison of mail servers

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This is a comparison of mail servers: mail transfer agents, mail delivery agents, and other computer software which provide e-mail services.

Contents

[edit] Feature comparison

Server OS support Features Storage
Mail server Linux/Unix Windows Mac OS SMTP POP3 IMAP IMAP IDLE SMTP over TLS POP over TLS IPv6 NNTP SSL Webmail ActiveSync Database Filesystem Other License
agorum core Yes Yes No Yes No Yes ? No No ? No Yes Yes No Yes No No Open Source/GPLv2
Apache James Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No Open Source/ASLv2
Atmail Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Proprietary (Free 5 user)
Axigen Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Proprietary (free version: email 100 users / calender 5 users)
Citadel Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes No Yes No No Open Source/GPLv3
CommuniGate Pro Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Proprietary
Courier Mail Server Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes No No maildir No Open Source
Cyrus IMAP Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes (indexes) Yes Yes Open Source/BSD
DBMail Yes via Cygwin Yes Postfix, Exim, Sendmail, qmail Yes Yes Yes Postfix, Exim, Sendmail, qmail Yes Yes ? Yes No No PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite No No GPL
Digital Integration iMail5 Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes  ? No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Proprietary
Dovecot Yes[1] No[1] Yes[1] No Yes ? Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes maildir, mbox, dbox No Open Source/Mixed: MIT and LGPL 2.1[2]
Eudora Internet Mail Server No No Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No No ? No No No No No No Yes Proprietary
Exim Yes via Cygwin Yes Yes No No No Yes No Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes No Open Source/GPL
FirstClass Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Proprietary
Gordano Messaging Suite Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Proprietary
GroupWise Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Proprietary
Hexamail Server Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes No No Yes No Proprietary
hMailServer No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes V 5.0 V 5.0 Yes No V 5.0 Yes No Yes No No GNU GPL (V5.0 Proprietary)
IBM Lotus Domino Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Proprietary
IndiMail Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes No Open Source/GPLv3
Ipswitch IMail Server No Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Proprietary
Kerio Connect Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Proprietary
MagicMail Yes No No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Proprietary
MailSite Fusion No Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Proprietary
Mailtraq No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Proprietary
MDaemon Mail Server No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes No No Yes No Proprietary
Meldware Mail Server Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Open source/LGPL
Mercury Mail Transport System No Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes No No Yes No Proprietary/donationware
Microsoft Exchange Server No Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes (2007 sp1 onwards)[3] Yes Yes Yes Yes ESE only Yes (up to 2003 only)[4] No Proprietary
Mirapoint Yes No No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Proprietary
NetMail Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes No Yes No No Proprietary
Open-Xchange Yes No No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ?  ? Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Dual license (GPL)
Oracle Communications Messaging Exchange Server Yes No No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Proprietary
Postfix Yes No Yes Yes No No No Yes No Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Open source/IBM Public License
qmail Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No No ? ? No No No No Yes No Public domain
Qpopper Yes via Cygwin Yes No Yes No No No Yes ? No Yes No No No Yes Yes BSD-style
Sendmail Yes No Yes Yes No No No Yes No Yes No Yes No No ? Yes ? Open source/Sendmail License
SparkEngine Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No ? No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Proprietary
SurgeMail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Proprietary (Free 5 user)
Synovel Collabsuite Yes No No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes No Yes Yes  ? Open Source/Proprietary
UW IMAP Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes ? No Yes WebPine No Yes (Indexes) Yes No Open Source/Apache license
WinGate No Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes No No Yes No Proprietary
Zarafa Yes No No External[5] Yes Yes Yes External[5] Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Open Source/Proprietary
Zimbra Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Open Source/Proprietary
Mail server Linux/Unix Windows Mac OS X SMTP POP3 IMAP IMAP IDLE SMTP over TLS POP over TLS IPv6 NNTP SSL Webmail ActiveSync Database Filesystem Other License
Server OS support Features Storage

[edit] Authentication

Mail server SMTP AUTH POP before SMTP APOP Filesystem Database LDAP Other
agorum core Yes No No No Yes Yes PLAIN, LOGIN, CRAM-MD5, NTLM
Apache James Yes  ?  ?  ? Yes Yes  ?
Atmail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes PLAIN, LOGIN, CRAM-MD5, DIGEST-MD5, Active Directory, any LDAP-compatible source
Axigen Yes No Yes No No Yes GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, DIGEST-MD5, APOP, CLRTXT, LOGIN, PLAIN, LDAP, Internal
CommuniGate Pro Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes CLRTXT, CRAM-MD5, DIGEST-MD5, APOP, GSSAPI, NTLM, MSN, SESSIONID, External Authentication Plug-in
Courier Mail Server Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Managed by Courier authentication library which can use PAM, Userdb, PostgreSQL(beta), MySQL, LDAP, and EXTERNAL.
Cyrus IMAP No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Supports all Cyrus SASL authentication methods. Also supports X.509 PKI auth via STARTTLS and EXTERNAL.
Cyrus SASL Library No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Berkeley DB, GDBM, or NDBM (sasldb), PAM, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, LDAP, Active Directory(LDAP), DCE, Kerberos 4 and 5, proxied IMAP auth, getpwent, shadow, SIA, Courier Authdaemon, httpform, APOP and SASL mechanisms: ANONYMOUS, CRAM-MD5, DIGEST-MD5, EXTERNAL, GSSAPI, LOGIN, NTLM, OTP, PASSDSS, PLAIN, SRP
Digital Integration iMail5 Yes No Yes No No No
Dovecot No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Not an SMTP server, but offers SASL to MTAs. http://wiki.dovecot.org/DovecotFeatures http://wiki.dovecot.org/Authentication
Eudora Internet Mail Server Yes No Yes Yes No No CRAM-MD5, DIGEST-MD5, PLAIN, LOGIN
Exim Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Cyrus SASL, Dovecot SASL, CRAM-MD5, PLAIN, LOGIN, SPA
FirstClass Yes  ?  ? Yes Yes Yes
Gordano Messaging Suite Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes PLAIN, LOGIN, CRAM-MD5, DIGEST-MD5, APOP, ODBC, Active Directory, NT Domain
GroupWise Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes eDirectory, Any LDAPv3-compliant source
Hexamail Server Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes CLRTXT, CRAM-MD5, DIGEST-MD5, APOP, GSSAPI, NTLM, MSN, SESSIONID
IndiMail Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes CLRTXT, PLAIN, LOGIN, CRAM-MD5, CRAM-SHA1, CRAM-RIPEMD, DIGEST-MD5, APOP, Checkpassword, authindi, authldap, Pluggable Authentication Modules, Name Service Switch
Ipswitch IMail Server Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Active Directory, Windows authentication, CRAM-MD5, PLAIN, LOGIN
Kerio Connect Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Active Directory, Apple Open Directory, ActiveSync, Pluggable Authentication Modules
MagicMail Yes No No Yes Yes No ?
MailSite Fusion Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes NT Domain, Active Directory, PLAIN, LOGIN, NTLM, SCRAM-MD5, CRAM-MD5
Mailtraq Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes NT Domain, Active Directory, Local Directory
MDaemon Mail Server Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Active Directory, PLAIN, CRAM-MD5, LOGIN
Meldware Mail Server Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes  ?
Mercury Mail Transport System Yes Yes Yes Yes No  ? Internal, LOGIN, PLAIN, CRAM-MD5, Netware, LDAP?, partial NT Domain
Microsoft Exchange Server Yes  ? Yes No No Yes Active Directory, PLAIN, NTLM
Mirapoint Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Plaintext, LDAP, NTLM, APOP, Kerberos_v4, Kerberos_v5, Radius, Sessionid
NetMail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes eDirectory, LDAP
Oracle Communications Messaging Exchange Server Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Plain, Login, CRAM-MD5, Digest-MD5, Certificate
Postfix Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Supports all Cyrus SASL authentication methods except for APOP.
Qpopper No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Pluggable Authentication Modules,GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, DIGEST-MD5, APOP, PLAIN, LDAP, CMU SASL library, Kerberos
qmail  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Sendmail Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Supports all Cyrus SASL authentication methods except for APOP. Also supports X.509 PKI auth via STARTTLS and EXTERNAL.
SurgeMail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Internal, LDAP, PAM, MYSQL, ODBC, Unix Password, Windows Domain or external protocol
WinGate Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No NT Domain, Active Directory, CRAM-MD5, SASL PLAIN, SASL LOGIN
Zarafa Yes Yes  ? Yes Yes Yes Internal, Active Directory, any LDAP-compatible source, Unix
Zimbra Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Internal, LDAP, Open LDAP, Active Directory
Mail server SMTP AUTH POP before SMTP APOP Filesystem Database LDAP Other

[edit] Antispam Features

Mail Server DNSBL SURBL Spamtraps Greylisting SPF Tarpit Bayesian filters Regular expressions Embedded Antivirus Embedded Antispam
agorum core No No No No No No No Yes No No
Apache James  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ? Yes  ?  ?  ?
Atmail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ClamAV Yes SpamAssassin and Exim ACLs
Axigen Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes, in SpamAssassin Yes Yes Commtouch Yes SpamAssassin
Citadel Yes Yes No No Optional (via SpamAssassin) No Optional (via SpamAssassin) No Optional (ClamAV) Optional (SpamAssassin)
CommuniGate Pro Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Optional Yes Optional Optional
Courier Mail Server Yes  ? Yes Yes[6] Yes Yes Yes[6] Yes[6] Yes Clamav Yes[6]
Digital Integration iMail5 Yes No No Yes No No No Optional (GWAVA) Optional (GWAVA) Proprietary, Optional (GWAVA)
Dovecot  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Eudora Internet Mail Server Yes  ? Yes Yes  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Exim Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Optional with spamassassin etc. Yes Optional any Optional any
FirstClass Yes Yes No  ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Symantec  ?
Gordano Messaging Suite Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Commtouch, Authentium Yes Commtouch
GroupWise Yes  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Hexamail Server Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes BitDefender Yes
hMailServer Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes ClamAV Yes SpamAssassin
IBM Lotus Domino Yes[7]  ?  ?  ? No[8]  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
IndiMail Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ClamAV Yes Bogofilter
Ipswitch IMail Server Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Symantec, BitDefender Yes Commtouch
Kerio Connect Yes Yes  ? No Yes Yes Yes  ? Optional Sophos + optional secondary (dual) Yes
MagicMail Yes No Yes No ? ? No Yes Yes Yes
MailSite Fusion Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Mailtraq  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
MDaemon Mail Server Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Optional Kaspersky Labs Yes
Meldware Mail Server  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Mercury Mail Transport System Yes  ?  ? Yes (GreyWall extension)  ?  ? Yes (SpamHalter extension)  ? Yes (ClamWall extension)  ?
Microsoft Exchange Server Yes (2003 & later)  ?  ? Yes Yes Yes (2003 & later)  ?  ?  ?  ?
Mirapoint Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Commtouch, Sophos, F-Secure Yes Commtouch, Sophos, SPamAssassin
NetMail  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Oracle Communications Messaging Exchange Server Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Optional with spamassassin etc. Yes Optional any Optional any
Postfix Yes  ?  ? Yes Yes  ? Optional with spamassassin etc. Yes Optional (via content filter interface) Optional (via content filter interface)
qmail  ?  ?  ? Yes  ?  ? No  ? No No
Sendmail  ?  ?  ? Yes  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
SparkEngine  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
SurgeMail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Synovel Collabsuite Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes  ? Yes Yes YesClamAV Yes SpamAssassin
UW IMAP  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
WinGate  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?
Zarafa No[5] No[5] No[5] No[5] No[5] No[5] No[5] No[5] No No
Zimbra Yes  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ? Yes ClamAV Yes SpamAssassin
Mail Server DNSBL SURBL Spamtraps Greylisting SPF Tarpit Bayesian filters Regular expressions Embedded Antivirus Embedded Antispam

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c Dovecot Operating System Compatibility. Retrieved on 2008-09-03.
  2. ^ Dovecot licensing information: COPYING. Retrieved on 2008-09-03.
  3. ^ http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb629624(EXCHG.80).aspx
  4. ^ Exchange Installable File System (ExIFS)
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Zarafa Collaboration Platform architecture diagram. Retrieved on 2011-12-10.
  6. ^ a b c d with Courier-pythonfilter filtering framework
  7. ^ http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21102611
  8. ^ http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=463&context=SSKTMJ&dc=DB520&uid=swg21227751&loc=en_US&cs=UTF-8&lang=en&rss=ct463lotus
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