Updated August 2026
    Actively maintained
    6.1k

    Maddy Mail Server: Maintenance, Licence and Alternatives

    All-in-one mail server that implements SMTP (both MTA and MX) and IMAP. Replaces Postfix, Dovecot, OpenDKIM, OpenSPF, OpenDMARC with single daemon.

    TL;DR • Maddy Mail Server • as of August 2026

    Maddy Mail Server is an open-source communication project, with 6.1k GitHub stars and a health score of 52/100. It committed 69 times in the last twelve months across 6 of those months, and its status is actively maintained. Licence: GPL-3.0. It does not currently meet the momentum threshold, so verify maintenance before depending on it.

    6.1k
    GitHub stars
    52/100
    Health score
    69
    Commits (12 mo)
    6/12
    Active months

    Maintenance health

    Status Actively maintained — Committed within the last 45 days.
    Last commit 2026-07-13
    Days since last commit 35
    Commits, last 3 months 1
    Commits, last 12 months 69
    Months with activity 6 of 12
    Last release 2026-05-23
    Archived No
    Licence GPL-3.0
    Category Communication

    Health score combines commit recency, twelve-month commit volume, months with activity, release recency and archive state. Metadata refreshed August 2026.

    What the licence lets you do

    GPL-3.0

    Copyleft (GPL, AGPL, MPL): derivative work must stay open. AGPL also covers software offered over a network, which blocks most closed SaaS wrappers.

    This matters most when you plan to sell a hosted version. A permissive licence means anyone — including a competitor with more capital — can do the same, so your defensibility has to come from distribution, support or data, not from the code.

    What Maddy Mail Server means for your idea

    Crowded · 77/100
    Communication category →

    Maddy Mail Server is not currently shipping at a healthy pace. Popular but stalled projects inflate how competitive a category looks — and they are also risky to build on.

    Assume every prospect can find a free version in five minutes. Your wedge has to be something open source structurally cannot deliver: compliance, support SLAs, managed hosting at scale, or a workflow the maintainers refuse to build.

    Maddy Mail Server: common questions

    Is Maddy Mail Server still maintained in 2026?

    Actively maintained. Maddy Mail Server recorded 69 commits over the last twelve months, with activity in 6 of those months and 1 commits in the last quarter. Last commit: 2026-07-13. Last release: 2026-05-23. Committed within the last 45 days.

    Can I use Maddy Mail Server commercially?

    Maddy Mail Server is published under GPL-3.0. Copyleft (GPL, AGPL, MPL): derivative work must stay open. AGPL also covers software offered over a network, which blocks most closed SaaS wrappers.

    How crowded is the Communication category?

    177 open-source implementations, 100 of them actively maintained, led by Mastodon at 50k stars. Saturation score 77/100 — Crowded. Free, maintained alternatives already dominate this category.

    Maddy Mail Server alternatives in Communication

    Mastodon

    Alternative to Social network/ Micro-blogging

    50k

    Federated microblogging server.

    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    AGPL-3.0

    Discourse

    Alternative to Tribe, Circle, Community management

    48k

    Advanced forum / community solution based on Ruby and JS.

    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    GPL-2.0

    Rocket.Chat

    Alternative to Slack, Team communication, Chat & Team Communication

    46k

    Communications platform that puts data protection first (alternative to Gitter.im and Slack).

    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    MIT

    Novu

    Alternative to Courier, MagicBell, Knock, Notification infrastructure, Push notifications

    40k

    Notification infrastructure for developers.

    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    MIT

    Mattermost

    Communication

    39k

    Platform for secure collaboration across the entire software development lifecycle, can be integrated with Gitlab (alternative to Slack).

    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    ⊘ Proprietary

    Chatwoot

    Alternative to Intercom, Zendesk, Live chat

    36k

    Customer communication platform (alternative to Intercom and Zendesk).

    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    ⊘ Proprietary

    Competing with free? Check the market first.

    IdeaProof scores your idea against live competitors, market size and 1,000+ documented startup failures in about two minutes.