# authelia vs Mail-in-a-Box

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | authelia | Mail-in-a-Box |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 81/100 ✓ | 72/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 3 in IAM | #3 of 16 in Mail Server |
| GitHub stars | 29 435 ✓ | 15 446 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +354 ✓ | +27 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 18 ✓ | 4 |
| Latest release | v4.39.28 · 17 Sept 2026 | v77 · 26 Sept 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate ✓ | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes ✓ | No |
| License | Apache-2.0 | CC0-1.0 |
| Main language | Go | Python |

## Which one should you pick?

authelia scores 81/100 against 72/100 for Mail-in-a-Box, so it is the safer default.

authelia ships more often: 18 stable releases in the past year, against 4 for Mail-in-a-Box.

authelia is growing faster right now (+354 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [authelia](https://selfhost.directory/project/authelia) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/authelia.md)
- [Mail-in-a-Box](https://selfhost.directory/project/mail-in-a-box) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/mail-in-a-box.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/authelia-vs-mail-in-a-box