# coredns vs Hermes-Secure-Email-Gateway

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

| | coredns | Hermes-Secure-Email-Gateway |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 76/100 ✓ | 48/100 |
| Rank in category | #5 of 41 in DNS | #49 of 78 in Security |
| GitHub stars | 14 398 ✓ | 141 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +55 ✓ | +0 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 10 | 20 ✓ |
| Latest release | v1.15.0 · 21 Oct 2026 | v261026 · 24 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate ✓ | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes ✓ | No |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Go | JavaScript |

## Which one should you pick?

coredns scores 76/100 against 48/100 for Hermes-Secure-Email-Gateway, so it is the safer default.

Hermes-Secure-Email-Gateway ships more often: 20 stable releases in the past year, against 10 for coredns.

If you want the quickest setup, coredns is easier to run; Hermes-Secure-Email-Gateway needs more configuration.

coredns is growing faster right now (+55 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [coredns](https://selfhost.directory/project/coredns) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/coredns.md)
- [Hermes-Secure-Email-Gateway](https://selfhost.directory/project/hermes-secure-email-gateway) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/hermes-secure-email-gateway.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/coredns-vs-hermes-secure-email-gateway