# Mail-in-a-Box vs trigger

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

| | Mail-in-a-Box | trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 72/100 | 76/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #3 of 16 in Mail Server | #7 of 32 in Workflow Automation |
| GitHub stars | 15 450 | 16 644 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +32 | +257 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 4 | 49 ✓ |
| Latest release | v77 · 26 Sept 2026 | v4.8.1 · 23 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate ✓ | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | CC0-1.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Python | Typescript |

## Which one should you pick?

trigger scores 76/100 against 72/100 for Mail-in-a-Box, so it is the safer default.

trigger ships more often: 49 stable releases in the past year, against 4 for Mail-in-a-Box.

If you want the quickest setup, Mail-in-a-Box is easier to run; trigger needs more configuration.

trigger is growing faster right now (+257 stars in 30 days).

## Details

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

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