# Mail-in-a-Box vs unleash

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

| | Mail-in-a-Box | unleash |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 72/100 | 75/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #3 of 16 in Mail Server | #1 of 8 in Feature Flags |
| GitHub stars | 15 446 ✓ | 13 914 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +27 | +88 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 4 | 15 ✓ |
| Latest release | v77 · 26 Sept 2026 | v8.3.0 · 27 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate | Easy ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | CC0-1.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Python | Typescript |

## Which one should you pick?

unleash scores 75/100 against 72/100 for Mail-in-a-Box, so it is the safer default.

unleash ships more often: 15 stable releases in the past year, against 4 for Mail-in-a-Box.

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

unleash is growing faster right now (+88 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)
- [unleash](https://selfhost.directory/project/unleash) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/unleash.md)

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