# Mail-in-a-Box vs Zero

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

| | Mail-in-a-Box | Zero |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 72/100 ✓ | 56/100 |
| Rank in category | #3 of 16 in Mail Server | #22 of 120 in AI Assistant |
| GitHub stars | 15 446 ✓ | 1 768 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +27 ✓ | +0 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 4 | 10 ✓ |
| Latest release | v77 · 26 Sept 2026 | v0.11.0 · 16 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | No |
| License | CC0-1.0 | MIT |
| Main language | Python | Go |

## Which one should you pick?

Mail-in-a-Box scores 72/100 against 56/100 for Zero, so it is the safer default.

Zero ships more often: 10 stable releases in the past year, against 4 for Mail-in-a-Box.

Mail-in-a-Box is growing faster right now (+27 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)
- [Zero](https://selfhost.directory/project/zero) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/zero.md)

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