# Mail-in-a-Box vs Zulip

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

| | Mail-in-a-Box | Zulip |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 72/100 | 82/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #3 of 16 in Mail Server | #1 of 110 in Chat |
| GitHub stars | 15 446 | 26 134 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +27 | +184 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 4 | 6 ✓ |
| Latest release | v77 · 26 Sept 2026 ✓ | 12.3 · 21 Sept 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | CC0-1.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Python | Python |

## Which one should you pick?

Zulip scores 82/100 against 72/100 for Mail-in-a-Box, so it is the safer default.

Zulip ships more often: 6 stable releases in the past year, against 4 for Mail-in-a-Box.

Zulip is growing faster right now (+184 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)
- [Zulip](https://selfhost.directory/project/zulip) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/zulip.md)

## Related comparisons

- [Discourse vs Zulip](https://selfhost.directory/compare/discourse-vs-zulip)
- [Rocket.Chat vs Zulip](https://selfhost.directory/compare/rocketchat-vs-zulip)

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