# Mailcow vs NGINX

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

| | Mailcow | NGINX |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 77/100 | 84/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #2 of 106 in Email | #2 of 12 in Web Servers |
| GitHub stars | 13 715 | 32 003 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +205 | +279 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 16 | 21 ✓ |
| Latest release | 2026-10 · 21 Oct 2026 ✓ | release-1.31.8 · 21 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Main language | JavaScript | C |

## Which one should you pick?

NGINX scores 84/100 against 77/100 for Mailcow, so it is the safer default.

NGINX ships more often: 21 stable releases in the past year, against 16 for Mailcow.

If you want the quickest setup, NGINX is easier to run; Mailcow needs more configuration.

## Details

- [Mailcow](https://selfhost.directory/project/mailcow) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/mailcow.md)
- [NGINX](https://selfhost.directory/project/nginx) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/nginx.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/mailcow-vs-nginx