# Mailcow vs prometheus

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

| | Mailcow | prometheus |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 77/100 | 90/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #2 of 106 in Email | #1 of 104 in Monitoring & observability |
| GitHub stars | 13 713 | 66 828 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +215 | +632 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 16 | 16 |
| Latest release | 2026-10 · 21 Oct 2026 | v3.15.1 · 21 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | JavaScript | Go |

## Which one should you pick?

prometheus scores 90/100 against 77/100 for Mailcow, so it is the safer default.

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

prometheus is growing faster right now (+632 stars in 30 days).

## Details

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

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