# Mailpit vs NGINX

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

| | Mailpit | NGINX |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 77/100 | 84/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #2 of 106 in Email | #2 of 12 in Web Servers |
| GitHub stars | 10 787 | 32 003 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +352 ✓ | +279 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 23 ✓ | 21 |
| Latest release | v1.32.0 · 22 Oct 2026 ✓ | release-1.31.8 · 21 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Easy ✓ | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | MIT | BSD-2-Clause |
| Main language | Go | C |

## Which one should you pick?

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

Mailpit ships more often: 23 stable releases in the past year, against 21 for NGINX.

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

## Details

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

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