b1gMail vs Mailcow
A side-by-side comparison of b1gMail and Mailcow — pricing, license, deployment, and where each tool wins.
b1gMail
b1gmail.eu
Complete email solution that runs on any webspace with PHP and MariaDB. It supports POP3 catchall mailboxes and can also integrate with Postfix or b1gMailServer if you're running your own server.
Mailcow
mailcow.email
Mail server suite based on Dovecot, Postfix and other open source software, that provides a modern Web UI for administration.
| Feature | b1gMail | Mailcow |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Model | Open-source | Open-source |
| License | CC-BY-SA-3.0 | CC-BY-SA-3.0 |
| Deployment | Self-hosted | Self-hosted |
| Category | Communication - Email - Complete Solutions | Communication - Email - Complete Solutions |
| Self-hosted | ✓Yes | ✓Yes |
| Free tier | ✓Yes | ✓Yes |
Pick b1gMail if…
- ✓You prefer b1gMail's feature set or ecosystem fit.
Pick Mailcow if…
- ✓You prefer Mailcow's feature set or ecosystem fit.
16–60hhigh risk
Treat as a project — 16-60 engineering hours plus user training and parallel-run period.
Export from b1gMail: mbox, IMAP
2 things to watch
- ⚠DNS / MX cutover window
- ⚠Spam reputation reset