alt Hacker News> Nobody wants to run a mail server in 2026.
We do, and thats why we use Postal [1].
The more SaaS applications that self-host email the better. It forces the big guys, ie Microsoft, to improve their blocklists and not lazily block entire ranges. Yes its work contacting them occasionally, but it keeps the internet open. The alternative is an internet where they control it all.
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Can't agree more. Thank you for standing up! I'm doing it for 20yrs (currently with mail-in-a-box) and only wish more people were doing it.
Security is the main worry when hosting email servers, not just of the email service, but also in preventing attacks via email. Antivirus integration is available with Postal. May be it is a good idea to chain multiple antivirus solutions. Instead of just expecting that Google or Microsoft would prevent malicious email, Postal may enable better control and transparency.
Does postal still use outdated rails? That's the biggest issue I have with this project as a exposed web service and mail server is for me high risk especially with outdated software.
Fair. Don't disagree with anything you're saying here.
I should probably tighten up that line. What I really meant to say is that the average self-hoster who just wants to enable a few services to send email doesn't want to run a mail server. Different audiences, different (and both correct) answers.
I set out to solve some pretty specific problems of my own but I'm genuinely curious how others have tackled these things. Posthorn and Postal don't compete in my head. Postal makes you into your own provider, which is something I personally deeply want to avoid. Posthorn assumes you've already picked a provider (which might be Postal, actually, it would work just fine pointed at a self-hosted Postal instance).