7 best Linux mail servers in 2020

Nowadays e-mailing is one of the fastest ways of communication for individuals and businesses. When we send an email, it means that mail clients send mails to a mail server that transmits emails from node to node on a network, generally the Internet.

For transmitting successfully, the mail server uses a Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) a protocol is known as SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) to perform its task. Let’s have a look at 7 most popular mail servers that run under Linux which we can trust with our mails.

You can also check the our What is Linux article

Table of Contents

1. Exim

Exim was developed as a message transfer agent at University of Cambridge for use on Unix systems connected to the Internet. It is possible to install Exim instead of Sendmail, despite its configuration is a little bit different. It gets frequent updates for bug fixing. It has excellent customization and configuration capabilities. On the security side, it comes with three log mechanisms named as the main log, panic log, reject log. In addition to these features, it supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Oracle DB, and Redis databases and even more.

Download Exim Mail Server

Link: https://www.exim.org/mirrors.html

2. Postfix

Postfix that was founded by a Google software engineer, Wietse Venema runs not only on Linux also AIX, BSD, HP-UX, IRIX, MacOS X, Solaris, Tru64 UNIX, and other UNIX systems. And it supports MySQL, Memcache, SQLite, PostgreSQL, LDAP, CDB, and Berkeley Database as data storage. Postfix can be defined as an effective open-source mail server with its features as junk mail control, database support, and convenient log managements.

It comes with a content filter, access control mechanism, virtual domain support, configurable status notifications. It can deliver over 300 emails per second from a single Postfix instance. By providing defense mechanisms against malware and spambots, it offers a secure service.

Download Postfix Mail Server

Link: http://www.postfix.org/download.html

3. Sendmail

One of the oldest and most used mail server software Sendmail also known as Proofpoint runs on Linux and Unix platforms. Before the launching of modern mail server software, this was the first evet piece. Eric Allman’s Sendmail facilities internetwork mail routing by using multifunctional methods during sending mails over the Internet. Specification customized email forwarding is possible without modifying the domain-wide aliases. It uses a very low network since it utilizes a single host.

Download Sendmail Mail Server

Link: https://doxfer.webmin.com/Webmin/Sendmail_Mail_Server

4. Axigen

Axigen has innovative features including an integrated mailing list server, malware, and spam protection mechanisms. This mail server software runs on Linux, Windows, or Docker. It has local and remote access, can easily synchronize mobile. On the security side, it comes with extensive security toolset. It is available for many Linux distribution but you have to pay after use free trial full-featured for 60 days.

Download Axigen Mail Server

Link: https://www.axigen.com/mail-server/download/

5. Citadel

One-year-old mail server software Citadel is an open-source software developed for Linux and BSD Unix distributions but supports most systems. It comes with a packed of features include e-mail, calendar, address books, bulletin boards, mailing list server, instant messaging and more. It has its own implementation of standard server protocols like SMTP, IMAP, Sieve, POP3, XMPP. For the storage of all contents, Berkeley DB database is preferred. OpenLDAP and Microsoft Active Directory are supported by Citadel.

Download Citadel Mail Server

Link: http://www.citadel.org/doku.php?id=installation:start

6. Zimbra Email Server

Open-source software Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) is an efficient mail server for Linux users. It transfers messages efficiently and takes less time to migrate with its powerful migration tools. It also comes with additional features such as group calendars, and document sharing with flexible tooltips, drag-and-drop items, and convenient UI menus. It has also mobile web client application and is ready for using the private and public cloud as well as a closed-source enterprise edition. For strengthening security, Zimbra provides a real-time backup feature.

Download Zimbra Email Server

Link: https://www.zimbra.com/downloads/

7. Qmail

Public domain software Omail can be also an alternative to Sendmail. Qmail runs on Linux, Solaris, Mac OSX and BSD, and many more. It has a modular design for Linux which provides users to change the modules easily. It reduces spam count and simplifies the task of creating a user-defined mailing list. This simple and efficient MTA has a secure MTA package. In addition to these features, Qmail supports providing the opportunity to each user to make their own mail lists. Moreover, it supports address groups, ezmlm mailing list manager, and VERPs.