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BillionMail

BillionMail is a free, self-hosted, open-source mail server and email marketing platform for sending newsletters, promotional, and transactional email.

  • Communication
  • Network Services
  • Productivity
  • Tools & Utilities
BillionMail is a free, self-hosted, open-source mail server and email marketing platform for sending newsletters, promotional, and transactional email. It gives businesses and individuals full control over their campaigns, combining built-in SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) sending, advanced analytics, and customer management so you can run your own server without monthly fees.

Platform availability

Available on 1 of 9 platforms

  • Unraid (not listed)
  • TrueNAS (not listed)
  • Umbrel (not listed)
  • ZimaOS (not listed)
  • Proxmox (not listed)
  • Helm (not listed)
  • Mac (not listed)
  • Windows (not listed)
  • Linux

Health score?A 0-100 score computed nightly from four factors: maintained (40%: recent commits and steady activity), popular (25%: GitHub stars, log scale), easy to install (20%: platforms, install notes, setup guides, Docker image) and light to run (15%: minimum RAM, ARM support). When the source code has been checked, a fifth factor, security check (20%: automated scan for committed secrets, unsafe desktop-app settings, known-vulnerable dependencies and project hygiene; any serious finding caps it at 20), is added. Factors without data are left out and the rest are rescaled.

64/100 Good

Maintained
65last commit 126 days ago
Popular
8415,890 GitHub stars
Easy to install
251 install platform, install notes
Light to run
85512 MB minimum RAM
Security check
60no serious findings, 19 minor, tests
GitHub stars
15,890
Open issues
244
Last commit
2026-06-11
Latest release
v4.9
License
AGPL-3.0
Activity
stale

Checked 3 days ago - source: GitHub (Billionmail/BillionMail)

Resources & Compatibility

Minimum requirements: 512 MB RAM.

Checked 3 days ago - source: Docker Hub image tags and published docs

First-install notes

  • Start BillionMail with Docker Compose Install Docker first, then run the Docker Compose quickstart so the app's containers start. If Docker is missing or the .env file isn't copied, BillionMail won't start correctly. source
  • Replace .env placeholders before use Open .env and replace placeholder values like API keys, SECRET_KEY, and your notification email with real settings. If placeholders stay, the features that use those services will fail. source
  • Open port 8001 for the app Make sure port 8001 is open in your firewall and not used by another app. That port is what BillionMail is expected to use, so if it's blocked you can't reach the app in a browser. source

Fetched 3 days ago - each note links to its source

Alternatives (8)

  • Listmonk - Listmonk is a fast, standalone, self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager packed into a single binary.
  • Mautic
  • OpenEMM
  • Plunk
  • Postal - The open source mail server - Postal is a complete and fully featured mail server for use by websites & web servers.
  • SendPortal
  • docker-mailserver - A production-ready, full-featured mail server that runs in a single Docker container, bundling SMTP, IMAP, LDAP, anti-spam, antivirus, and…
  • useSend - useSend is an open-source, self-hostable email platform for developers and small teams that sends transactional, product, and marketing ema…

Checked today - source: AlternativeTo

Common questions

What should I check in .env and firewall before running BillionMail?

Replace .env placeholders such as API keys, SECRET_KEY, and your notification email with real settings before use. Also open port 8001 in your firewall and ensure it is not used by another app.

How do I view default credentials or update the admin password in BillionMail?

Use the bm management command for operations such as bm default to view default login information and bm change to modify the administrator password. You can also use bm update, bm start, bm restart, bm status, and bm stop.

How can I inspect BillionMail spam filtering with Rspamd?

You can open the Rspamd web interface from BillionMail and check the scan history after sending a test email. This is used when configuring or disabling the spam filter.

Does BillionMail create cache files that can be cleared?

BillionMail does not generate cache files during normal operation. Its stored data is mainly actual emails or system configurations, and old email data may need to be deleted manually to free SSD space.

Do I need to warm the IP for BillionMail?

For self-hosted sending, BillionMail is expected to use a dedicated IP and may require IP warming. The source suggests skipping IP warming if you send under 50k emails per month.

Answers sourced from github.com, github.com, github.com, use-apify.com, www.billionmail.com

Community

Collected 3 days ago - public community threads