Element
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Comparison · Comms
mailcow vs Stoat
A side-by-side editorial comparison of mailcow and Stoat — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:self-hosted
mailcow vs Stoat: at a glance
What is mailcow?
mailcow's monthly releases are mostly upstream security updates with small UI work
mailcow ships named monthly releases with lettered revisions, and most exist to pull in upstream security fixes for components like SOGo, Nginx, Redis, Unbound and Rspamd. The September release also added an ACL and global switch to stop external alias forwarding, a show-password toggle on login pages, and fixes such as an auth-cache wipe during nginx outages. October moved PHP to an Alpine 3.24 base and brought SOGo 5.12.12, Nginx 1.30.6 and a UI update.
What is Stoat?
Stoat moves to release candidates and Gerrit, and gives server admins more control.
Stoat's 0.16.0 release candidates add server controls: invites with expiry and use limits, permission to block external emojis, and bot roles that grant permissions when a bot joins. The team is also piloting Gerrit as its main source control and will now ship release candidates and backports.
mailcow vs Stoat: editorial side-by-side
mailcow
5.0COMMS
mailcow's monthly releases are mostly upstream security updates with small UI work
◆ Current state
mailcow ships named monthly releases with lettered revisions, and most exist to pull in upstream security fixes for components like SOGo, Nginx, Redis, Unbound and Rspamd. The September release also added an ACL and global switch to stop external alias forwarding, a show-password toggle on login pages, and fixes such as an auth-cache wipe during nginx outages. October moved PHP to an Alpine 3.24 base and brought SOGo 5.12.12, Nginx 1.30.6 and a UI update.
◆ Where it's heading
Keeping a dozen bundled upstreams current is the product, and the cadence is built around that. Feature work arrives in small admin and web UI controls alongside the security updates.
◆ Prediction
Expect a revision of the October release carrying further upstream updates, following the lettered-revision pattern.
Stoat
5.0COMMS
Stoat moves to release candidates and Gerrit, and gives server admins more control.
◆ Current state
Stoat's 0.16.0 release candidates add server controls: invites with expiry and use limits, permission to block external emojis, and bot roles that grant permissions when a bot joins. The team is also piloting Gerrit as its main source control and will now ship release candidates and backports.
◆ Where it's heading
The feature list is about moderation and bot management for server owners, and rc.1 adds OpenTelemetry tracing for the file service. The process change toward RCs and backports suggests the team wants steadier releases for self-hosters.
◆ Prediction
A final 0.16.0 should follow the two RCs; the entries do not say when.
Alternatives to mailcow and Stoat
Other Comms products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either mailcow or Stoat.
Synapse
Synapse 1.164 advertises Matrix v1.16 and v1.17 amid a run of dependency security patches
Subsplash
Subsplash gives church staff notes on every person and every Workflow card.
Maddy
maddy's latest release is a security fix, five months after its last feature work.
Grain
Grain adds consent controls and rule-based privacy as its meeting data reaches more AI tools.
Converse.js
Converse.js 14.0.1 fixes OMEMO:2 group decryption broken by Chromium 153.
See all mailcow alternatives → · See all Stoat alternatives →
Recent activity from mailcow and Stoat
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 13d agomailcow🎃🐮 Mooctober 2026 | Security Update: PHP 8.2.35, SOGo 5.12.12 & Nginx 1.30.6
- 21d agoStoatStoat 0.16 RC1 adds OpenTelemetry tracing
- 21d agoStoatStoat 0.16 RC adds invite limits and bot roles
- 28d agomailcow2026-09a: Rspamd 4.2.1 and postfix-tlspol bumps
- 1mo agomailcow🍂🐮 Mootember 2026 | Unbound 1.26.1, SOGo 5.12.11 & Redis 7.4.11
- 2mo agomailcow🏖️🐮 Mooly 2026 | Postfix 3.10.12, Rspamd 4.1.0 & Nginx 1.30.3 - Revision B
- 3mo agomailcow🏖️🐮 Mooly 2026 | Postfix 3.10.12, Rspamd 4.1.0 & Nginx 1.30.3 - Revision A
- 3mo agomailcow🏖️🐮 Mooly 2026 | Postfix 3.10.12, Rspamd 4.1.0 & Nginx 1.30.3
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between mailcow and Stoat?
Both compete on the same themes — self-hosted — within Comms. mailcow and Stoat are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is mailcow better than Stoat?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. mailcow and Stoat are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Comms products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to mailcow?
Top mailcow alternatives in Comms are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "mailcow alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/mailcow for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Stoat?
Top Stoat alternatives in Comms are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Stoat alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/stoat for the full list with editorial commentary on each.