MailDev vs Mailpit
MailDev
maildev.github.io
Mailpit
mailpit.axllent.orgSide by side
| Figure | MailDev | Mailpit |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Email Testing Software | 7.7 (#18) | 8.6 (#6) |
| Purpose | MailDev is a local SMTP server and web inbox for developers to catch and inspect email sent by an app during development. | Mailpit is an open-source utility for testing emails and SMTP delivery, with a local SMTP server, web interface, and integration-testing API. |
| Security | MailDev accepts mail from anyone, stores it unencrypted, and has no authentication by default, so the docs warn against exposing it to the public internet or using it for production traffic. | The web UI supports optional HTTPS and basic authentication, while SMTP can be configured with authentication and TLS. |
Plans
In their own words
Mailpit
Mailpit is a free, open-source tool for checking email content and SMTP delivery without sending messages to real addresses. It runs a local SMTP server alongside a web interface and REST API, and is available for Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, and self-hosted deployment. The interface displays formatted HTML, source, text, headers, raw messages, and MIME attachments with image thumbnails. Checks include HTML and link testing, message screenshots, and optional SpamAssassin scoring. The API can access, search, send, delete, tag, and release messages; messages can also be relayed, forwarded, or used to trigger configurable SMTP errors. Mailpit can send message-summary webhooks and offers a Cypress package for integration tests. The web UI and API can use HTTPS and basic authentication; SMTP supports optional authentication and TLS. By default, SMTP listens on port 1025 without encryption or authentication. Mailpit keeps the most recent 500 messages by default.