How do I self-host Postal?

Postal can be deployed using Docker Compose. The AltStack provides a production-ready configuration that you can deploy on your own server. Simply copy the configuration and run it on any machine with Docker installed.

Is Postal free to self-host?

Yes, Postal is open source under the MIT and free to self-host. Your only costs are the server infrastructure. A basic cloud VPS starts at around $5-10/month.

What programming language is Postal built with?

Postal is built with Ruby. It has 16,862 stars on GitHub, indicating strong community adoption and support.

Back to Self-Hosted Stacks

Deploy Postal

A fully featured open source mail delivery platform for incoming & outgoing e-mail.

Quick Start

Create a directory

mkdir postal-self-hosted && cd postal-self-hosted

Create config file

Copy the content from the Config tab below into a file named docker-compose.yml

Deploy

docker compose up -d

Fast Track

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Use our optimized Docker templates to deploy Postal on any cloud provider. Get $200 in free credit to start on DigitalOcean.

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$200

Metadata

License

MIT

Language

Ruby

Last Updated

10/6/2026

Configuration

yaml

services:
  postal:
    image: ghcr.io/postalserver/postal:latest
    container_name: postal
    restart: unless-stopped
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy
      rabbitmq:
        condition: service_started
    ports:
      - "25:25"
      - "5000:5000"
    environment:
      - POSTAL_FNAME=Postal
      - POSTAL_LNAME=Admin
      - POSTAL_EMAIL=admin@localhost

  db:
    image: mariadb:10.11
    container_name: postal-db
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD=rootpass
      - MARIADB_DATABASE=postal
      - MARIADB_USER=postal
      - MARIADB_PASSWORD=postal
    volumes:
      - postal_db_data:/var/lib/mysql
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "healthcheck.sh", "--connect", "--innodb_initialized"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

  rabbitmq:
    image: rabbitmq:3-management-alpine
    container_name: postal-rabbitmq
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  postal_db_data:

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