How much RAM does mailcow need?

Plan on 4–6 GB for typical use; add headroom if you expect many concurrent users.

What stack does mailcow run on?

Docker Compose (Postfix, Dovecot, Rspamd, SOGo).

Yes — size the plan so mailcow plus your other workloads fit in RAM with room to spare.

Communication

A full self-hosted mail server suite.

SMTP, IMAP, webmail, spam filtering and DKIM/SPF/DMARC tooling in a Docker-based stack you control.

mailcow is the most approachable way to run your own email with modern anti-spam and management, if you want to own your mail fully.

1
Provision a VPS
Choose a plan with room for your data as well as the app.
2
Install the stack
Install Docker Compose (Postfix, Dovecot, Rspamd, SOGo).
3
Deploy the application
Follow the project’s official install guide for your distribution.
4
Enable HTTPS
Serve it on your own domain behind a reverse proxy with a certificate.
5
Back it up
Schedule a database dump plus a copy of any uploaded files to an off-box location.

Give mailcow its own database user with rights only on its own schema.
Reverse-proxy mailcow and terminate TLS at the proxy so certificates are managed in one place.
Take a VPS snapshot before major upgrades so you can roll back cleanly.
Keep mailcow patched — most self-hosting incidents are unpatched software.

How much RAM does mailcow need?: Plan on 4–6 GB for typical use; add headroom if you expect many concurrent users.
What stack does mailcow run on?: Docker Compose (Postfix, Dovecot, Rspamd, SOGo).
Can I run other things on the same VPS?: Yes — size the plan so mailcow plus your other workloads fit in RAM with room to spare.

Looking for something else? Popular alternatives include Mail-in-a-Box, Poste.io, iRedMail — browse all app guides.