Many businesses pay per-user, per-month for email they could host more affordably on their own domain. Two of the most popular self-hosted options are Zimbra and Mailcow. Both give you professional email at you@yourcompany.com — but they suit different organisations.
Zimbra in brief
Zimbra is a full collaboration suite: email, shared calendars, contacts, tasks and a rich webmail that feels familiar to Outlook users. It suits teams that schedule meetings together and want a single place for mail and calendars.
Consider: it needs more server memory than lighter mail servers, and upgrades should be planned carefully.
Mailcow in brief
Mailcow is a modern, Docker-based mail server built on proven open-source components, with SOGo webmail (including calendars and contacts), strong anti-spam and a clean admin panel. It is lightweight, quick to deploy and easy to keep updated.
Consider: its webmail is simpler than Zimbra’s, which most users find perfectly adequate.
Side by side
| Zimbra | Mailcow | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Teams relying on shared calendars | SMEs wanting lean, secure email |
| Server resources | Higher | Lower |
| Webmail | Feature-rich | Clean (SOGo) |
| Anti-spam | Good | Excellent (Rspamd) |
| Deployment | Traditional install | Docker containers |
What matters more than the software
Whichever you choose, deliverability depends on configuration:
- SPF, DKIM and DMARC records so receivers trust your mail
- A clean server IP and reverse DNS
- TLS encryption and strong passwords or MFA
- Daily backups that are actually tested
- Monitoring for blacklists and disk space
Get these wrong and your invoices land in spam, regardless of the platform.
Migration
Existing mailboxes from cPanel, Gmail or Microsoft 365 can be synced across before the switch, so no mail is lost. DNS is changed only once everything is copied, followed by a final sync.
Our recommendation
For most small and medium businesses, Mailcow offers the best balance of cost, security and simplicity. For organisations that live in shared calendars, Zimbra is worth the extra resources.
Turtle Technologies sets up, hosts and manages both. See business email hosting for pricing, or talk to us.