Comparison of UNIX-based Email solutions as of 2018

Comparison of UNIX-based Email solutions.md

Having to migrate two email servers this year, here's a summary of my options (might not be relevent to your needs) :

A) Custom

Distro : Debian 9 (raw)
MTA : Postfix + Dovecot
Antispam : Spamassassin
Antivirus : Amavis
Webmail : After Logic's WebMail Lite + Lighttpd + SQLite
Monitoring : Munin
Signing & such : SPF, DKIM, DMARC

Pro

• Reliable
• Quick security updates thru offical channels
• Limitless configuration options

Cons

• Tedious to configure
• Any feature has to be added and configured manually
• No GUI backend

B) Halon (commercial)

Distro : FreeBSD
MTA : ?
Antispam : SpamAssassin
Antivirus : Amavis
Webmail : Custom
Monitoring : Custom
Signing & such : SPF, DKIM, DMARC

Pro

• Very neat interface
• Extremely simple to install
• Simple and reliable updates
• Based on FreeBSD instead of Linux

Cons

• Pricy
• Security updates depend on the responsiveness of a third party

C) Modoboa (meta-package)

Distro : Debian 9
MTA : Postfix + Dovecot
Antispam : ?
Antivirus : Amavis
Webmail : Custom
Monitoring : Custom
Signing & such : SPF, DKIM, DMARC

Pro

• Easy to install
• Easy to update

Cons

• Webmail seems bugy and too simplified
• Security updates depend on the updating of meta packages by a third party

D) Mail-In-A-Box (meta-package)

Distro : Ubuntu 14 LTS
MTA : Postfix + Dovecot
Antispam : SpamAssassin
Antivirus : Amavis
Webmail : Nginx + Roundcube
Monitoring : Munin
Signing & such : SPF, DKIM, DMARC?

Pro

• Respect of ALL the best security and privacy pratices
• Easy updates
• Easy installation

Cons

• Dated and ugly Roundcube Webmail
• Near "end of life" distro