mailcow (self-hosted) pricing
Checked 2026-07-13against the vendor’s own page
Short answer: mailcow (self-hosted) publishes a free tier: free software, you pay for the VPS. Paid plans start at $0 software + roughly $5 / mo VPS. Both were read from mailcow (self-hosted)'s own pricing page on 2026-07-13.
| Free tier | Free software, you pay for the VPS |
|---|---|
| Paid from | $0 software + roughly $5 / mo VPS |
| Self-hostable | Yes |
| Checked | 2026-07-13 |
| Source | https://mailcow.email/ |
Worth knowing: Deliverability is the real cost here, not the hosting.
Custom-domain business email. The cheap end is genuinely cheap, and the gap between $1 and $12 per user buys far less than the pricing pages imply.
Email hosting alternatives, same check
| Tool | Free tier | Paid from | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zoho Mail | 5 users, free | $1.00 / user / mo (Mail Lite) | |
| iCloud+ Custom Email Domain | None (paid only) | $0.99 / mo (50 GB tier) | |
| Migadu | None | $1.85 / mo (Micro, annual) | |
| Proton Mail | Yes (limited, no custom domain) | $9.99 / mo (Proton Unlimited) | |
| Fastmail | None | $5.00 / user / mo | |
| Google Workspace | 14-day trial | $7.20 / user / mo | |
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic | 30-day trial | $7.00 / user / mo (Basic, paid yearly) |
Where this number came from
The figure was read directly from https://mailcow.email/ on 2026-07-13. It appears in our email hosting guide, where the same number was used in the comparison.
Prices are quoted in the currency the vendor publishes, never converted. If a price has moved since 2026-07-13, tell us and the row gets re-checked and re-dated rather than quietly edited.