Dovecot is an IMAP and POP3 server for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. It is designed with security and performance as core goals and is suitable for installations ranging from small personal servers to large hosted mail systems.
The server supports multiple mailbox formats and provides extensive indexing and caching facilities to improve mailbox access. Its authentication framework can also be used by other services, most notably SMTP servers that need to authenticate users submitting mail.
Dovecot is frequently combined with an MTA such as Postfix or Exim, while its LMTP service can handle final message delivery.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- IMAP and POP3 mail access.
- LMTP service for final message delivery.
- TLS-encrypted client connections.
- Flexible authentication framework.
- Integration with SQL, LDAP and other authentication sources.
- Mailbox indexing and caching for fast access.
- Access control lists and mailbox quotas.
- Sieve mail filtering through the Pigeonhole project.
- Shared and public mailboxes.
- Mailbox synchronisation and replication facilities.
- Multiple mailbox storage formats.
- Extensive administrative and diagnostic tools.
- Can provide authentication services to SMTP servers.
Website: www.dovecot.org
Support:
Developer: Dovecot developers
License: GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1
Dovecot is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Email Servers | |
|---|---|
| Exim | Highly configurable mail transfer agent |
| OpenSMTPD | Implementation of the server-side SMTP protocol with additional extensions |
| mox | Modern, secure, all-in-one email server |
| DBMail | Enables storing and retrieving mail messages from a database |
| WildDuck | Opinionated email server |
| Stalwart | All-in-one mail and collaboration server |
| Mailu | Self-hosted mail server stack |
| Mail-in-a-Box | Self-hosted email server solution |
| Postfix | Popular mail transfer agent |
| Maddy | Composable all-in-one mail server |
| Haraka | Modern SMTP server |
| Dovecot | Secure POP3 server that supports mbox and maildir mailboxes |
| Courier | Integrated mail/groupware server |
| Cyrus IMAP | Email, contacts and calendar server |
| Zimbra | Zimbra Collaboration Suite |
| Modoboa | Mail hosting and management platform |
| Citadel | Exchange-killer groupware server |
| chasquid | SMTP server with a focus on simplicity, security, and ease of operation |
| Sendmail | Mail transfer agent for sophisticated mail configurations |
| qmail | Written as a more secure replacement for the Sendmail program |
| dma | DragonFly Mail Agent |
| DavMail | POP/IMAP/SMTP/Caldav/Carddav/LDAP exchange gateway |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
 LinuxLinks helps you discover the best free and open source software for Linux. Explore our extensive collection of recommended applications, including alternatives to popular proprietary software.We also publish software reviews, Linux tutorials, hardware reviews, free programming books and articles covering the wider open source community. Browse our Linux resources to discover more. Know a useful free and open source Linux application we haven't covered? Suggest a program for inclusion. Has your software been featured on LinuxLinks? Display one of our Featured on LinuxLinks badges on your website or GitHub README. |
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.