Running email in-house is still a priority for many organizations that value control and independence from cloud providers.
MailEnable is a well-known name in this space. This is a Windows-based mail server that’s been around for over two decades. It promises unlimited domains and mailboxes, strong Outlook integration, and enterprise features at a fraction of the cost of Microsoft Exchange.
But how well does it hold up in 2025? In this review, we’ll break down what MailEnable does well, where it falls short, and how much you can expect to pay.
What is Mailenable and who is it for?
MailEnable is a Windows-based email server solution built for organizations that want a self-hosted mail system. It is used by businesses, institutions, and internet service providers that need control over email delivery and collaboration without relying on external cloud services.
It’s ideal for hosting providers, educational institutions, government organizations, and businesses running on Windows servers that want to manage their own email and collaboration tools. It is also useful for teams that want Exchange-style features like shared calendars and contacts at a lower cost.
Mailenable: top features
Mailenable has a solid range of features for powerful messaging services. Here is what most businesses find useful in Mailenable:
- Support for standard email protocols like SMTP, IMAP, and POP3, along with webmail and mailing lists
- Collaboration tools including calendars, contacts, tasks, and meeting scheduling
- Integration with Microsoft Outlook through MAPI or Exchange ActiveSync
- Multiple product editions, ranging from a free Standard version to Enterprise Premium with advanced features such as clustering, mobile access, and antivirus scanning
- Unlimited domains and unlimited users are included in the free Standard edition, making it suitable for smaller businesses or schools
- Administration through Microsoft Management Console and web-based control panels
Mailenable pricing
MailEnable offers several editions of its mail server software, ranging from a free option to advanced enterprise packages. Pricing is based on a per-server license, with optional add-ons for ActiveSync and support services.
Core editions
- Standard Edition: Free. Includes unlimited domains and mailboxes, 12 months of upgrade protection, and Bronze support.
- Professional Edition: $349 per server. Adds business-oriented features on top of the Standard edition.
- Enterprise Edition: $699 per server. Includes more advanced features, suitable for larger organizations.
- Enterprise Premium Edition: $1,098 per server. The top-tier plan with the complete feature set and bundled support.
ActiveSync add-ons
If you want mobile synchronization through Exchange ActiveSync, MailEnable requires an additional per-mailbox license. These are annual fees on top of the server license:
- 20 mailboxes: $199 per year
- 50 mailboxes: $345 per year
- 100 mailboxes: $649 per year
- 200 mailboxes: $998 per year
- 300 mailboxes: $1,198 per year
For organizations with more than 300 mailboxes, pricing is available upon request.
Support packages
By default, the free Standard edition includes Bronze support with a 1-business-day response time. If you want faster or more comprehensive assistance, MailEnable sells separate support packages:
- Standard support: $80, with a 1-business-day response
- Emergency support: $180, with a 2-hour response time and 24/7 coverage
- Installation assistance: $140 for help with setup
- Evaluation support: Free, 1-business-day response during trial
- Higher-tier packages, like Silver ($340) and Gold ($1,200), are available for ongoing priority support
Reviews from real Mailenable users
One of the biggest pain points that Mailenable customers have is with the app crashing out during use. Unfortunately, you’ll have to reinstall Mailenable to get it to work again.
“The only negative is the MAPI plugin for Outlook, it is unstable and often crashes or quits working and requires a reinstall of the plugin. They are aware of the problem for years and have not fixed it.” – Source
Users also have issues with email deliverability, which can be a dealbreaker for businesses that have time-critical email campaigns.
“Management was tedious compared to the cloud-based alternative we inevitably switched to. We had some deliverability issues, where emails often took several minutes, and sometimes hours, to be received.” – Source
The best Mailenable alternatives for email communication
If you need more than mail server setup and your work requires email collaboration services, outreach capabilities, and more, we have good news. There are plenty of valuable Mailenable alternatives on the market to consider instead.
Woodpecker
Woodpecker is a cold email and sales automation platform designed for teams that want to run personalized outreach campaigns at scale. It is used by salespeople, recruiters, and agencies who rely on high-volume email campaigns and need strong deliverability protection to reach inboxes consistently.
Key features
- Deliverability tools such as warm-up, inbox rotation, adaptive sending, spam word detection, and deliverability monitoring
- Automated sequencing and conditional workflows with A/B testing to optimize follow-ups
- AI-powered assistance for drafting emails and tagging replies by interest level
- Personalization at scale with snippets, spintax, and timezone-based scheduling
- Agency panel with centralized billing, client database separation, and performance audits
- Lead verification and sourcing with free catch-all checks and monthly credits
Pricing
- Starter plan begins at $20 per month when billed annually, including 500 contacted prospects, 6,000 emails per month, 2,000 stored prospects, and two warm-ups
- Free trial is available for 7 days or up to 50 contacted prospects
- Add-ons include API and integrations for $20 per month, LinkedIn outreach for $29 per account, agency panel for $27 per client, and extra warm-ups for $5 per inbox
Why it’s better than MailEnable
Woodpecker focuses on outbound campaigns, providing automation, personalization, and deliverability tools that MailEnable does not include. While MailEnable is mainly an on-premise email server, Woodpecker is purpose-built for sales outreach, making it far more effective for teams that want to generate leads through cold email.
Get started with Woodpecker for free today.
SmarterMail
SmarterMail is a Windows-based mail server that offers businesses an Exchange-like experience at a lower cost. It provides email, group chat, video conferencing, and collaboration features without requiring Microsoft Exchange licensing.
Many small to midsize companies, hosting providers, and organizations choose SmarterMail when they want to run their own mail server while keeping expenses predictable.
Key features
- Full support for email protocols, including IMAP, POP3, SMTP, and ActiveSync
- Collaboration tools such as calendars, contacts, tasks, notes, and file storage
- Built-in team chat and video conferencing for internal communication
- Web-based interface accessible on desktop and mobile devices
- Security features, including anti-spam, anti-virus, and intrusion detection
- Integration with Outlook through MAPI for a native experience
- Multi-tenant support, making it suitable for hosting providers
Pricing
- SmarterMail offers a one-time licensing model with perpetual licenses starting at around $449 for the entry-level edition, including 50 mailboxes
- Enterprise editions scale higher with more features and mailbox capacity, while annual software maintenance can be purchased for updates and support
Why it’s better than MailEnable
SmarterMail includes modern collaboration tools like team chat, video meetings, and file storage, which go beyond MailEnable’s core email and calendaring.
It also provides stronger native integration with Outlook and an Exchange-like experience without the complexity or cost of running Microsoft Exchange, making it a more comprehensive option for businesses looking for both email and collaboration in one system.
Zimbra
Zimbra is a mail server and collaboration suite that provides email, calendaring, contacts, file sharing, chat, and video conferencing, which are all accessible through a modern web interface.
It’s used by businesses, service providers, educational institutions, and government organizations that want a self-hosted or managed solution with rich collaboration tools, combining the convenience of cloud features with on-premise control.
Key features
- Email support with SMTP, IMAP, POP3, ActiveSync, full-text search, conversation view, tags, filters, and shared folders
- Calendar and scheduling with support for CalDAV, iCalendar, resource booking, recurring events, free/busy lookup, and delegation
- Collaboration tools, including contact management (CardDAV), task lists, document storage, versioned file sharing, chat, and video conferencing
- Email security via anti-spam, anti-malware tools (SpamAssassin, ClamAV), plus email signing/encryption (S/MIME, DKIM, SPF, DMARC)
- Mobile and sync support through native apps and ActiveSync, plus two-way sync for email, contacts, calendars, and tasks
- Administration via a web-based console and command-line tools, with delegated roles, backup/restore, multi-tenancy, and usage reporting
- Flexible deployment options: Open Source edition (email, calendar, contacts), commercial Network edition (adds mobile sync and enterprise support), and a hosted cloud variant
Pricing
- The Open Source edition can be installed and used for free, limited to core features and community support
- The Network (commercial) edition requires a paid license, available per mailbox or per server via perpetual or subscription models—pricing depends on provider and scale
- A hosted cloud version is also available from partners with managed services and SLA-backed support
Why it’s better than MailEnable
Zimbra provides a modern, collaboration-focused experience that goes beyond MailEnable’s email and calendar capabilities. With integrated chat, video conferencing, file sharing, and mobile sync, it offers a more complete team productivity platform.
This makes Zimbra a better choice for organizations that want an on-premise solution with richer communication features than MailEnable.
Axigen
Axigen is a mail server and collaboration platform that runs on Linux, Windows, or Docker. It provides email, calendars, contacts, tasks, notes, webmail, and groupware features. Organizations use it when they want a self-hosted system with modern email and collaboration tools without moving to the cloud.
Key features
- Full support for SMTP, IMAP, POP3, webmail, mailing lists, and groupware protocols
- Collaboration tools like calendars (CalDAV), contacts (CardDAV), tasks, notes, and shared folders
- ActiveSync and mobile access so users can sync email, calendars, and contacts in real-time
- Security features, including antivirus, antispam, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, blacklisting, and anti-impersonation tools
- Multiple editions, including a free version (usually limited to 5 users), plus Business and MSP editions with extra features like clustering, APIs, and Exchange compatibility
- Web-based administration interface along with command-line tools for flexible server management
- Support for multi-tenancy and delegated administration, making it scale well for hosting providers
Pricing
- A free edition is available (often limited to around five users, with community support)
- The Business Core edition starts at around €460/year for a perpetual license covering 10 users, including one year of maintenance
- The Business Complete edition runs around €534/year for 10 users and includes antivirus/spam protection and ActiveSync
- ISP/MSP plans are available with monthly per-user pricing, starting at about €0.15 per user/month for basic features, rising for more advanced usage
Why it’s a better alternative than MailEnable
Axigen offers a richer collaboration experience out of the box, including mobile sync, groupware, and enhanced security. Unlike MailEnable, which is Windows-only, Axigen supports Linux and Docker environments. It also provides stronger support for scalability and hosting models, making it a more flexible choice for self-hosted email systems with modern collaboration needs.
Wrapping up
Mailenable can help you set up the basics for email delivery, but you have to do the rest of the work. And for many businesses, that’s simply not an option due to complexity, budget constraints, and other factors. Why not get one tool that does it all instead?
Try Woodpecker for free today.