# Self Hosted Email Server

Generated on 7 Mar 2026 from [the Self Hosted Email Server catalog page](https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/apps/self-hosted-email-server)

Easily host hundreds of users on a cheap $6/month DigitalOcean server.

Based on free and open source software postfix and dovecot for your email server.

Easy-to-use wizard to build your own email server.

Requires a outbound SMTP relay like Amazon SES.

Requires a $25/month license from SelfHostedEmailServer.com – buy it here: [https://app.selfhostedemailserver.com/profile/license-keys](https://app.selfhostedemailserver.com/profile/license-keys)

## Software Included

*This Marketplace listing does not include a detailed software list.*

## Creating an App using the Control Panel

Click the **Deploy to DigitalOcean** button to create a Droplet based on this 1-Click App. If you aren’t logged in, this link will prompt you to log in with your DigitalOcean account.

[![Deploy to DO](https://www.deploytodo.com/do-btn-blue.svg)](https://cloud.digitalocean.com/droplets/new?image=autopanel-selfhostedemails)

## Creating an App using the API

In addition to creating a Droplet from the Self Hosted Email Server 1-Click App using the control panel, you can also use the [DigitalOcean API](https://docs.digitalocean.com/reference/api). As an example, to create a 4GB Self Hosted Email Server Droplet in the SFO2 region, you can use the following `curl` command. You need to either save your [API access token](https://docs.digitalocean.com/reference/api/create-personal-access-token/index.html.md) to an environment variable or substitute it in the command below.

```shell
curl -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
         -H 'Authorization: Bearer '$TOKEN'' -d \
        '{"name":"choose_a_name","region":"sfo2","size":"s-2vcpu-4gb","image":"autopanel-selfhostedemails"}' \
        "https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/droplets"
```

## Getting Started After Deploying Self Hosted Email Server

Very easy. Just follow the wizard at http://your\_droplet\_public\_ipv4:8080/

You are required to buy a license to use. These are $25/month or $250/year. You can buy the license here: [https://app.selfhostedemailserver.com/profile/license-keys](https://app.selfhostedemailserver.com/profile/license-keys)

Please reach out over email [hello@programmerhat.com](mailto:hello@programmerhat.com) for any assistance.