42 of the Best Free Linux Email Software

Email is arguably one of the most popular and useful functions of a Linux system. Fortunately, there is a wide selection of free email software available on the Linux platform which is stable, feature laden, and ideal for personal and business environments. Send and receive emails, run a mail server, filter spam, administer a mailing list are just some of the options explored in this article.

To provide an insight into the quality of software that is available, we have compiled a list of 42 high quality Linux email applications, covering a broad spectrum of uses. There's a mix of desktop and server based applications included. Hopefully, there will be something of interest for all types of users.

Now, let's explore the 42 email applications at hand. For each title we have compiled its own portal page, providing a screenshot of the software in action (where appropriate), a full description with an in-depth analysis of its features, together with links to relevant resources and reviews.

Clients - Graphical
Claws Mail	Lightweight yet powerful and full-featured client
Thunderbird	Popular free, cross-platform e-mail, RSS and newsgroup client
KMail	Email component of Kontact, a integrated personal information manager
Balsa	Email client for GNOME
Sylpheed	Simple, lightweight client
Clients - Console
Alpine	Alternatively Licensed Program for Internet News and Email; successor to Pine
Cone	console newsreader and emailer
Pine	Tool for reading, sending, and managing electronic messages
mutt	Small but very powerful text based client
Clients - Web Based
SquirrelMail	Webmail package written in PHP
RoundCube	Browser-based multilingual IMAP client with an application-like user interface
Groupware
Scalix	E-mail and groupware server
Evolution	Provides integrated mail, addressbook and calendaring functionality
OpenGroupware.org	Collaborative software server for multiple clients
Zimbra	Zimbra Collaboration Suite
Email Server
Courier	Integrated mail/groupware server
DBMail	Enables storing and retrieving mail messages from a database
Dovecot	Secure POP3 server that supports mbox and maildir mailboxes
Exim	Highly configurable mail transfer agent
Postfix	Popular mail transfer agent
qmail	Written as a more secure replacement for the  Sendmail program
Sendmail	Mail transfer agent for sophisticated mail configurations
Utilities
fetchmail	SSL enabled POP3, APOP, IMAP mail gatherer/forwarder
getmail	Flexible, extensible mail retrieval system
Postfix Admin	Web based interface used to manage mailboxes, virtual domains and aliases
MailWatch	Web-based front-end to MailScanner written in PHP, MySQL and JpGraph
Security
Enigmail	OpenPGP Email Security for Mozilla Applications
GnuPG	Encrypt and sign data and communication
Mailcrypt	Simple interface to public key cryptography with PGP
Mail filtering
maildrop	mail delivery agent with a mail filtering language
MailScanner	Virus scanner and spam detector
Postgrey	Postfix policy server implementing greylisting
procmail	Mail delivery agent
SpamAssassin	Perl-based spam filter using text analysis
SpamBayes	Bayesian anti-spam classifier written in Python
Vipul's Razor	Spam-catcher using a collaborative filtering network
Notification
CheckGmail	Gmail Notifier
GMail Notifier	An alternative to CheckGmail
Mail Notification	Monitors multiple mailboxes for new mail
Mailing List Manager
ezmlm-idx	Highly automated mailing list manager
Mailman	Manage electronic mail discussion and e-newsletter lists
Majordomo	Perl based mailing list manager