Free Enterprise Edition for personal use #2850
Replies: 8 comments 9 replies
|
I would also love either a free personal use license with all/most features, or a one time purchase. I only need 5 or less addresses, most would be for automated server notifications in my use case. |
|
I would also like to see a full version for personal use with at least 10 mailboxes. It's unusual to see empty dashboards. The Enterprise version starts at 25 mailboxes, which is more than enough for home/personal use. |
|
I agree with the comments above. 25 mailboxes is also overkill for us. |
|
I bought the enterprise version as a home user as I want to support the project. But I agree having a stripped down home use license with only some of the current enterprise features would be great. |
|
Seriously people? 5$ per month is too much for you? That is a few coffees/teas per month. Then, in my opinion, you don't need enterprise version. The fact that this project even exists and it's free and open source in astonishing for me. But that is just my opinion. |
|
I get where you're coming from, but for me my homelab is my fun project and I don't have any room in my budget for $60 a year (I've already given up going up for Tea or fast food) Now I think offing a free limited license to the full project would be in Salwart Labs best interest, look at Portainer, they have a free license that is limited to 5 nodes. Hobbyist's use that and then since they know Portainer they use it at work and get their company to purchase a full enterprise license for the business. |
|
I'm wondering which enterprise-only features you guys are missing? |
|
Thank you for the kind words and I completely understand your perspective. We love open source and the community around it, and we would love nothing more than to make everything freely available. The difficult reality, however, is that open source alone does not pay developer salaries. Skilled Rust developers are in very high demand, and salaries often start around $140k per year. Sustaining a project of this scope requires a stable and predictable source of funding. We have been fortunate to receive two generous grants from NLNet, which helped us push forward a significant amount of open source development. That said, we do not have plans to rely on additional grants in the future, so we need to ensure the project can stand on its own. The Enterprise edition is what enables that sustainability. It allows us to grow organically, hire more developers, and continue improving Stalwart at a steady pace. Just as importantly, it also allows us to keep investing in the open source edition. For example, the upcoming v0.16 release will include dozens of new features that will be available to everyone. We have tried to keep pricing accessible for individuals as well. The Enterprise plan for home users is $5 per month, which is less than a typical subscription like Spotify or Netflix. At the same time, the open source edition of Stalwart already includes more functionality than many free and even paid mail servers on the market, and we will continue to expand it. Another important aspect is independence. We have already been approached by two venture capital firms, including one of the top funds that has backed very well known companies. While that path might accelerate growth, it often comes with pressure to maximize profits quickly. In practice, that can mean moving features out of open source and into paid tiers. We have seen this happen before, for example with Dovecot removing replication in 2.4, and with companies like MinIO changing their approach over time. By funding development through Enterprise subscriptions instead, we can grow slowly and sustainably, keep control of the project’s direction, and avoid those tradeoffs. Supporting Enterprise is not just about unlocking features, it directly helps us keep Stalwart open, independent, and aligned with the community long term. |
|
Thank you for not following the path of the other projects mentioned and staying true to the open source spirit! |
|
And how do i purchase 5 dollar per month for home? i must be missing something as I can see only prices (eur for my case) per mailbox and it starts only at 25 mailboxes.... so you do not support purchasing ent mailboxes licenses below 25? for instance 20? also how is that different from 5 usd per month for home for ent? I admit, i see one piece of info on website and then people claiming different... i would pay 5 usd per month no issue... but 25x2 or 3... different story... anyway, thx! keep up the good work and stay safe of venture capital - that will make you sell out :) |
For me, the only important feature is outbound and inbound delivery attempts/history. Features like AI and masking are not necessary for a home setup. On the other hand, this is a bit tricky, but with Grafana and Prometheus, it’s possible to eliminate the need for a separate metrics dashboard. |
|
For me, AI is not necessary for now but full history logging and protocol logging that is a must - since I wanted to move away from Mail gateway in front of MTA that is important. Also, I would support development for 50eur per year... at least a little :) |
|
The metrics would be nice, and it's frankly available on other free platforms. Axigen is a great mail server, as it also has webmail but I have issues with it - it doesn't support (natively) a multi-SSL cert, you have to load 3rd party app on it to get certs. and support is lacking. Also, 10 mailbox limit on their free plan (my issue with this is it wants an admin account per domain you have, so it takes up mailboxes I need). I'd really consider paying for this one once webmail comes in, as it's a top priority for my family (read, wife wants it now, lol) but until then I can't justify it. |
Have you tried Bulwart? Runs as a small container in Docker, and delivers a rich webinterface.https://bulwarkmail.org/ |
I haven't seen that yet, no. I will take a look, thanks. |
Uh oh!
There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.
Hello, dear Stalwart team!
Though I really enjoy your software, I have a small issue with it. The enterprise version for me, as a homelabber is quite expensive.
Pangolin (a drop-in replacement for cloudflare tunnels and tailscale) announced in October 2025 an Enterprise edition too, but they made it free for personal use (which I use).
I think this is a fantastic move, as it allows the community and homelabbers to use every part of the software, at least what doesn't need any cloud compute from your end, and of course without any additional support.
So yeah, this is a suggestion, do whatever you want with it, but if possible, I would absolutely love to be able to have these additional features with a lifetime personnal use license at ~100 dollars, a yearly ~20 dollars, or a completely free version (a sort of enterprise lite).
Bear in mind, this means additional features, but NO additional support, or anything that needs more work on your end.
Anyway, I really hope you will bless us with this feature. If (when, most likely) I start a company, I will certainly buy your software and recommend it (as I already do).
Wishing you all the best!
All reactions