Postfix
The default answer, and usually the right one. Secure by design, extremely well documented, and every guide you will find assumes it. If you have no specific reason to choose otherwise, choose this.
SMTP VPS · Your MTA, Your IP
Run the mail server yourself. Own what comes with that.
A relay rents you somebody else's sending reputation. Your own MTA on your own
dedicated IPv4 makes that reputation yours — which is worth having,
and is also a standing commitment. Here is what you need from the hosting, which
mail server to install, and what you are signing up to maintain.
- Port 25 in and out
- Dedicated IPv4
- Custom rDNS, free
- Full root, any MTA
What the host must provide
3 things
From $4.95/mo · all three on every plan
- Outbound Port 25, unblocked
- A dedicated IPv4 address
- Reverse DNS you can set
- The rest is yours to run
SMTP VPS Hosting, in One Paragraph
An SMTP VPS is a virtual server running your own mail transfer agent, so mail is delivered straight from your machine and your IP address instead of through a hosted relay. Three things have to come from the hosting for that to be possible: outbound Port 25 open, a dedicated IPv4 address, and reverse DNS you can point at your own hostname. All 16 VPS For Life plans include all three, from $4.95 a month. Everything above that line — installing the MTA, keeping it patched, publishing SPF, DKIM and DMARC, warming the IP and watching your reputation — is yours, because every plan is unmanaged.
- Port 25: open by default in both directions, no ticket.
- IP: dedicated IPv4 on every plan, so the reputation is yours alone.
- rDNS: custom PTR set by support on request, free.
- Software: Postfix, Exim, Haraka, Postal — full root, your choice.
- Support scope: platform and network questions, not mail server configuration.
- Backups: none held by us, on any plan.
Related: What is an SMTP VPS? · Port 25 · rDNS · VPS vs relay · Campaign software compared
Which Mail Server to Install
Full root access means the choice is genuinely yours, which is not much help if you do not know what to pick. Short version: Postfix, unless something below describes you better.
Exim
Highly configurable through its own routing language, which is a strength if you need unusual routing rules and a liability if you do not. Common on cPanel systems, so you may already know it.
Haraka
Written in Node.js and plugin-driven, so if your team writes JavaScript you can extend it in a language you already know rather than learning a configuration dialect.
Postal
A full delivery platform rather than a bare MTA: web interface, message tracking, HTTP API, inbound handling. MIT licensed. Documented minimum is 2 CPU cores, 4 GB RAM and 25 GB disk, and it needs MariaDB 10.6+ specifically.
An MTA delivers mail; it does not manage subscribers or build campaigns. If you also
want lists, segmentation and reporting you pair it with campaign software such as
Mautic, listmonk or MailWizz — the
six compared, with licences and costs.
What Running Your Own Mail Server Commits You To
The install is an afternoon. These six are ongoing, and they are the reason some people should use a relay instead. We would rather you knew now.
- Patching, indefinitely A mail server is internet-facing and speaks a protocol older than most of its attackers. Security updates are not optional, and nobody applies them for you — every plan is unmanaged. Yours
- Not becoming an open relay A misconfigured MTA that accepts mail from anyone will be found by scanners within hours and used to send spam. Your IP is then burnt, and burnt reputation is slow to rebuild. Yours
- DNS you keep correct SPF, DKIM, DMARC and a matching PTR record. Not once at setup — whenever you change sending infrastructure, rotate keys or add a domain. Yours
- Watching what happens after you press send Bounces, complaint feedback loops, blocklist entries. Nobody tells you your reputation is sliding; you find out from your own monitoring, or from falling open rates weeks later. Yours
- Warming the IP up A new address is unknown, which in practice means throttled. Volume has to be built gradually. This is the step people skip, and it is the one that costs them the address. There is a 30-day IP warm-up schedule in the knowledge base. Yours
- Your own backups We hold no copy of your data on any plan. Queue, configuration, DKIM private keys and any mailboxes you host are yours to back up off-site. Yours
If that list reads as a warning, take it as one. A relay such as Amazon SES or SendGrid
hands all six to somebody else in exchange for a per-message fee, and for a lot of
senders that is the better deal.
The comparison, honestly →
Plans That Can Run a Mail Server
Which is all of them — Port 25, a dedicated IPv4 and rDNS come with every plan. The entry plan of each range is below, generated from the same data as the pricing page.
NVMe VPS
4 plans · from $9.95/mo
Enterprise NVMe VPS Hosting
Entry plan
Compare NVMe VPS
Starter NVMe VPS
1 Core · 2 GB RAM
20 GB NVMe · 10 Gbps Port
$9.95/mo
+ $1.00 one-time setup
Cloud VPS
4 plans · from $13.95/mo
Scalable Cloud VPS Solutions
Entry plan
Compare Cloud VPS
Starter Cloud VPS
1 Core · 2 GB RAM
30 GB NVMe (triple-replicated) · 10 Gbps Port
$13.95/mo
Classic VPS
4 plans · from $4.95/mo
Affordable Classic VPS Hosting
Entry plan
Compare Classic VPS
Starter Classic VPS
1 Core · 1 GB RAM
15 GB SAS · 1 Gbps Port
$4.95/mo
+ $3.00 one-time setup
VDS
4 plans · from $24.95/mo
Dedicated Resources, Maximum Performance
Entry plan
Compare VDS
Starter VDS (Xeon E3)
2 Cores · 2 GB Dedicated RAM
50 GB NVMe · 10 Gbps Port
$24.95/mo
Running Postal specifically? Its documented minimum is 2 cores, 4 GB RAM and 25 GB disk, which rules out the smallest plans — see the Postal page. All 16 plans.
SMTP VPS Questions
A virtual private server running your own mail transfer agent, so that mail leaves your machine and your IP address rather than going through a hosted relay. In practice it needs three things the hosting has to provide: outbound Port 25 open, a dedicated IPv4 address, and reverse DNS you can point at your own hostname. There is a fuller definition on what is an SMTP VPS.
Use a relay if you send modest volume, want somebody else responsible for deliverability, and do not mind paying per message. Run your own if volume makes per-message pricing painful, if you need routing or data handling a relay will not do, or if you specifically want the sending reputation to be yours. It is a real trade, not a marketing choice — a relay buys you a team of deliverability engineers you do not have to hire. Set out side by side on VPS versus SMTP relay.
Postfix, unless you have a specific reason not to. It is secure by default, exceptionally well documented, and almost every tutorial assumes it. Choose Exim if you need its routing language, Haraka if your team would rather extend a mail server in Node.js, or Postal if you want a full delivery platform with a web interface and an API rather than a bare MTA — see Postal VPS.
Yes, outbound and inbound, on every plan, from the moment the server deploys. No approval form and no waiting period — unlike most large cloud providers, which block it by default. The comparison, with their own documentation quoted, is on Port 25 VPS.
Yes to both. Every plan includes a dedicated IPv4 address at no extra cost, and we set a custom PTR record on request, free. Reverse DNS has to be set by whoever owns the IP block, which is why you ask us rather than doing it in your own DNS — the walkthrough is on rDNS VPS.
For a plain Postfix relay handling ordinary transactional volume, the entry plan of any range is enough — an MTA is not CPU-hungry. Postal is the exception: it documents a minimum of 2 CPU cores, 4 GB RAM and 25 GB disk because it runs a database and a queue alongside the mail server. There is a fuller answer on how many emails a VPS can send.
No. Every plan is unmanaged: support answers deployment, network and platform questions — including setting your PTR record — but does not install or configure your MTA. The Postfix guide in our knowledgebase walks through a standard install.
Yes. Inbound SMTP is unfiltered at our end, so a mail server you run can accept incoming mail. Bear in mind that receiving mail adds spam filtering and storage to the list of things you now maintain.
Both, depending on the range — and the difference is worth knowing before you buy. Outbound Port 25 is open by default on all 16 plans, with no ticket and no approval step. On NVMe VPS, Cloud VPS, Classic VPS and VDS it is written into the published plan specification. On it is open because of how the network is run rather than as a documented guarantee. In practice it behaves the same on all of them — but if your business stops when you cannot send, buy the range that puts it in writing.
Your MTA, your IP, your reputation.
From $4.95 a month with Port 25 already open, a dedicated IPv4 address and reverse DNS set free on request — plus a 7-day money-back guarantee if you decide a relay suits you better after all.