On a network such as the Internet, mail clients send mails to a mail server which then routes the messages to the correct destinations (other clients). The mail server uses a network application called Mail Transfer Agent (MTA).
What is a Mail Transfer Agent (MTA)?
A MTA is an application that routes and transmits electronic mail from one node on a network to another. It uses a protocol known as SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) to perform its task.
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On a network node, exists an email client that is used to send and receive messages to and from the mail server, an email client also makes use of the SMTP protocol but it is not necessarily a MTA.
MTA’s are installed on a mail server and email clients such as Mozilla Thunderbird, Evolution, Microsoft’s Outlook and Apple Mail are installed on a mail client (user computer).
In this article, we shall look at a round up of the best and most used MTA’s on Linux mail servers.
1. Sendmail
Sendmail now known as proofpoint (after Proofpoint, Inc acquired Sendmail, Inc) is by far the most popular and one of the oldest MTA on the Linux server platform. Sendmail has a lot of limitations though, in comparison to modern MTAs.
Because of its complicated configuration steps and demands, and weak security mechanisms, many new MTAs have come up as alternatives to Sendmail, but importantly, it offers everything to do with mail on a network.
Visit Homepage: http://www.sendmail.com
2. Postfix
Postfix is a cross-platform, popular MTA that was designed and developed by Wietse Zweitze Venema for his mail server while working at IBM research department.
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It was primarily developed as an alternative to well known and popular Sendmail MTA. Postfix runs on Linux, Mac OSX, Solaris and several other Unix-like operating systems.
It borrows a lot of Sendmail properties on the outside, but it has a totally and comprehensively distinct internal operation. Additionally, it bids to be fast in performance with easy configurations and secure operation mechanism and has the following major features:
- Junk mail control
- Supports multiple protocols
- Database support
- Mailbox support
- Address manipulation support and many more
Visit Homepage: http://www.postfix.org
3. Exim
Exim is a free MTA developed for Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, Mac OSX, Solaris and many more. Exim offers a great level of flexibility in routing mail on a network, with outstanding mechanisms and facilities for incoming mail monitoring.
Its notable features include among others:
- No support for POP and IMAP protocols
- Supports protocols such as RFC 2821 SMTP and RFC 2033 LMTP email message transport
- Configurations include access control lists, content scanning, encryption, routing controls among others
- Excellent documentation
- It has utilities such as Lemonade which is an assortment of SMTP and IMAP extensions to enable mobile messaging plus many more.
Visit Homepage: http://www.exim.org/
4. Qmail
Qmail is also another free, open-source and modern Linux MTA when compared to the other MTAs we have looked at. More over, it is simple, reliable, efficient and offers extensive security features hence a secure MTA package.
It is relatively small but feature-rich and some of its features include:
- Runs on multiple Unix-like operating systems such as FreeBSD, Solaris, Mac OSX plus many more
- Simple and quick installation
- Automatic per-host configuration
- Clear separation between addresses, files and programs
- Full support for address groups
- Lets each user manage their own mail lists
- Supports an easy way to set up mailing list
- Supports VERPs
- Supports automatic prevention of mailing list loops
- Supports ezmlm mailing list manager
- No random lists supported and many more
Visit Homepage: http://www.qmail.org
5. Mutt – Command Line Email Client
Mutt is a small yet powerful terminal based email client for Unix-like operating systems. It has some exciting features as a text-based email client, and some of its notable features include:
- Message threading
- Support for IMAP and POP3 protocols
- Supports several mailbox formats such as mbox, MH, maildir, MMDF
- Delivery status support
- Multiple message tagging
- Support for PGP/MIME (RFC2015)
- Various features to support mailing listing, including list-reply
- Full control of message headers during composition
- Easy to install
- Active development community and many more
Visit Homepage: http://www.mutt.org/
6. Alpine
Alpine is a fast and easy-to-use terminal based email client for Linux, it is based on the Pine messaging system. It works well for starters and power users alike, users can easily learn how to use it through context-sensitive help.
Importantly, it is highly customizable through the Alpine setup command.
Visit Homepage: https://www.washington.edu/alpine/
In this round up, we have looked a brief introduction to how mail is routed and transmitted on a network from mail clients to mail servers and more importantly, a slight understanding of how MTAs work and a list of the best and most used Linux MTA that you may probably want to install to build a mail server.
There are several other MTAs out there but they all have strengths and limitations as the ones we have reviewed here.
I would suggest Powermta, as I am using it since 1 year.
@Arujun,
Thanks for sharing, we will include Powermta in the list..
Dear Aaron,
You should check out MailerQ – Providing a fast, scalable and stable solution for a one-time-fee, this MTA allows you take control of your email delivery in an easy and efficient manner.
Is mutt an MTA? I thought it was an MUA that relies on an external MTA.
@David
Sure, this list actually includes both MTA’s and MUA’s now, we will update the article heading soon.
When is soon?
Thank you for this post, but where is power mta?!!
@Devops
We’ll check it out and possibly review it here. Thanks for sharing.
Achelous, a sendmail replacement, which queues and uploads emails to a web service. We designed it for IoT devices and containers, which might send emails for administrative purposes. https://github.com/core-process/achelous
@Niklas
Thanks for sharing, we check it out and review it soon.
Awesome, thanks for your feedback. Please let me know in case you need further information or in case you want to share some feedback with us. We use Achelous on thousands of IoT devices already. :-)
Good Day!
1 to 4 are Mail Transport Agents (MTA)s
5 & 6 are Mail User Agents (MUA)s and are not MTAs! “Email Clients” are MUAs not MTAs … period!
The title should read:
4 Best Mail Transfer Agents (MTA’s) for Linux and a couple of MUAs ;-)
To get to 6 MTAs one can include:
5) CourierMail Server courier-mta : the Courier mail transfer agent (MTA) is an integrated mail/groupware
server based on open commodity protocols, such as ESMTP, IMAP, POP3, LDAP,
SSL, and HTTP. Courier provides ESMTP, IMAP, POP3, webmail, and mailing list
services within a single, consistent, framework.
and even the light weight ->
6) dma – https://github.com/corecode/dma – DragonFly Mail Agent – dma is a small Mail Transport Agent (MTA), designed for home and office use. It accepts mails from locally installed Mail User Agents (MUA) and delivers the mails either locally or to a remote destination. Remote delivery includes several features like TLS/SSL support and SMTP authentication.
PS: Having used all 6 MTAs I stick with Exim if possible.
@Robert
Many thanks for the heads up, we will consider your suggestions.