Exim
Exim is an open source mail transfer agent (MTA) developed for use on Unix systems. It is lightweight, flexible, and one of the most popular MTAs for Linux and BSD systems. Exim aims to be secure, scalable, and easy to configure.
mail-transfer-agent
mta
email
server
Exim: Lightweight MTA for Unix Systems
An open source mail transfer agent (MTA) designed for use on Unix systems, prioritizing security, scalability, and ease of configuration.
What is Exim?
Exim is a popular open source mail transfer agent (MTA) developed primarily for use on Unix systems. It was originally designed for use at the University of Cambridge to replace Sendmail, aiming to be more lightweight, secure, and easy to configure.
Some key features of Exim include:
- Lightweight and performant compared to other MTAs
- Highly customizable configuration using its own domain-specific configuration language
- Built-in support for TLS encryption and authentication
- Extensive access control and spam blocking capabilities
- Integration with various mail user agents like mutt
- Scales well - can be used on systems handling anything from a few emails per day to millions per hour
Exim aims to provide a good balance of simplicity, flexibility, security and performance. This has made it a popular choice for Linux distributions like Debian and Red Hat, as well as BSD variants like FreeBSD. Many web hosting providers use Exim for serving mail to customer domains.
Some downsides of Exim include its complex configuration syntax which can be hard for beginners, lack of a graphical configuration interface, and not as many advanced enterprise-grade features as commercial MTAs. But for most smaller scale mail serving needs, Exim works well and is easy to get started with.
Exim Features
Features
- SMTP server
- SMTP client
- Support for SMTP authentication
- Support for TLS encryption
- Content scanning and filtering
- Virtual domains
- Aliases
- Mail relay control
- Access control lists
- Spam and virus scanning
Pricing
- Open Source
Pros
Lightweight and fast
Very flexible configuration
Good security features
Scales well for large volumes of email
Wide platform support
Cons
Configuration can be complex
Limited user-friendly interfaces
Steeper learning curve than some alternatives
Official Links
The Best Exim Alternatives
Top Network & Admin and Email Servers and other similar apps like Exim
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