head to head · open source
ECC vs mailcatcher
ECC has 297,349 GitHub stars, 43,963 forks, 233 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. mailcatcher has 6,784 stars, 605 forks, 43 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. ECC leads on adoption by 4,283% (297,349 vs 6,784 stars). ECC is written in JavaScript under MIT; mailcatcher is written in Ruby under MIT. ECC has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, mailcatcher 9%. ECC was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| ECC | mailcatcher | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 297K | ★ 6.8K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Ruby |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 44K | ⑂ 605 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ECC if
- You weight community size — 297K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick mailcatcher if
- You want the mailcatcher feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You evaluated both and mailcatcher fits your workflow better
About ECC
Language: English العربية Português (Brasil) 简体中文 繁體中文 日本語 한국어 Türkçe Русский Tiếng Việt ไทย Deutsch Español Українська Polski বাংলা [!WARNING] Official sources only. Install ECC only from verified channels: the GitHub repository github.com/affaan m/ECC, the npm packages ecc universal and ecc agentshield , the GitHub App, the plugin slug ecc@ecc , and the project website ecc.tools. Third party re uploads and unofficial mirrors are not maintained or reviewed by the project and may contain malware. Install with Claude Code Use the guided setup or native plugin commands. Both install the same ecc@ecc plugin. Choose…
About mailcatcher
MailCatcher Catches mail and serves it through a dream. MailCatcher runs a super simple SMTP server which catches any message sent to it to display in a web interface. Run mailcatcher, set your favourite app to deliver to smtp://127.0.0.1:1025 instead of your default SMTP server, then check out to see the mail that's arrived so far. Features Catches all mail and stores it for display. Shows HTML, Plain Text and Source version of messages, as applicable. Rewrites HTML enabling display of embedded, inline images/etc and opens links in a new window. Lists attachments and allows separate downloading of parts…
read the full mailcatcher overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ECC or mailcatcher more popular?
ECC has 297,349 GitHub stars and mailcatcher has 6,784. ECC has the larger community by that measure.
Are ECC and mailcatcher free?
Both are open source. ECC is licensed under MIT and mailcatcher under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ECC and mailcatcher?
ECC is written in JavaScript and mailcatcher in Ruby. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, ECC or mailcatcher?
Choose ECC if you want the larger community (297,349 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose mailcatcher if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.