Mail Server

Mail Server Comparison

Those evaluating MailEnable will be sure to size up the product against competing solutions.

MailEnable encourages this, since we take enormous pride in our software and are confident that you will be impressed by our solutions.

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Functional Differentiators

MailEnable and other e-mail solutions (like SmarterMail, IMail, MDaemon[1] etc) generally perform the same common messaging roles (IMAP, POP, SMTP, SyncML, etc). In that respect, it is simply a matter of installing and evaluating the software to determine which you prefer.

MailEnable does however provide some features that distinguishes it from other messaging solutions:

  • Affordable Rich Outlook Connectivity

    The ability to integrate properly with Outlook, to provide an experience similar to Exchange for Outlook users. For example, if you have Webmail open and make changes, you will see these immediately in Outlook (other solutions do not provide this level of integration). You can see all the features for this on our MailEnable Enterprise Premium product page.

  • Parallels/Plesk Default Mail Server

    MailEnable is included as the default mail server engine with the Parallels Plesk provisioning engine. Plesk is renowned as being the market leader in Internet service provisioning software.

  • Clustering & Fault Tolerance

    MailEnable Enterprise supports multiple clustered servers. These servers can be flexibly configured to access the same configuration and email data. This provides higher up time and protection from hardware failure. It also provides scalability by distributing load across servers. Many MailEnable customers deploy solutions comprised of four or more servers; although smaller installations typically chose to deploy two clustered servers for redundancy.

  • NTLM Authentication

    MailEnable allows you to use the Secure Password Authentication option in Microsoft Outlook/Outlook Express. Otherwise Outlook authenticates in plain text.

  • Database Storage

    MailEnable allows the storage of configuration data in MySQL or SQL This will improve performance on larger installations, and can be easier for those requiring access to our configuration information.

  • SMS Connector

    MailEnable allows you to configure email addresses that can receive e-mail and convert it to SMS. This can be done by using an SMS service provider (IntelliSMS, Clickatell and 24X are supported) or you can even connect your own mobile phone via serial to send out the SMS. Emails can be converted to smaller format when sent (ie. tonight = 2nite).

  • Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Administration

    MailEnable is administrable via the Microsoft Management Console as well as by Web Administration. MailEnable's MMC implementation means that server administrators will be more familiar with configuring MailEnable, because it uses the configuration format and principles of Microsoft's own applications (like SQL Server, Exchange etc).

  • Modular Queuing & Connector Architecture

    MailEnable is modularised into Connectors and Services that use Queues to route messages for delivery. This provides more integration points and allows the development of custom connectors.

  • HTML/WAP Email Client

    As well as having a powerful and rich webmail client, MailEnable has a very lightweight mail client that can be used for mobile devices. Whilst the client does not have all the features of our standard webmail, it is useful for older devices or to provide fast and lightweight access to e-mail.

  • Scripted Filtering Engine

    MailEnable has a powerful scripted filtering engine and allows you to write complex filters in Microsoft VBScript. This approach is typically used when building a filter that has complex criteria.
There are also many other minor differences between MailEnable other e-mail systems, and these are best explored by evaluating the products.

What Am I Buying? An Asset or a Service, or Both?

When you buy an asset (car, house etc), you do not pay the salesman more money just because you drive the car further or spend more time at home. MailEnable believes the same fundamental principles should apply when you purchase a mail server. They do with MailEnable, but not with our competitors.

MailEnable's licensing model is unobtrusive by comparison because of the following:

  1. We believe that you should not be unnecessarily penalized for business growth
  2. We appreciate that the hosting industry requires large numbers of mailboxes and operates at low margins; and that per seat licensing is limiting
  3. We believe that when you buy an asset, you should own it without having to pay more for it


The benefits of MailEnable's licensing are best demonstrated with its Outlook Connector. The no-CAL licensing model means that it is now possible to provide the collaboration features of Outlook to large numbers of mailboxes.
In particular, ISPs and hosting companies now have a hosted Outlook connectivity platform that is cost effective.

Pricing Comparison

The following table illustrates pricing comparisons between MailEnable and a competing product. In this case the SmarterTools product. The table clearly illustrates the unobtrusive nature of MailEnable's licensing model.

Number of Users

MailEnable Professional

Other Vendor Professional

MailEnable Enterprise

Other Vendor Enterprise
Unlimited $349 $1099 $699 $1399
2000 Users $349 $899 $699 $1099
1000 Users $349 $699 $699 $899
500 Users $349 $499 $699 $699
250 Users $349 $299 $699 $499


NOTE: Comparison is not available for MailEnable Enterprise Premium because the Other Vendor does not have a competing product. ie: They cannot provide native Outlook integration that is comparable to Outlook Exchange integration on Windows.

[1]  MDaemon is a trademark owned by Alt-N Technologies

See It In Action!

Get your hands on the latest version of MailEnable now! View the Online Demo or download a trial version to see it in action. Or contact the MailEnable sales team to discuss your business needs.
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