# FlareMail vs Postern Postern stores mail on your Cloudflare account and can speak IMAP. FlareMail is the hosted browser inbox. HTML: https://sendwithflare.com/articles/flaremail-vs-postern/ **Keyword:** flaremail vs postern **Audience:** people who want Cloudflare mail and might need IMAP or an MCP package ## Short answer FlareMail is a web inbox for Cloudflare-powered email — a hosted browser inbox, while Postern is a self-hosted mailbox with webmail, IMAP, and MCP that you operate. First three domains are free; Pro is $10/month for 12 domains; Agency is $60/month unlimited. FlareMail vs Postern is a hosted browser inbox versus a self-hosted mailbox you operate. Postern is AGPL-3.0 for the server, with 8 GitHub stars, and a public read-only demo exists. The page captured for this article redirected to demo.posternonline.com. That screen is sparse: a read-only demo note and a sign-in button. It is not a picture of an inbox, and this article does not invent one. ## Hosted inbox or a stack you operate FlareMail is for people who already run on Cloudflare and do not want to provision the mail stack. You create an account, open the app, and connect a domain. The setup guide says about five minutes. One step sits outside the app: an Email Routing rule to the flaremail-api Worker. FlareMail operates the Worker, D1, and R2. Postern is the self-hosted path in this comparison. You clone it and you keep it running. That can be the right trade when the mail must live in your Cloudflare account, or when a feature below is the reason you are here. ## Side by side Same job, different operator. Price on the FlareMail side is the domain plan, not a claim that self-hosting is free. ## What the FlareMail screen actually is The inbox list above is the web app from this product, with obviously fake mail so the screenshot does not use a customer account. The sign-in form at app.sendwithflare.com is only the account door. It is not the inbox. ![FlareMail web app with a fictional message open from Northwind Booth](/assets/articles/flaremail-message.webp) *A message open in the FlareMail web app. The mail is fictional sample data (paperlantern.example), captured from this repo so the screenshot is the real UI.* ![FlareMail sign-in form at app.sendwithflare.com](/assets/articles/flaremail-signup.webp) *The public sign-in form at app.sendwithflare.com. Use it to create an account. It is not the inbox.* ## What Postern is actually good at The README, not that demo screen, is where Postern’s strengths are. It is a Workers mailbox with D1, R2, and Vectorize. Webmail is at /webmail. There is an IMAP proxy, an MCP package at @skyphusion/postern-mcp, and per-identity send credentials. Inbound Email Routing can be on the free plan. Outbound Cloudflare Email Sending needs Workers Paid, stated in the README as USD 5 a month. Choose Postern when IMAP or that MCP package is the requirement and you will run the stack. Choose FlareMail when the job is a hosted inbox and you do not want to provision Worker, D1, and R2. ## Which one to pick Pick Postern when you want the bits in your account and you will operate them. Pick FlareMail when you want the inbox without becoming the person who provisions Worker, D1, and R2. Start on [onboarding](/onboarding/) and use the [setup guide](/help/setup-guide/). First three domains are free. Pro is $10/month for 12 domains, then $1 per extra domain. Agency is $60/month unlimited. ## Other FlareMail comparisons The same hosted-versus-self-host question, for the rest of the field: - [FlareMail vs Mailflare](/articles/flaremail-vs-mailflare/) - [FlareMail vs Agentic Inbox](/articles/flaremail-vs-agentic-inbox/) - [FlareMail vs Quickinbox](/articles/flaremail-vs-quickinbox/) - [FlareMail vs Orange Inbox](/articles/flaremail-vs-orange-inbox/) - [FlareMail vs Email Explorer](/articles/flaremail-vs-email-explorer/) - [FlareMail vs Doota](/articles/flaremail-vs-doota/) - [FlareMail vs cf-mail](/articles/flaremail-vs-cf-mail/) - [FlareMail vs Reccado](/articles/flaremail-vs-reccado/) - [FlareMail vs cloudflare-email](/articles/flaremail-vs-cloudflare-email/) - [FlareMail vs AgentBox](/articles/flaremail-vs-agentbox/) Create an account on [onboarding](/onboarding/), then follow the [setup guide](/help/setup-guide/). The guide’s outside step is an Email Routing rule to the flaremail-api Worker. ## FAQ **Does the Postern demo screenshot show an inbox?** No. The public page redirected to demo.posternonline.com and showed a read-only demo note plus a sign-in button. The mailbox is described in the README, not in that screen. **Does Postern speak IMAP?** Yes. The project includes an IMAP proxy in addition to webmail at /webmail. **What does FlareMail cost?** First three domains are free. Pro is $10/month for 12 domains, then $1 per extra domain. Agency is $60/month unlimited. ## Related - [FlareMail vs Doota](/articles/flaremail-vs-doota/index.md) - [Cloudflare Email Routing inbox](/cloudflare-email-routing-inbox/index.md) - [Cloudflare Email App: What to Look For Before You Build Another Workaround](/articles/cloudflare-email-app/index.md) ## Start [Onboarding](https://sendwithflare.com/onboarding/) · [Pricing](https://sendwithflare.com/pricing.md) · [Setup guide](https://sendwithflare.com/help/setup-guide/)