Compare software

HELO vs Mailpit: catalog facts
HELO	Mailpit
Paid Sold as a paid desktop application.	Free Free to download and run.
macOS	Web, Self-hosted, Command line
Local SMTP server that catches mail before it reaches real users Automatic broken link check	Single binary or Docker image with no dependencies HTML compatibility, link and spam checks built in
Paid only Laravel Herd Pro now includes its own email testing tool, which overlaps for PHP users	For testing only, not a real mail client Spam scoring relies on a SpamAssassin setup
Downloadable app	Downloadable app, Self-hosted
Closed source	Open source
License not stated	License not stated
Not stated if an account is needed	No account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 24, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.