# Forward Email

Privacy-focused encrypted email for everyone.  All-in-one alternative to Gmail + Mailchimp + Sendgrid.

Repository: https://github.com/forwardemail/forwardemail.net
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/forward-email
Homepage: https://forwardemail.net
Language: JavaScript
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: email, forwarding, forwarder, free, custom, domain, send, mail, aes256, chacha20, encrypted, imap, newsletter, pop, privacy, smtp, sqlite
Last push: 2026-08-26T04:42:43+00:00
Link (homepage): https://forwardemail.net
Link (site_page): https://forwardemail.net/en/blog/docs/best-quantum-safe-encrypted-email-service
Link (site_page): https://forwardemail.net/en/faq
Link (site_page): https://forwardemail.net/en/blog/docs/canonical-ubuntu-email-enterprise-case-study
Link (site_page): https://forwardemail.net/en/blog/docs/alumni-email-forwarding-university-case-study

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 94/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:39:23.370411+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 85, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2451, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 20, "gap_med": 0.0, "n_releases_24m": 257}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1662, forks 201 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:18.621955+00:00)

## What it is
Forward Email is a 100% open-source, privacy-focused email service providing free email forwarding for custom domains, plus outbound SMTP, IMAP, and POP3 with individually encrypted SQLite mailboxes. The original forwarding repository has been merged into the forwardemail/forwardemail.net monorepo, which contains the MX server and full service source code.

## Use cases
- forward email from my custom domain to gmail
- set up catch-all email aliases for my domain
- self-host an open-source email forwarding service
- send transactional email via SMTP API
- receive incoming email as webhooks to my app
- migrate off Amazon WorkMail to an open-source email provider
- encrypted IMAP mailbox for my domain

## When to choose
- you want free or paid email forwarding for custom domains with DNS-based setup
- you need a privacy-focused email provider with encryption-at-rest and open-source code
- you want programmatic domain/alias management via a REST API and webhooks
- you need enterprise email forwarding for universities, governments, or organizations

## When to avoid
- you need a full collaborative suite with calendars, docs, and shared drives
- you require a traditional shared-database mailbox with password-reset recovery
- you want a turnkey on-premise mail server without using their hosted service
- you need a license-guaranteed product, as the repo shows no explicit license

## Facets
- artifact type: service
- maturity: active
- function: email, proxy, security, self-hosted, api-framework
- domain: email, privacy, self-hosted, developer-tools
- platform: self-hosted
- tags: email-forwarding, mta, smtp, imap, encrypted-mailboxes, custom-domains, open-source-email, nodejs, linux, web-server

## Member repositories
- forwardemail/forwardemail.net (main) score 94
- forwardemail/free-email-forwarding (mirror) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:18.621955+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:31:35.028019+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/forwardemail/forwardemail.net (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:18.621955+00:00, sha b989b64fd6ca)
  - homepage: https://forwardemail.net (fetched 2026-08-29T10:14:05.742653+00:00, sha 2594e86e2148)
  - site_page: https://forwardemail.net/en/blog/docs/best-quantum-safe-encrypted-email-service (fetched 2026-08-29T10:14:05.751934+00:00, sha 569f245e2665)
  - site_page: https://forwardemail.net/en/blog/docs/canonical-ubuntu-email-enterprise-case-study (fetched 2026-08-29T10:14:05.755976+00:00, sha 1196fa823dbe)
  - site_page: https://forwardemail.net/en/blog/docs/alumni-email-forwarding-university-case-study (fetched 2026-08-29T10:14:05.758130+00:00, sha 2231a18f45ef)
  - site_page: https://forwardemail.net/en/blog/docs/federal-government-email-service-section-889-compliant (fetched 2026-08-29T10:14:05.760727+00:00, sha aeb1d53b9dd8)
  - site_page: https://forwardemail.net/en/blog/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T10:14:05.762670+00:00, sha b381f57f7573)
  - site_page: https://forwardemail.net/en/blog/docs/how-npm-packages-billion-downloads-shaped-javascript-ecosystem (fetched 2026-08-29T10:14:05.764566+00:00, sha f93a14c4fbed)
  - site_page: https://forwardemail.net/en/blog/docs/amazon-workmail-migration-guide (fetched 2026-08-29T10:14:05.767379+00:00, sha de795ebaa8cb)
  - site_page: https://forwardemail.net/en/faq (fetched 2026-08-29T10:14:05.754436+00:00, sha d34a913385cf)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.