EmailEngine Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Deploy EmailEngine hosting and run a self-hosted email API gateway on your own domain, turning IMAP and SMTP mailboxes into a REST API with webhooks. xCloud runs the pinned EmailEngine v2.83.2 image with a private Redis 7.4, generates the admin password, mounts a persistent volume and publishes the admin UI and REST API over HTTPS in minutes. A trial or licence key is needed to keep mail syncing.

Deploy your EmailEngine

No terminal
No technical skills needed
No lock-in, cancel anytime

What is EmailEngine?

Self-hosted EmailEngine is a headless email client. Its README says it gives access to IMAP, SMTP, Gmail API and Microsoft Graph resources through one REST API, with real-time webhooks for new, deleted and sent mail, queued sending with retries and templates, a hosted authentication form for OAuth2 and IMAP accounts, and optional SMTP submission and IMAP proxy servers. It stands in for a hosted email API such as Nylas, but it is source-available, not open source.

On xCloud the template runs the postalsys/emailengine v2.83.2 image beside a private Redis 7.4, both pinned by immutable digest, with a redis_data volume. The admin UI and REST API sit on one HTTPS domain. It runs on a 14-day trial, then needs a paid licence key from its maintainers, and the SMTP and IMAP proxy servers stay off until you enable them.

From Sign-Up to Your First Mailbox In Just 3 Easy Steps

An EmailEngine stack normally means the app, a Redis kept from evicting data, a secret, a domain and a certificate before the first API call. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account and pick EmailEngine from the OneClick catalog. Choose your domain and target server — there are no extra fields to fill in.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We bring up EmailEngine with a private, password-protected Redis 7.4 that has no public port, mount the redis_data volume, generate the admin password and secret, and publish the admin UI and REST API over HTTPS on your domain.
Step 03
Create A Token, Add A Mailbox
Save the Admin Password from the protected installation credentials, open your HTTPS URL and sign in as admin. Click Start a 14-day trial on the dashboard, create an API access token, then add your first mailbox.

Everything EmailEngine Does, On Your Own Server

EmailEngine runs in full here: an email gateway with an admin UI on your own domain, backed by a Redis you own.

Mailboxes Through One REST API
Read, search and send mail for connected IMAP and SMTP mailboxes through one REST API.
Webhooks
Get webhooks for new mail and delivery events, so your application reacts without polling.
Optional SMTP And IMAP Proxy
An SMTP submission server (port 2525) and an IMAP proxy (port 9993) are published on the host but stay off until you enable them in the admin UI.
Admin UI And Access Tokens
Sign in to the admin UI and create API access tokens; calls without a token are rejected with 401.
Generated Admin Password
The admin password is generated and applied from the first boot, and wrong passwords are rejected.
Private Redis Storage
Accounts, tokens, settings and queues live in a bundled password-protected Redis with no public port, on the persistent redis_data volume.

Everything You Need To Run Your Email API 24/7

Managed hosting for EmailEngine, so the parts that keep it online are not your problem.

EmailEngine v2.83.2 deployed instantly
Upstream image pinned by digest
Admin password generated for you
Private password-protected Redis
Free SSL certificate
Server backups and snapshots
Server security updates included
30+ server locations
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With EmailEngine

Add mailbox sync to your product
Connect your users' mailboxes and read, search and send their mail through a single REST API instead of writing IMAP and MIME handling yourself.
React to mail as it happens
Receive webhooks for new mail and delivery events so your app can respond without polling a mailbox.
Work with a dedicated support inbox
Attach one mailbox, such as a support address, to your own software and process its messages through the API.
Keep mailbox credentials and tokens on your own server
Hold accounts, API access tokens, settings and queues in a Redis volume you control.

EmailEngine Screenshots

The EmailEngine admin dashboard after signing in as admin

The EmailEngine Accounts list still listing the added account after a restart

EmailEngine vs Alternatives

Nylas: A hosted commercial email and calendar API. EmailEngine runs on a server you control, with accounts, tokens and queues in your own Redis, under its own paid licence.
Mailgun: A hosted service for sending and receiving transactional email. EmailEngine instead connects to existing IMAP and SMTP mailboxes and exposes them through a REST API.
Roundcube Webmail: A browser mailbox client for people, with its own xCloud template. EmailEngine is headless and gives your software the mailbox through an API.
Writing IMAP and MIME code yourself: The README pitches EmailEngine for apps that prefer to avoid direct IMAP and MIME processing, using one REST API instead of per-provider code.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

Dedicated Cloud VPS sizes, pre-configured for EmailEngine hosting. Pick the one that fits, and resize any time.

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

More headroom if EmailEngine sits alongside other services.

$59.99per month

16 GB RAM
6 vCPU cores
200 GB NVMe SSD
30 TB
Unlimited

Get started

Every size is a dedicated Cloud VPS we provision, patch, monitor and restore. Billed monthly with no lock-in — delete the server and the unused balance comes back to your account. EmailEngine itself is licensed by its maintainers under the EmailEngine License, with a 14-day trial and then a paid licence key.

Docker hosting

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

Connect any VPS — DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Hetzner or bare metal — and deploy EmailEngine on it through the same panel, for a per-server management fee instead of a Cloud VPS rental.

Free

Start your journey without cost.

$0forever

1 server
10 sites

Start free

Starter

Professional

The same platform, discounted at 6–10 servers.

$4per server / month

6–10 servers
Unlimited sites
All features included
Bring any VPS provider

Get started

Agency

The same platform, discounted at 11+ servers.

$3per server / month

11+ servers
Unlimited sites
All features included
Bring any VPS provider

Get started

Priced per connected server, so your rate adjusts automatically as you add or remove servers. You pay your own provider for the server itself.

Self-managed hosting

Ready To Run Your Own Email API?

EmailEngine on xCloud runs on a dedicated Cloud VPS that we provision, patch, monitor and restore. Deploy faster. Own the server. Stay in control.

Fast Provisioning
Deploy faster using an xCloud Managed Server built with optimized stacks and high-speed SSDs.
Enterprise-grade security
Protect your infrastructure with a free SSL certificate and more advanced security features at no additional cost.
Intuitive Control Panel
From Server creation to application deployment, everything can be managed from our intuitive control panel.

Hear what people are saying about us

See why agencies, developers, startups, and growing businesses choose xCloud to power their projects.

xCloud works really well, I am surprised by its performance being this the release version, I have tried many paid platforms such as runcloud, cloudpages or serveravatar, as well as free platforms such as CyberPanel, CloudPanel or Hestia Control Panel and direct competitors such as SpinupWP and FlyWP. Of all those that I have tried, the platform that works best for WordPress is SpinupWP and I believe that xCloud can reach and surpass that development, its roadmap is promising. Congratulations to the xCloud team, I hope they become the leading platform in the segment, it has all the potential to achieve it!

Brian Geovanny

I've been with runcloud for the last 3 years. However, after trying xcloud for the last month, I'm switching over. They are on a roll with their setup.

Kevin Pineda

I'm moving my servers to xCloud, a cloud control panel by M Asif Rahman and the WPDeveloper team. Their roadmap looks interesting and no, there are no team mates nor API limits with xCloud! #xCloud #wordpress #hosting

Leo Koo

How Cloud Nine Web Elevated Client Experience While Streamlining Hosting Operations using xCloud

Ed Ellingham

xCloud is like having an expert server team on call — without the big agency costs. It's given me back my time and given my clients peace of mind. Highly recommended for freelancers and small teams who want reliable performance and security.

Dumitru Butucel

xCloud isn't just a solution. It's like one of that friend who got your back when you screw things up pretty bad.

Waqar Ahmed

Trust me when I say, once people explore the potential of xCloud they gonna switch from other panels, just keep delivering the best tech, lots of love for the team 😍😍

Rahul Singh

So far my experience has been smooth like silk. I didn't imagine that configuring and managing a VPS would be so easy. As of today, I have deployed 8 sites. The support is good, and they treat users with respect, even if they ask stupid questions (myself included). For the future, I hope for greater flexibility in scheduled backups and more comprehensive and consistent documentation. I'm sure that within a few months, xCloud will become the leader in its segment. This community is amazing, and the Staff here is super helpful.

Massimo Villa

Came from cloudways then to runcloud then to xcloud. Looks like I'm staying here.

Gerson El

I've recently taken all of my Vultr-hosted sites and gotten rid of cPanel for them to substitute it with xCloud. I have to say, I'm really impressed with xCloud so far! The interface is definitely the standout feature for me.

Tony Lewis

I came from Cloudways and won't go back. Highly impressed with xCloud. Glad I gave them a chance.

Jared McDowell

I like xCloud better than RunCloud, but one thing I'll point out is that some years ago RunCloud was hungry for business, the support was outstanding, and the community was active and helped each other. Maybe it was sold, there was a change in management, or they stopped being hungry, but the quality of the RunCloud offering declined and it hasn't been moving forward quickly. My point is that currently the xCloud team has the edge and it is theirs to keep or lose

David McCan

How Kevin Heinrichs Cut Hosting Costs by 84% While Running WooCommerce & Node.js Sites Efficiently

Kevin Heinrichs

I had 150 sites on cloudways and am in the process of moving them to xcloud. Much faster and better priced.

Dan Spinoza

Dear xCloud Team, I have been using xCloud for some time now and am genuinely impressed with its capabilities and the flexibility it offers by allowing users to bring their own VPS for management. It's a fantastic service, and my experience so far has been very positive. Successful migrated 5 sites on a single server. Xcloud migration tool worked great. There were few hiccups with security plugin like MalCare but disabling the plugin prior to migration worked just fine.

Rahil Maknojia

Came from runcloud. Tried xcloud and never came back.

Karl Fanega

How Advanced Web Strategies Saved Over $2,000 & Recovered 56 Hours per Month Managing 70+ Client Websites

Gary Moody

xCloud gave me what no other hosting platform could: the flexibility of a VPS with the convenience of managed WordPress. As a solo founder running an entire business on one server, that combination is an important unfair advantage.

Jorge de los Reyes Martínez

I use Server Avatar and xCloud and I'll sooner use xCloud than Server Avatar personally.

Jay Pagano

How Newman Web Solutions Ensured Perfect Uptime and Seamless Scaling For 120+ WordPress Sites with xCloud

Lori Newman

I too have moved over to xCloud. It's pretty sweet. One click n8n and uptime Kuma apps

John Aperture

I went from Cloudways to xCloud. No intention on switching in the foreseeable future.

Blaine Moore

Frequently Asked Questions

Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.

How much RAM does EmailEngine need?

The manifest asks for 2 CPU cores, 1024 MB of RAM and 5 GB of disk, and QA measured about 700 MB in use. The 6 GB Cloud VPS sold on this page leaves comfortable headroom for the app and Redis, which keeps all its data in memory.

Is EmailEngine free and open source?

No. The README calls it source-available, not free open-source software: you can read the code, but running it beyond the 14-day trial needs a paid subscription. xCloud bills only for the Cloud VPS and does not sell the EmailEngine licence.

Do I need a licence key to run EmailEngine?

After the trial, yes. Click Start a 14-day trial on the dashboard first, because until a trial or licence is active EmailEngine stops syncing accounts shortly after each start. Buy the key from its maintainers and enter it in the settings.

Can you run EmailEngine with Docker?

Yes. EmailEngine Docker hosting is set up for you: the template runs postalsys/emailengine v2.83.2 beside Redis 7.4, both pinned by immutable digest, serving the admin UI and API over HTTPS, which makes it EmailEngine cloud hosting on your own VPS.

How do I sign in to EmailEngine?

Open the admin URL and sign in as admin with the generated password from the protected credentials. The password is set from the first boot, so nobody can claim the instance first, and it is re-applied from ADMIN_PASSWORD at every restart.

How do I get an EmailEngine API access token?

Create one in the admin UI before calling the REST API, because every API request needs a token and calls without one return 401. Anyone holding a token can read and send mail for the connected accounts, so treat tokens as secrets.

Are the EmailEngine SMTP and IMAP proxy servers on?

No. The SMTP submission server on port 2525 and the IMAP proxy on port 9993 stay off until you enable them in the admin UI under Configuration. xCloud does not open firewall ports, so open them yourself only if outside clients need them.

What is EENGINE_SECRET and can I change it?

EENGINE_SECRET encrypts stored mailbox passwords and OAuth2 tokens. Never change or lose it after accounts are added, because every stored credential becomes unreadable. It is generated at install and shown in the protected credentials, so keep a private copy.

What should I back up on an EmailEngine server?

The redis_data volume, which holds accounts, tokens, settings and queues, plus the stable environment values including EENGINE_SECRET. Keep the admin password and API tokens private, copy the volume off the server, and test a restore.

Backups in xCloud

How do I upgrade EmailEngine?

Nothing upgrades it for you: the install stays on pinned release v2.83.2 until you adopt a newer template version. Back up the redis_data volume first, read the upstream release notes, then check an account and a webhook afterwards.

What happens if I change the domain?

EENGINE_SETTINGS sets the public service URL from the site domain and is rewritten whenever the domain changes. Update the OAuth2 redirect URLs at your mail providers afterwards, or sign-in through their hosted flows will fail.

Can I cancel anytime?

Yes. There is no lock-in — cancel any time. Hosting is billed monthly and charged for what you actually use, so when you delete the server the unused balance is refunded to your account, less up to 10% in payment-processing fees.