Inbucket Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Inbucket hosting on xCloud gives your development and staging apps a self-hosted email testing server that catches every message instead of delivering it. Deploy Inbucket from the OneClick catalog and xCloud starts the pinned 3.2.0 image behind a Basic Auth gateway, generates the web password, mounts a storage volume and publishes the web interface and REST API over HTTPS. SMTP is a plaintext port, so open it only to the hosts that send mail.

Deploy your Inbucket

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

What is Inbucket?

Inbucket is, in its README's words, an email testing service that accepts messages for any email address and makes them available via web, REST and POP3 interfaces, with HTTP, SMTP, POP3 and storage all built in and no external dependencies. The project says it is production quality and is used for real work. Self-hosted Inbucket is a mail catcher you run yourself instead of a hosted testing inbox. It is licensed under MIT.

On xCloud this template deploys Inbucket 3.2.0, pinned by digest, behind an nginx gateway that requires Basic Auth for the web UI and REST API. It narrows SMTP to a single test domain, never relays mail and does not publish POP3. Messages are kept as files on the inbucket_storage volume for 24 hours, up to 100 per mailbox. The SMTP port is plaintext and unauthenticated, so never send real mail to it.

From Sign-Up to a Live Mail Catcher In Just 3 Easy Steps

A test mail server normally means a container, a login gateway in front of it, a storage volume, a domain and a certificate before the first message arrives. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account and pick Inbucket from the OneClick catalog. Choose your domain and server, then set the Test mail domain (it defaults to inbucket.test) — the only recipient domain SMTP will accept.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We bring up the upstream Inbucket image pinned by immutable digest behind an nginx Basic Auth gateway, mount the inbucket_storage volume, generate the web password for the admin user and publish the web UI and REST API over HTTPS. The Inbucket container has no published web port; SMTP gets its own TCP port.
Step 03
Point Your App At It
Sign in as admin with the generated password, then set your app's SMTP to the host and port shown with no encryption or login. Send to an address at your test domain, type the part before the @ into the mailbox box and the message appears. Open the SMTP port in your own firewall for the hosts that send mail.

Everything Inbucket Does, On Your Own Server

Inbucket runs in full here: a mail catcher with a web UI and REST API on your own domain, behind a password.

Catch Test Email Safely
Inbucket stores what it receives and never relays mail onward, so staging and development email is inspected instead of delivered to real inboxes.
Live Monitor Tab
The Monitor tab streams every incoming message as it arrives, so you can watch your app send mail in real time.
REST API For Test Assertions
Read captured messages over the REST API from your automated tests, protected by the same Basic Auth login as the web UI.
Accepts Only Your Test Domain
SMTP accepts recipients at the Test mail domain you chose at install; mail for any other domain is refused. More domains can be added in the Environment editor.
Capped And Self-Cleaning Storage
By default each mailbox keeps up to 100 messages for 24 hours, and both limits can be changed in the Environment editor.
Persistent Storage Volume
Received messages live on the inbucket_storage volume and survive an xCloud Restart.

Everything You Need To Run Your Email Testing 24/7

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

Inbucket 3.2.0 deployed instantly
Upstream image pinned by digest
Web password generated for you
Basic Auth on the web UI and API
Free SSL certificate
Server backups and snapshots
Server security updates included
Choose your server region
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With Inbucket

Test sign-up and reset emails
Your staging app sends its verification and reset mail to the test domain, and you read each message in the web UI instead of delivering it.
Assert on email in automated tests
A test suite sends mail, then reads it back over the REST API to check recipients, subjects and links.
Share a mail catcher with a team
Developers point their staging apps at one server, and the whole team inspects messages behind a single login.
Keep test mail off third-party inboxes
Staging mail with customer-like data stays on a server you control, and is deleted after 24 hours.

Inbucket Screenshots

Inbucket home page with the mailbox lookup box

An Inbucket mailbox listing a captured test message

Inbucket Monitor tab streaming incoming messages live

Inbucket vs Alternatives

Mailpit: Mailpit is a separate email testing tool with its own OneClick page. Inbucket sorts captured mail into mailboxes by recipient and serves it through a web UI and REST API.
MailDev: MailDev is a separate mail catcher with its own OneClick page. Inbucket organises captured mail by mailbox, with a Monitor tab that streams every incoming message.
MailHog: If you are weighing MailHog, Inbucket is a Go mail catcher with HTTP, SMTP and storage built in and no external dependencies; this template publishes its web UI and REST API, not POP3.
Mailtrap: If you are weighing Mailtrap, Inbucket runs on a server you rent, with captured messages stored as files on your own volume and deleted after 24 hours by default. This page makes no feature-parity claim.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

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

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

More headroom if Inbucket sits alongside other developer tools.

$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. Inbucket itself is licensed by Inbucket's maintainers under the MIT License.

Docker hosting

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

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

Free

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1 server
10 sites

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The same platform, discounted at 6–10 servers.

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Unlimited sites
All features included
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Agency

The same platform, discounted at 11+ servers.

$3per server / month

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All features included
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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 Mail Catcher?

Inbucket 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.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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

Is Inbucket free?

Yes. Inbucket is open source under the MIT licence, whose file is linked here at the pinned v3.2.0 tag. xCloud bills for the Cloud VPS under it, not for Inbucket, and there is no per-message fee. There is no mail limit beyond the retention settings.

Can you self-host Inbucket with Docker?

Yes, and this Inbucket Docker hosting template does it for you: the ghcr.io/inbucket/inbucket image, pinned by digest, runs beside an nginx Basic Auth gateway on your own server, with HTTPS in front of the web interface. It is not an Inbucket cloud account, so test mail stays with you.

How much RAM does Inbucket need?

The template manifest asks for 256 MB of RAM as a floor, because it has no database and stores messages as files. Retention and message size grow the volume. This page sells the 6 GB tier, which leaves enormous headroom above that floor for other apps.

How do I sign in to Inbucket?

Sign in as admin with the generated web password from the credentials. The web UI and the REST API under /api both require it through the Basic Auth gateway. Change INBUCKET_WEB_PASS in the Environment editor and redeploy, and use only letters and digits, since a colon can never match.

Which email addresses does Inbucket accept?

Only addresses at the test mail domain you chose at install, such as [email protected]. Mail for any other domain is refused, and Inbucket never relays mail onward. Type the part before the @ into the mailbox box in the web UI to read it, or watch the Monitor tab.

Can I read Inbucket mail over POP3?

No. POP3 is not published, because it accepts any password and would expose every mailbox. Read mail through the web UI or the REST API, both of which sit behind the Basic Auth login. Do not try to expose POP3 yourself without another access control.

Is the Inbucket SMTP port open to the internet?

Yes, it is published on the server's address, and xCloud does not open it in your firewall. SMTP is plaintext and unauthenticated, so anyone who can reach it can add messages for the accepted domain. Open the port only for hosts that send mail, and never send sensitive mail.

How many messages does Inbucket keep?

By default 100 per mailbox and for 24 hours, with a maximum message size of about 10 MB. Messages are stored as files on the inbucket_storage volume and are not encrypted. You can change retention and limits with the optional settings in the Environment editor.

How do I back up Inbucket?

Back up the inbucket_storage volume if you want to keep captured messages, though they are disposable by design and expire after 24 hours by default. Keep the web password in your notes. Messages are removed after the retention period regardless.

Backup and restore Docker apps

How do I upgrade Inbucket?

Your 3.2.0 deployment keeps its pinned image until you decide to adopt a newer template version. Read the upstream release notes first, then send a test message and confirm it appears in the web UI. Captured mail is disposable, so there is little to migrate.

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.