OpenText ZixArchive

Best Self Hosted Alternatives to OpenText ZixArchive

A curated collection of the 2 best self hosted alternatives to OpenText ZixArchive.

Cloud email archiving that captures, indexes and retains inbound and outbound email for regulatory compliance and eDiscovery. Provides searchable archives, legal hold, retention policies and audit logs to support investigations and records management.

Alternatives List

#1
Mail-Archiver

Mail-Archiver

Self-hosted email archiving system for syncing IMAP and Microsoft 365 mailboxes, indexing content and attachments, and exporting or restoring mailboxes with auditing and retention.

Mail-Archiver is a web application for archiving emails from multiple accounts into a searchable database. It synchronizes mailbox folders and attachments, supports exports and restores, and provides a dashboard for monitoring usage and activity.

Key Features

  • Multi-account archiving with scheduled synchronization of folders and attachments
  • Supports IMAP accounts, Microsoft 365 via Microsoft Graph API, and import-only migration accounts
  • Advanced search and filtering across archived emails, with message preview and attachment lists
  • Export full accounts to MBOX or zipped EML archives, plus batch/individual email export
  • Import MBOX and EML (ZIP with folder structure) for mailbox migration and consolidation
  • Restore selected emails or entire mailboxes back to destination mailboxes
  • Multi-user access with account-scoped permissions and detailed access/activity logging
  • Retention policies for automatic deletion from the source mailserver and separate local-archive retention
  • OpenID Connect (OIDC) support for integrating external identity providers

Use Cases

  • Centralized, searchable archive for multiple mailboxes (personal, team, or organizational)
  • Mailbox migration and consolidation using MBOX/EML import and export
  • Compliance-style retention workflows and audit-friendly access logging

Limitations and Considerations

  • Does not provide HTTPS itself and is intended to be placed behind a reverse proxy
  • Not designed for direct exposure to the public internet

Mail-Archiver is suited for operators who want a practical email archiving and migration tool with strong search, export options, and operational visibility. Its account provider support and retention features make it useful for ongoing archiving as well as one-time consolidation projects.

1.5kstars
45forks
#2
Bichon

Bichon

Self-hosted email archiving server that syncs from IMAP, stores a local compressed archive, and provides fast full-text search via Web UI and REST API.

Bichon is a lightweight, high-performance email archiving server designed to synchronize mail from IMAP accounts into a local, searchable archive. It focuses on long-term retention, organization, and fast discovery of historical email, rather than sending or real-time communication.

Key Features

  • Continuous synchronization from one or more IMAP accounts, with unified search across accounts
  • Full-text indexing for fast search across sender, subject, body, date, size, attachments, and more
  • Built-in Web UI with multilingual support for browsing, threads, bulk cleanup, and export
  • REST API with OpenAPI documentation for programmatic access
  • OAuth2 authentication support for IMAP providers (with token refresh) alongside password login
  • Compressed storage with deduplication to reduce disk usage
  • Tagging and facets for organizing and filtering archived mail
  • Multi-user support with role-based access control (RBAC)
  • Import tooling for existing archives (EML, MBOX, PST) via CLI

Use Cases

  • Centralized archiving of multiple mailboxes for fast historical search and retrieval
  • Creating an offline, local searchable archive to reduce dependency on mailbox server retention
  • Programmatic analysis and integration of archived email via a REST API

Limitations and Considerations

  • Not an email client: it does not send email and is not intended for real-time inbox workflows
  • Browser access may require explicit CORS configuration depending on deployment and version

Bichon is well-suited for individuals or teams that need a dedicated email archive with strong search, efficient storage, and an API-first interface. Its standalone design avoids external database dependencies while still providing a modern web experience for managing archived mail.

1.1kstars
31forks

Why choose an open source alternative?

  • Data ownership: Keep your data on your own servers
  • No vendor lock-in: Freedom to switch or modify at any time
  • Cost savings: Reduce or eliminate subscription fees
  • Transparency: Audit the code and know exactly what's running