What is Roundcube and what are the benefits?

Managing and composing emails through a web interface installed on the server has numerous advantages. In addition to the long-standing SquirrelMail and the highly functional Horde Framework, Roundcube is considered one of the most popular solutions for this task. The software is widely used on both commercial and private servers and is also utilised by numerous professional providers and hosts for webmail in their production systems. For many providers offering Managed Servers and software for the administration of virtual and dedicated servers such as cPanel or Webmin, the installation and configuration of Roundcube is standard practice. Here you can find web hosting offers with Roundcube pre-installed.

What tasks is Roundcube suitable for?

The first version of Roundcube was released in 2005 as an Alpha version and focused on a simple, user-friendly, and clear interface for webmail. The concept was similar to the deliberately simple design of SquirrelMail, but evolved significantly during development. Today, Roundcube offers extensive functionality, including:

• Modular design with support for plugins for additional tasks
• Multi-language support within a single installation
• Support for emails in text, MIME, and HTML formats
• Spell checking in various languages possible
• Integrated address book for contacts in the LDAP protocol
• Optional extensions e.g. for calendar, CardDAV, or full-text search
• Additional security such as two-factor authentication or reCAPTCHA

To ensure security and clarity with external modules, there is an official repository where developers can publish their own plugins and extensions. You can find the largest webmailers compared here.

What are the benefits of Roundcube?

By the time version 0.8 was released in the summer of 2012, Roundcube had gained popularity, placing it third behind the then market leaders SquirrelMail and Horde. Since then, Roundcube has been steadily gaining popularity due to its functionality and user-friendly interface, often considered the first choice for email management via a web interface. Its numerous advantages include:

• High efficiency, security, and stability in productive environments
• Programmed in PHP, JavaScript, and Ajax
• High flexibility in design and interface customization
• Over 100 plugins for extending functionality in the official repository
• Clean, customizable, and user-friendly interface
• Compatible with various mail servers such as Postfix, Sendmail, or Dovecot
• Low resource consumption on the server
• Easy installation and configuration in different environments

Due to its various advantages, many professional web hosts use the software on their servers to provide customers with an attractive web interface for emails. However, it is also suitable for private or commercially used virtual and Dedicated Servers used exclusively by a small group or individuals.

What are the requirements for Roundcube web hosting?

Roundcube web hosting has similar requirements to a Content Management System (CMS) and minimally requires a web server such as Apache 2, NGINX, IIS, or HTTPD, a PHP interpreter, and its own database in MySQL, MariaDB, or SQLite. Additionally, Roundcube also needs to be connected to mail services, communicating with external servers and clients via protocols like SMTP, POP3, or IMAP. The software itself does not provide its own services but solely serves as a graphical web interface for the system installed in the IT environment.

What applications can Roundcube replace?

Although there are other smaller and often lesser-known alternatives, for webmails, almost exclusively three different solutions are used. Besides Roundcube, the main options are Horde, which is more than just simple software for web content - it is instead a framework that allows users to implement various tasks and functions. The second option is the classic SquirrelMail, which has influenced many of its successors to this day, but has been losing importance since around 2015.

If you are directly looking for web hosting with your webmail app, then check here:

Web Hosting Comparison with SquirrelMail
Web Hosting Comparison with Horde
Web Hosting Comparison with Roundcube

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