MailHog was the go-to fake SMTP server for years. It's simple, free, and gets the job done locally. But if you've tried to use it in a modern CI pipeline, you've probably hit the same wall: it requires a running Docker container, adds startup overhead, and is effectively unmaintained.
If you're testing email flows in 2026 — password resets, magic links, verification codes — here's what your options actually look like.
Why people are moving away from MailHog
MailHog's last commit was years ago. It works, but:
Requires Docker in your CI environment
