An MSP that already runs Windows servers can install MDaemon, add its clients' domains and bill them for mailboxes. An MSP that would rather not keep a mail server alive can buy hosted mailboxes wholesale from a platform such as Atriomail and put its own price on them. Both routes end with a client paying you for email. The difference is what you operate, what you license, and how much of each month's revenue is left once the server and your hours are paid for.

This comparison uses MDaemon's own published figures, checked in September 2026, and a 200-mailbox client book, which is where many small hosting resellers and MSPs sit. It says plainly where MDaemon is the better fit. It also separates the licence MDaemon sells to a single organisation from the licensing it offers to service providers who host client mail, because that distinction changes the math more than any add-on does, and it is where Atriomail's per-mailbox model is easiest to compare.

Table of Contents

Key Takeaways

PointWhat to know
MDaemon is Windows software you runIt installs on Windows 2012 through 2025, including Windows 10 and 11. Linux and macOS are not supported.
Published 200-user licence$1,348 new for the Email Server and $727 new for AntiVirus, first year of renewal included. Later years cost less.
The hosting clauseMDaemon says its store prices are for one organisation's own server, not commercial hosting. Service providers go to a separate MSP/ISP offer with monthly per-user billing and no published price.
WHMCSMDaemon's WHMCS Marketplace listing is for Security Gateway filtering, not mailbox provisioning, and was last updated in May 2019.
What Atriomail does for this decisionNo server to run: $1.39 per mailbox per month with 15 GB included, a WHMCS 9 provisioning module, and you set the resale price.
Where MDaemon fitsOne client that wants its own server, an MSP already running MDaemon well, or clients who want branded webmail.

Price the hosted side before you price a server. Atriomail charges $1.39 per mailbox per month with 15 GB included, with no minimum and no contract, and you decide what your clients pay.

Work out your margin   Talk to the team

What MDaemon Is and What an MSP Buys

MDaemon Email Server is a Windows mail server from MDaemon Technologies. It handles SMTP, IMAP and POP3, includes MDaemon Webmail, and sells three optional add-ons: AntiVirus/AntiSpam, Connector for Outlook and ActiveSync (MDaemon's product page, checked September 2026). The current help documentation covers version 26.0. It is software, not a hosted service: you install it on a machine you run.

MDaemon lists Windows 2012, 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2025, plus Windows 10 and 11, as supported, and does not support Linux or macOS. It asks for 2 GB of RAM at minimum, recommends 4 GB, notes that like all mail servers it is heavily I/O bound, and needs disk for whatever mail is stored (MDaemon's system requirements page, checked September 2026).

For an MSP, MDaemon comes in two shapes. The licence in MDaemon's online store is priced for a stand-alone server run by one organisation. For hosting, MDaemon points service providers to its MSP/ISP page, which describes MDaemon as software to build hosted email services on, with monthly per-user billing, white-label webmail with per-domain branding, and multi-domain administration. That page does not publish a price. In both shapes the server is yours to run, which is the first cost a reseller comparing it with selling email without owning the infrastructure should put a number on.

MDaemon Pricing: First Year, Renewals and the Hosting Clause

MDaemon's store sells licences from 5 to 2,500 users on 1, 2 or 3-year terms. A new 200-user Email Server licence lists at $1,348, and a new 200-user AntiVirus licence at $727 (MDaemon's online store, checked September 2026). A new purchase includes the first year of Software License Renewal.

Later years cost less, not more. In a June 2026 post comparing its prices with Microsoft 365, MDaemon gives its standard renewal rates: 50 percent of a new licence for the Email Server, 20 percent off for ActiveSync, and no renewal discount for AntiVirus. Its own example at 150 mailboxes is $1,258 in year one for the Email Server alone and $2,516 over three years, or $2,307 in year one with AntiVirus and ActiveSync and $5,501 over three years (MDaemon's blog, checked September 2026).

Applying those stated rates to 200 users with AntiVirus:

  • Year one: $1,348 plus $727 is $2,075, about $0.86 per mailbox per month.
  • Each later year: about $674 plus $727 is $1,401, about $0.58 per mailbox per month.

Both figures are below Atriomail's $1.39 per mailbox, and it would be wrong to pretend otherwise. What they leave out is the Windows licence, the physical or virtual server, the disk for 200 mailboxes, and the hours spent running it. The explainer on usage-based email pricing covers why a fixed licence and a per-mailbox price behave differently as a book grows or shrinks.

The bigger issue for a reseller sits under the price. MDaemon's store notes that the listed pricing covers a stand-alone, on-premises server for one organisation, that its End User License Agreement does not intend it for commercial use in a hosted environment, and that anyone who wants to host MDaemon email should go to the MSP/ISP page. So if you plan to host 200 mailboxes for 30 client companies on one server, $1,348 is not your price; the MSP/ISP quote is. The same licence-plus-server question comes up with panel mail, as the Plesk mail cost comparison shows.

Want a real number to hold against an MDaemon quote? Create an Atriomail account, add one client domain and see the monthly cost itemized in the billing page. The account is free and needs no card; mailboxes are billed from the first one.

Create a free account   Read the setup guide

What You Run Yourself With MDaemon

Whichever licence you hold, MDaemon is a server you keep healthy. For a 200-mailbox book that means:

  • The Windows machine. An operating system licence, patches, a disk sized for stored mail, and monitoring for when it fills up or stops.
  • Certificates. MDaemon includes a Let's Encrypt screen that runs a bundled PowerShell script, imports the certificate into Windows and applies it to MDaemon, Webmail and Remote Administration, renewing every 10 to 60 days. It needs PowerShell 5.1, .NET Framework 4.7.2 and Webmail listening on port 80 (MDaemon's help documentation, checked September 2026). It is well built, and it is still one more job to watch.
  • Sending reputation. Mail leaves from the server you run, or a relay you set up, so its IP address, reverse DNS and any blocklist listings are yours to look after.
  • Your hours. Updates, stuck queues, a client who cannot connect. The security practices hosting IT managers apply to mail servers all land on you.

Atriomail takes the server off that list rather than making it easier to run. Mailboxes live on the platform with 15 GB each, and outgoing mail goes through Amazon SES on shared infrastructure, with each sending domain verified with Amazon and DKIM-signed for its own name once its SES records are in DNS. Because every Atriomail customer shares that sending reputation, bulk and cold email are banned for everyone. That is the trade of a multi-tenant hosted platform: you do not choose the sending IP, and you do not maintain a server behind it.

WHMCS: The MDaemon Listing Is a Filtering Module

Most resellers in this market bill through WHMCS, so the practical question is what happens when a client orders email. The MDaemon product on the WHMCS Marketplace is MDaemon Security Gateway for Email. It is free, published by MDaemon Technologies, and automates provisioning and billing for Security Gateway, a filtering service that sits in front of mail platforms. It does not create mailboxes on an MDaemon Email Server. The listing names WHMCS 7.6 and 7.7 as compatible and was last updated on May 1, 2019 (WHMCS Marketplace, checked September 2026). We found no WHMCS module from MDaemon Technologies that provisions MDaemon mailboxes.

Without one, every order, suspension and cancellation means a step in MDaemon's own administration after the WHMCS invoice goes out, or an integration you build and maintain yourself. At a handful of domains that is a chore. Across 200 mailboxes that change every month, it becomes most of the work in managing email for many client accounts.

The Atriomail WHMCS module, version 3.1.1 for WHMCS 9, is downloaded from the Plugins page in the Atriomail panel and handles Create, Suspend, Unsuspend, Terminate and Change Package. Create sets up the client's account and domain, and the first mailbox if the domain clears the security check during the order. Mailboxes and storage clients add in the WHMCS client area become recurring charges at your prices, titled "AtrioMail mailboxes"; changes made in the panel or through the API do not sync back. If you run your own portal instead, the guide to email API integration for resellers explains the approach, and the Atriomail REST API covers domains, mailboxes, customer accounts and single-use sign-in links.

MDaemon vs Atriomail for Resellers

Every MDaemon cell comes from MDaemon's own pages or the WHMCS Marketplace, checked September 2026. Rows where the two are alike stay in.

MDaemon vs Atriomail for resellersMDaemonAtriomail
What you buyWindows mail server software you install and runHosted mailboxes on shared infrastructure; no server to run
Published priceStore licence for one organisation's own server: $1,348 new for 200 users (Email Server), first year of renewal included$1.39 per mailbox per month, 15 GB included
Price for hosting client mailSeparate MSP/ISP offer, monthly per-user billing, price not publishedThe same $1.39; you set your resale price
StorageThe disk you provide on your server15 GB per mailbox; extra in 5 GB blocks at $0.60 per month
WHMCSMarketplace listing is Security Gateway filtering (WHMCS 7.6 and 7.7, updated 2019); no mailbox provisioning module foundModule for WHMCS 9: Create, Suspend, Unsuspend, Terminate, Change Package; downloaded from the Plugins page
Outgoing mailSent from your server or a relay you set up; the reputation is yours to manageAmazon SES on shared infrastructure; bulk and cold email banned
BrandingMSP page lists white-label webmail and per-domain brandingPaid add-on: control panel on your hostname with your product name and favicon; webmail interior stays neutral
TermsStore licences on 1, 2 or 3-year terms; MSP/ISP billing monthly per userMonthly billing, no contract, no minimum
Support hoursPhone Monday to Friday, 7 am to 4 pm US Central; $120 per phone incident without a support agreementBusiness hours, by live chat in the panel, email or phone
Testing first30-day trial of the serverNo trial; creating an account is free with no card, and mailboxes are billed from the first one

When MDaemon Makes Sense

  • One client wants its own server. For a 200-person company that wants mail on hardware it controls, the store licence at $1,348 in year one is inexpensive, and you can bill for running it.
  • You already run MDaemon well. If the Windows server, certificates and sending IP are in place and in good standing, and your staff know the product, renewals at MDaemon's stated rates are predictable and there is little reason to move.
  • Clients want branded webmail or MDaemon's add-ons. MDaemon's MSP offer lists white-label webmail, and it sells ActiveSync and an Outlook Connector. With Atriomail's white-label add-on the control panel carries your product name, but the webmail interior stays neutral.

Where Atriomail Fits

Take the 200-mailbox book, resold at $5.00 per mailbox per month. It brings in $1,000 a month on either platform.

On Atriomail you pay 200 times $1.39, which is $278 a month, with 15 GB in every mailbox. That leaves $722 a month, about 72 percent, before card fees, support time and any white-label fee. There is no server line to add, no minimum and no contract, and the margin calculator on the pricing page runs the same sum at your own resale price. If you want clients to see your product name on the control panel, white-label is a separate paid add-on with a one-time setup fee and a monthly fee.

On MDaemon, the same $1,000 has to cover the MSP/ISP licence MDaemon quotes you, the Windows server and its disk, and your time. To keep the same $722 (before card fees, support time and any white-label fee), those three together must stay under $278 a month. Your own assumptions decide it: if running the server takes you 4 hours a month and you value that time at $50 an hour, that is $200, leaving $78 a month for the licence and the server before you match hosted wholesale.

So the choice sorts readers cleanly. If you already run MDaemon well, have a quote in hand and your server hours are small, keep it. If you are deciding today and would rather spend those hours selling, choose hosted mailboxes: create an Atriomail account (free, no card needed, and mailboxes are billed from the first one), add one client domain, and hold that bill against your MDaemon quote. If your own brand is part of the plan, the step-by-step guide to white-label email for agencies walks through what that involves.

Moving 50 or more mailboxes off an MDaemon server? Plan it with us before you set a date. Atriomail's migration signs in to each mailbox with its own IMAP password and moves mail and folders, not calendars or contacts, so the order and the cutover are worth agreeing up front.

Create your account   Talk to the team

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use a standard MDaemon licence to host email for my clients?

MDaemon's store says its listed pricing is for a stand-alone, on-premises server deployed for one organisation and, per its End User License Agreement, not intended for commercial use in a hosted environment. For hosting, it directs service providers to its MSP/ISP page, which describes monthly per-user billing and white-label webmail. That page publishes no price, so ask MDaemon for a quote before you model the business.

Does MDaemon have a WHMCS module?

MDaemon Technologies lists one on the WHMCS Marketplace, but it is for Security Gateway for Email, its filtering service, not for creating mailboxes on MDaemon Email Server. The listing names WHMCS 7.6 and 7.7 and was last updated in May 2019 (checked September 2026).

Can I bill Atriomail mailboxes from WHMCS?

Yes, on WHMCS 9. Download the module from the Plugins page in your Atriomail panel and attach it to a Hosting Account or Reseller Account product. The default limits of 5 mailboxes and 15 GB should be raised for bigger clients. Mailboxes and 5 GB storage blocks that clients add in the WHMCS client area create recurring charges at your retail prices, titled "AtrioMail mailboxes". The client dashboard shows the DNS records to add; it does not publish them.

How do I move client mailboxes from MDaemon to Atriomail?

MDaemon is an IMAP server, so Atriomail's built-in migration can copy mail from it using each mailbox's own IMAP password, keeping folders and original dates, with no charge. For a single mailbox the panel tests both sign-ins before it starts, and a migration can run as a dry run or be scheduled. Bulk migration lists many mailboxes from the same server in one job, but every account still needs its password, and large books should be planned with us first. Migration moves mail only. If the domain sits in a connected Cloudflare or Namecheap account, adding it writes the MX record once it clears the security check, which moves its mail, so add it when you are ready to switch. The guide to checking migration status shows how to follow each job, and the agency playbook for step-by-step migrations covers sequencing a larger book.

What does the Atriomail white-label add-on cover?

Once our team has set up your hostname (you need to control its DNS), clients sign in to the control panel there, with your product name and favicon, and the help center pages show your logo. Some layers stay neutral or show the platform, including raw message headers, the webmail interior, payment pages, system emails and some platform legal documents. Our team sets up certificates for your branded hostnames during onboarding. The add-on is a paid extra with a one-time setup fee and a monthly fee on top of the per-mailbox price; ask sales@atriomail.com for terms.

Latest from the blog