[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – 17 July 2024


There are many possible ways to measure the relative "importance" or "size" of LISTSERV sites: number of lists, number of subscribers, number of messages delivered, etc. In most cases, the number of messages delivered is used to rank mailing list managers, because it is the most accurate measurement of the amount of activity on the server. But, depending on what you are looking for, other variables may be more appropriate. There are currently three LISTSERV "Top 20" lists, ranking the various servers according to:

In addition, you can view a list of the Top 20 lists in the network (by number of subscribers).

What do these numbers mean exactly?

The statistics are gathered daily by a monitor at L-Soft which polls all the LISTSERV sites that participate in the "open" LISTSERV network over the worldwide Internet. Corporate servers operating in a "closed" environment are not included.

The statistics are organized in monthly reports. The message volume figures are a flat average of the accumulated traffic for the entire month. Thus, a server that delivers 300,000 messages per month will show a daily average of 10,000 messages. In practice, there is a lot less traffic during the weekend, and even during business days there can be significant fluctuations (~30%). The list statistics (number of lists, number of subscribers, largest lists in the network) are measured as of the last day in the month.

For the current month, the message volume figures are averaged based on the number of days that have elapsed. In practice, the figures are not very meaningful in the first few days, especially if the month starts on a weekend. In that case it is best to refer to the previous month for more accurate figures.

A fourth "Top 20" list is available for the more technically oriented: Number of messages generated by the server. This corresponds to the number of mail messages created by the server while processing postings to its mailing lists. LISTSERV delivers its mail using an intelligent mail delivery function called DISTRIBUTE, which improves mail delivery times and reduces bandwidth usage by spreading the delivery chore over scores of participating servers. Each of these servers processes the recipients for its service area (typically its organization or campus). In most cases, DISTRIBUTE simply alters the manner in which the mail is delivered, and the number of messages forwarded to other sites for optimized delivery is roughly equal to the number of messages received by other sites for the same purpose. In some cases, however, this is not the case, either because the server elected to serve a much wider service area than its own organization, or because it is explicitly forwarding all its deliveries to another machine (for instance, many mainframe-based servers forward their mail to a workstation or PC for delivery).


Top 20 sites by volume delivered daily (JUL24, 1-17)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     641197  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)
  2     294051  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 3.10.0)
  3     195577  LISTS.PSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
  4     173706  LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  5     158326  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 3.10.0-1160.118.1.el7.x86_64)
  6     148075  LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 3.10.0-1160.119.1.el7.x86_64)
  7     103388  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 3.10.0-1160.119.1.el7.x86_64)
  8     100941  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  9      97668  MASSMAIL.VCU.EDU (Windows Server 2022 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 10      91903  LISTS.PORTSIDE.ORG (Linux 4.9.0-19-amd64)
 11      86975  LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 12      81649  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 13      80680  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)
 14      77080  LISTSERV.STATE.CA.GOV (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition)
 15      76809  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 16      76746  LISTSERV.ED.GOV (Linux 5.14.0-427.16.1.el9_4.x86_64)
 17      76631  LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 18      75988  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)
 19      73252  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 20      66386  LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 4.18.0)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (17 Jul 2024)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     5519780  LISTS.PSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
  2     4808842  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  3     1980333  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  4     1777535  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  5     1400531  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  6     1124217  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
  7     1114171  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14)
  8     1077678  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
  9     1069912  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 10     1059036  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 11      937073  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 12      931368  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 13      902600  LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 14      898139  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)
 15      853488  LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 16      841887  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition)
 17      778192  LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition)
 18      710796  LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Linux 6.2.0)
 19      709328  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 3.10.0)
 20      667435  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (17 Jul 2024)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 28576  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  2 16900  LISTS.PSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
  3 14174  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  4  9788  LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 4.19.288)
  5  9599  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  6  8079  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 4.18.0)
  7  7203  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 3.10.0)
  8  6802  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition)
  9  6588  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 10  5568  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 11  4965  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 12  4872  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 13  4538  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)
 14  4401  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 15  3942  LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Linux 6.2.0)
 16  3614  LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 4.18.0)
 17  3586  LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 18  3343  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)
 19  2816  LISTSERV.KENT.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 20  2776  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (JUL24, 1-17)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     610020  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)
  2     285819  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 3.10.0)
  3     192933  LISTS.PSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
  4     158185  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 3.10.0-1160.118.1.el7.x86_64)
  5     147940  LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 3.10.0-1160.119.1.el7.x86_64)
  6     102998  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 3.10.0-1160.119.1.el7.x86_64)
  7      99403  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  8      91900  LISTS.PORTSIDE.ORG (Linux 4.9.0-19-amd64)
  9      81537  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 10      80634  LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 11      78739  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition)
 12      77080  LISTSERV.STATE.CA.GOV (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition)
 13      76432  LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 14      76172  LISTSERV.ED.GOV (Linux 5.14.0-427.16.1.el9_4.x86_64)
 15      75476  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 16      73165  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 17      66029  LIST.PM.GC.CA (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 18      65104  LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 4.18.0)
 19      64654  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
 20      63786  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (17 Jul 2024)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1       43113  SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  2       41833  OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (Linux 4.12.14)
  3       40477  SUCCESS@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  4       34587  TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
  5       31621  TAU-STU-ACADEMICSEC-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  6       30176  UG2021FALL@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  7       29656  HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  8       28887  TAU-INNOVTL-ALL-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  9       28249  L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 10       27705  RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition)
 11       27479  TAU4U@LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
 12       27372  VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 13       27346  UTENNSRP@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 14       26422  PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 15       25619  ECF-MIWD@NYED.USCOURTS.GOV (Linux 3.10.0)
 16       24992  NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 17       24290  DSSAT@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 18       24288  EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 19       22768  STUDENT-TRAVEL-SURVEY-L@LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 20       22300  L-AGSCINEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)