![[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]](/images/HDR-LISTSERV-sm.gif)
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).
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).
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)