Open Source Mailchimp Alternatives

listmonk is a standalone newsletter and mailing list manager you host yourself, packed into a single binary that uses a PostgreSQL database as its data store.

The backend is written in Go and the frontend in Vue with Buefy, which is why the whole application arrives as one executable rather than a set of services to wire together. A live demo is published for anyone who wants to click around before committing to an install.

Getting it running takes one of two routes.

• Docker: pull the latest image from Docker Hub and start the sample compose file with one command.
• Binary: download a release, extract the executable and run it directly on the host.
• Configuration: a new-config flag generates the config file you edit before first run.
• Database setup: an install flag prepares the Postgres schema, and an upgrade flag migrates an existing one.
• Idempotent upgrades: running an upgrade more than once has no side effects.

Either path leaves the admin interface waiting on port 9000. listmonk is free software under AGPLv3, and the project publishes a developer setup guide for anyone who wants to work on it rather than only run it.

BillionMail combines a mail server with a campaign platform, so newsletters, promotional mail and transactional messages all leave from infrastructure you own. It removes the per-contact monthly bill and the sending caps that come with hosted marketing services.

Installation is a single shell script or a Docker Compose file, and the project puts eight minutes between the install and a first successful send. After that you add the sending domain, verify its DNS records and let the installer switch on free SSL, then write the campaign and pick a list and a send time.

The running system covers the marketing side as well as the mail side.

• Unlimited sending: no restriction on how many messages you push through your own server.
• Campaign analytics: delivery, open rates and click-through rates tracked for each send.
• Reusable templates: professional marketing templates you customize once and use again.
• Webmail included: RoundCube is integrated and reachable from a path on the same install.
• Management script: a bm command prints default logins, shows DNS records and applies updates.

A live demo with public credentials is available for anyone who wants to look before installing, and aaPanel offers a one-click Docker install for its users. Nothing is forwarded to a third party, so contact lists and open tracking stay on the machine you control.

Notifuse sends newsletters and transactional email from infrastructure you control, positioning itself against Mailchimp, Brevo, Klaviyo and their peers. What it removes is the per email bill and the copy of your contact list living in someone else's database.

The backend is Go, arranged in domain, service, repository and HTTP layers, with PostgreSQL as the only datastore. The admin console is React, TypeScript and Ant Design, and an embeddable notification center widget ships beside it. Delivery goes out through a provider you connect, with Amazon SES, Mailgun, Postmark, Mailjet, SparkPost, SendGrid and plain SMTP supported.

The platform reaches well past broadcast sending.

• Visual builder: drag and drop editing on MJML components with real-time preview.
• Automations: multi-step journeys built as a graph of delay, branch, filter, webhook and A/B test nodes.
• Liquid templating: drop contact fields into subject lines and bodies.
• Web analytics: cookieless traffic measurement with engaged time sessions and channel attribution, all on PostgreSQL.
• Transactional API: trigger mail from your own code over REST and receive events by webhook.
• Workspaces: keep separate tenants for teams or agency clients.

Deployment is a Docker image with an interactive setup wizard, and the web analytics side needs PostgreSQL 17 or newer. The project does not accept pull requests, though issues are welcome, and version 40.0 onward carries a Business Source License 1.1 that converts to AGPL-3.0 four years after each release, while version 39 and everything earlier stays AGPL permanently. Five capabilities require a license key and the send path contains no license check.

Keila is a newsletter tool built as an alternative to Mailchimp and similar hosted services. It covers the whole loop: growing a contact list through sign-up forms, designing a campaign, sending it, and reading what happened afterward, without the list itself living on a platform you do not control.

Campaigns can be written in a visual block editor, in Markdown with or without a WYSIWYG layer, in MJML for fully custom responsive layouts, or in plain text. Base templates absorb the differences between Gmail, Outlook, Thunderbird, mobile, and desktop. For a small newsletter you can send through your own inbox over SMTP; larger projects point Keila at AWS SES, Sendgrid, Mailgun, or Postmark instead.

The features around sending are where a list actually gets managed.

• Form builder: sign-up forms with additional checkboxes, text fields, and dropdowns.
• Bot protection: hCaptcha or Friendly Captcha on forms, plus double opt-in confirmation of new sign-ups.
• Segments: subsets of a list built from contact data such as language or tags, through a visual editor or a segment language.
• Liquid templating: personalization from custom contact data held as a JSON object, using Shopify's Liquid.
• Analytics: open and click tracking that can be switched off entirely with one setting.
• API: contacts, campaigns, forms, segments, and templates all addressable, with CSV import and export.

Self-hosting needs the official Docker image and a PostgreSQL database and nothing else, though a reverse proxy has to forward WebSockets correctly. Keila is written in Elixir, and a sample Docker Compose file ships in the repository.

SendPortal is email marketing software you run yourself. Subscribers, segments, campaigns, and the tracking data they generate stay in your own database, and sending goes out through whichever provider you already hold an account with, which is where most of the cost difference against hosted services comes from.

It is a Laravel application, and it exists in two forms. The core package holds the functionality and drops into an existing Laravel application that already handles user authentication. The standalone application wraps that core with authentication and workspace management for anyone starting fresh. Version 3 requires PHP 8.2 or later, Laravel 10 or later, and MySQL 5.7 or PostgreSQL 9.4 as a floor; older PHP and Laravel installations are served by version 2 instead.

The application covers the loop from importing a list to reading a report.

• Subscriber management: import or update contacts by CSV upload or through the API, then divide them into custom segments.
• Campaigns: send to a whole list or to a segment, using templates you design yourself.
• Message tracking: sends, opens, clicks, bounces, and unsubscribes recorded per campaign.
• Workspaces: several teams or domains handled through a single interface.
• REST API: templates, subscribers, tags, and campaigns all addressable for integration and automation.

Sending providers include Amazon SES, Postmark, Sendgrid, Mailgun, Mailjet, and plain SMTP. No per-subscriber or per-message caps are built into the software, so the limits are your provider's and your server's rather than a pricing tier's. Installation is a clone, a composer install, and a web server.

What Hyvor Post leaves out defines it. There is no click or open tracking anywhere in the platform, which takes the tracking pixel and the rewritten link out of every message a subscriber receives. The result is a newsletter tool built for readers rather than funnels.

It is based on Hyvor Relay, the same authors' self-hosted email API, with a Symfony backend in PHP, a SvelteKit frontend for the console, embed and archive, and PostgreSQL underneath. Issues are composed in a clean rich text editor with markdown support.

The console covers what running a list actually requires.

• Multiple newsletters: one account manages several newsletters with scoped access per tenant.
• List management: subscribers are imported and maintained without reaching for a separate tool.
• Templates: email templates are customizable rather than fixed.
• Signup form: an embeddable form drops onto an existing website.
• Archive site: every issue is published to a generated archive website automatically.
• Console API: newsletter management can be automated from your own code.

One caveat matters more than any feature. The project is open source under AGPL-3.0 but not yet ready for self-hosting, with OpenID Connect setup and hosting documentation still outstanding. Until those land the hosted service is the practical way to use it, and pull requests on the missing pieces are welcome.