Self-Hosted Alternatives to Mailchimp
Mailchimp’s Pricing Has Become Absurd
Mailchimp’s free tier vanished in stages — first capped at 500 contacts (down from 2,000), then gutted feature by feature. A 10,000-subscriber list now costs $100+/month on Standard, and $230/month on Premium. Automations, A/B testing, and advanced segmentation are locked behind higher tiers. Meanwhile, you’re sending emails through Mailchimp’s shared infrastructure, where deliverability depends on neighbors you can’t control.
The privacy angle is worse: Mailchimp (owned by Intuit since 2021) tracks subscriber behavior across campaigns, shares data within the Intuit ecosystem, and scans email content for “compliance.” Your subscriber list — the single most valuable marketing asset you own — lives on someone else’s servers.
Self-hosted alternatives eliminate per-subscriber pricing entirely. A $5/month VPS running Listmonk can handle 100,000+ subscribers. You control the data, the sending infrastructure, and the delivery reputation.
Best Alternatives
Listmonk — Best Overall Replacement
Listmonk is a high-performance, self-hosted newsletter manager built in Go. It handles millions of subscribers on minimal hardware, includes a template editor, supports transactional emails, and provides analytics — all in a single binary with a PostgreSQL backend.
Where Listmonk wins over Mailchimp: raw speed and cost efficiency. It processes campaigns at 1,000+ emails per second with a fraction of the resource usage. The UI is clean and functional, though not as polished as Mailchimp’s drag-and-drop editor.
| Feature | Mailchimp (Standard) | Listmonk |
|---|---|---|
| 10K subscribers | $100/month | $0 (self-hosted) |
| 50K subscribers | $350/month | $0 (self-hosted) |
| Automations | Yes (limited by tier) | Basic sequences |
| Template editor | Drag-and-drop | HTML + template engine |
| Analytics | Full suite | Open/click tracking |
| A/B testing | Yes | No |
| Sending speed | Throttled by plan | 1,000+/sec |
| API | REST | REST |
| Data ownership | Intuit servers | Your server |
Best for: Anyone who needs a fast, reliable newsletter tool without per-subscriber costs. Ideal for developers and technically comfortable users.
[Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Listmonk]
Mautic — Best for Marketing Automation
Mautic is an open-source marketing automation platform — it’s closer to HubSpot than Mailchimp. Beyond email campaigns, it includes lead scoring, multi-channel campaigns (email, SMS, web notifications), CRM integration, and visual campaign builders.
If you need Mailchimp’s automation features (drip campaigns, behavioral triggers, segmentation), Mautic is the closest self-hosted equivalent. The trade-off: it’s significantly heavier than Listmonk and requires more setup (PHP, MySQL/MariaDB, cron jobs, queue workers).
Best for: Businesses that need marketing automation beyond simple newsletters. Teams migrating from Mailchimp Premium or HubSpot.
[Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Mautic]
Keila — Best for Simplicity
Keila is an Elixir-based newsletter tool that prioritizes simplicity. It has a clean web UI, WYSIWYG editor, segment builder, and straightforward campaign management. Think of it as what Mailchimp’s free tier used to be — before Intuit started stripping features.
Keila lacks Listmonk’s raw throughput and Mautic’s automation depth, but it’s the easiest self-hosted option to set up and use. The WYSIWYG editor is genuinely pleasant to work with — no HTML knowledge required.
Best for: Non-technical users who want a clean, simple newsletter tool. Small businesses and content creators.
[Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Keila]
PHPList — Best for Large Legacy Lists
PHPList has been around since 2000 and handles some of the largest newsletter operations in the open-source world. It supports bounce handling, list segmentation, click tracking, and plugin extensions. The interface shows its age, but the underlying engine is battle-tested across billions of emails.
Best for: Organizations migrating large existing subscriber lists. Users who need proven reliability over modern UX.
[Read our full guide: How to Self-Host PHPList]
Migration Guide
Exporting from Mailchimp
- Go to Audience → All Contacts → Export Audience
- Mailchimp generates a CSV with all subscriber data (email, name, tags, signup date, engagement metrics)
- Download the CSV — this is your complete subscriber list
Importing to Listmonk (Recommended)
- In Listmonk, go to Subscribers → Import
- Upload the Mailchimp CSV
- Map columns:
Email Address→ email,First Name→ name,TAGS→ tags - Select the target list(s)
- Listmonk processes imports at thousands of records per second
What Transfers
| Data | Transfers? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Email addresses | Yes | Direct CSV import |
| Names | Yes | Map columns during import |
| Tags/segments | Partial | Tags transfer; Mailchimp segments need recreation |
| Campaign history | No | Mailchimp doesn’t export campaign archives |
| Templates | Manual | Copy HTML, paste into Listmonk templates |
| Automations | No | Rebuild in your new tool |
| Analytics history | No | Starts fresh |
Setting Up Email Sending
Self-hosted newsletter tools need a way to send emails. Options:
- Amazon SES — $0.10 per 1,000 emails. Best cost at scale. Requires domain verification and warmup.
- Resend — Developer-friendly API. 3,000 free emails/month, then $20/month for 50K.
- SMTP relay (Postfix/Sendmail) — Free but requires proper SPF/DKIM/DMARC setup and IP reputation management. Not recommended unless you know what you’re doing.
- Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) — 300 free emails/day. Good for small lists.
Configure your chosen provider as the SMTP relay in Listmonk’s settings. Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC DNS records for your sending domain.
Cost Comparison
| Mailchimp Standard | Self-Hosted (Listmonk + SES) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 subscribers | $26/month | ~$5/month (VPS) |
| 10,000 subscribers | $100/month | ~$6/month (VPS + SES) |
| 50,000 subscribers | $350/month | ~$10/month (VPS + SES) |
| 100,000 subscribers | $700/month | ~$15/month (VPS + SES) |
| Annual cost (10K) | $1,200 | ~$72 |
| 3-year cost (10K) | $3,600 | ~$216 |
| Data ownership | Intuit | You |
| Sending limits | By plan | By infrastructure |
At 10,000 subscribers, self-hosting saves $1,128/year. At 50,000 subscribers, the savings jump to $4,080/year. The economics are stark.
What You Give Up
Be honest about the trade-offs:
- Drag-and-drop email builder. Mailchimp’s template editor is genuinely excellent. Listmonk uses HTML templates; Keila has a WYSIWYG editor but it’s simpler. If you rely heavily on drag-and-drop design, expect an adjustment period.
- Deliverability management. Mailchimp handles IP reputation, bounce processing, and ISP relationships. Self-hosted means you manage deliverability yourself (or delegate to SES/Resend).
- Pre-built integrations. Mailchimp plugs into Shopify, WordPress, and hundreds of SaaS tools. Self-hosted options have API integrations but fewer pre-built connectors.
- Compliance automation. Mailchimp auto-handles CAN-SPAM footers, unsubscribe processing, and GDPR consent. Self-hosted tools include these features but you’re responsible for compliance.
- Team collaboration. Mailchimp has multi-user roles, approval workflows, and comments. Most self-hosted tools have basic multi-user support at best.
- Analytics depth. Mailchimp’s campaign analytics (click maps, engagement scoring, revenue attribution) are more sophisticated than any self-hosted option.
FAQ
Can I use Listmonk for transactional emails too?
Yes. Listmonk supports both campaign (bulk newsletter) and transactional (triggered/individual) emails through its API. You can consolidate newsletter and transactional sending into one system.
Will my deliverability suffer with self-hosting?
Not if you use a reputable sending service (SES, Resend, or Postfix with proper DNS records). Shared Mailchimp IPs actually hurt deliverability for some senders — a dedicated sending domain with SES often improves it.
How do I handle unsubscribes with self-hosted tools?
All recommended tools (Listmonk, Mautic, Keila, PHPList) include one-click unsubscribe links and list-unsubscribe headers. This is handled automatically — you don’t need to build it yourself.
Is Mautic overkill for a simple newsletter?
Yes. If you just need to send a weekly/monthly newsletter, use Listmonk or Keila. Mautic is for marketing automation — drip campaigns, lead scoring, multi-channel orchestration. Don’t add complexity you don’t need.
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