Mailchimp charges $100/month for 10,000 subscribers. ConvertKit, $119. If you're running a newsletter or sending transactional emails, these costs add up fast.
Listmonk is an open-source newsletter and mailing list manager. Self-host it, connect any SMTP provider (Amazon SES costs $0.10 per 1,000 emails), and send to millions for pennies.
What You Get Free
AGPLv3 licensed, self-hosted:
- Unlimited subscribers — no per-subscriber pricing
- Unlimited campaigns — send as many as your SMTP allows
- Template editor — rich text and HTML templates
- Segmentation — lists, tags, custom attributes for targeting
- Analytics — open rates, click rates, bounce tracking
- REST API — programmatic subscriber and campaign management
- Import/Export — CSV import, one-click export
- Multi-language — internationalized interface
- Bounce processing — automatic bounce handling
- Double opt-in — GDPR-compliant subscription flows
- S3 media uploads — store images in S3/MinIO
Quick Start
docker compose up -d
# Uses PostgreSQL for data
# Or binary
./listmonk --install # Initialize database
./listmonk # Start server
Open http://localhost:9000. Connect your SMTP (Amazon SES, Resend, Postmark, or any SMTP server).
Cost Comparison
| Service | 10K subscribers | 50K subscribers |
|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp | $100/mo | $350/mo |
| ConvertKit | $119/mo | $259/mo |
| Listmonk + SES | $1/mo | $5/mo |
What You Can Build
1. Company newsletter — weekly updates to 100K subscribers for $10/month.
2. Product announcements — segment by plan, send targeted release notes.
3. Drip campaigns — onboarding sequences, course delivery, nurture flows.
4. Transactional emails — order confirmations, password resets via API.
5. Community updates — open-source project updates, event announcements.
Need email automation? Email spinov001@gmail.com
More free tiers: 63+ Free APIs Every Developer Should Bookmark
Top comments (0)