Skip to content
appsgit

6 top picks · 2 audience rankings

Best open source email marketing and newsletter tools

The best open source email marketing tool is Listmonk, with 23,701 GitHub stars, the AGPL-3.0 license and a Docker image; Mautic and Keila are strong alternatives. This page also breaks the picks down by team size and use: Listmonk leads for startups, small business and freelancers. The overall ranking weighs GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits across the 6 apps in the newsletters & mailing lists category of the appsgit catalog.

Updated · data from GitHub, refreshed nightly

Top picks

  1. Rank 1:

    Listmonk

    knadh/listmonk

    High performance, self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager with a modern dashboard.

    Newsletters & Mailing ListsGoDocker

    Listmonk has 23,701 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 227 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp and Twilio SendGrid.

  2. Rank 2:

    Mautic

    mautic/mautic

    Marketing automation software (email, social and more).

    Newsletters & Mailing ListsPHP

    Mautic has 10,710 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license and had 5,274 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp and HubSpot.

  3. Rank 3:

    Keila

    pentacent/keila

    Reliable and easy-to-use newsletter tool (alternative to Mailchimp and Sendinblue).

    Newsletters & Mailing ListsElixirDocker

    Keila has 2,227 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 383 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp and Substack.

1 of 3 · 6 picks

Top picks

6 of the 6 apps in the newsletters & mailing lists category, ranked on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits.

  1. 1

    Listmonk

    High performance, self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager with a modern dashboard.

    Listmonk has 23,701 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 227 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp and Twilio SendGrid.

  2. 2

    Mautic

    Marketing automation software (email, social and more).

    Mautic has 10,710 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license and had 5,274 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp and HubSpot.

  3. 3

    Keila

    Reliable and easy-to-use newsletter tool (alternative to Mailchimp and Sendinblue).

    Keila has 2,227 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 383 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp and Substack.

  4. 4

    Dittofeed

    Omni-channel customer engagement and messaging automation platform (alternative to Braze, Customer.io, Iterable).

    Dittofeed has 2,979 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 70 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp.

  5. 5

    phpList

    Newsletter and email marketing with advanced management of subscribers, bounces, and plugins.

    phpList has 875 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license and had 18 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp.

  6. 6

    Sympa

    Mailing list manager.

    Sympa has 316 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-2.0 license and had 63 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp.

2 of 3 · 5 picks

Best for startups

Ranked for startups on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses, project websites and recent commits.

  1. 1

    Listmonk

    High performance, self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager with a modern dashboard.

    Listmonk has 23,701 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 227 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp and Twilio SendGrid. For startups it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license, a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

  2. 2

    Mautic

    Marketing automation software (email, social and more).

    Mautic has 10,710 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license and had 5,274 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp and HubSpot. For startups it also scores on an open-source license, a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

  3. 3

    Dittofeed

    Omni-channel customer engagement and messaging automation platform (alternative to Braze, Customer.io, Iterable).

    Dittofeed has 2,979 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 70 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp. For startups it also scores on a Docker image, a permissive license (MIT), a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

  4. 4

    Keila

    Reliable and easy-to-use newsletter tool (alternative to Mailchimp and Sendinblue).

    Keila has 2,227 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 383 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp and Substack. For startups it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license, a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

  5. 5

    phpList

    Newsletter and email marketing with advanced management of subscribers, bounces, and plugins.

    phpList has 875 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license and had 18 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp. For startups it also scores on an open-source license, a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

3 of 3 · 5 picks

Best for small business and freelancers

Ranked for small business and freelancers (the same order for each) on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits.

  1. 1

    Listmonk

    High performance, self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager with a modern dashboard.

    Listmonk has 23,701 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 227 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp and Twilio SendGrid. For small business it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license, a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

  2. 2

    Mautic

    Marketing automation software (email, social and more).

    Mautic has 10,710 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license and had 5,274 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp and HubSpot. For small business it also scores on an open-source license, a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

  3. 3

    Keila

    Reliable and easy-to-use newsletter tool (alternative to Mailchimp and Sendinblue).

    Keila has 2,227 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 383 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp and Substack. For small business it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license, a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

  4. 4

    Dittofeed

    Omni-channel customer engagement and messaging automation platform (alternative to Braze, Customer.io, Iterable).

    Dittofeed has 2,979 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 70 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp. For small business it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license, a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

  5. 5

    phpList

    Newsletter and email marketing with advanced management of subscribers, bounces, and plugins.

    phpList has 875 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license and had 18 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp. For small business it also scores on an open-source license, a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

FAQ

Questions and answers

Still curious? Email info@appsgit.com.

What is the best open source email marketing tool?

The best open source email marketing tool is Listmonk, with 23,701 GitHub stars, the AGPL-3.0 license and a Docker image; Mautic and Keila are strong alternatives. This page also breaks the picks down by team size and use: Listmonk leads for startups, small business and freelancers. The overall ranking weighs GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits across the 6 apps in the newsletters & mailing lists category of the appsgit catalog.

Is Listmonk free?

Yes. Listmonk is open-source software released under the AGPL-3.0 license, so you can self-host it at no cost. You only pay for the server it runs on, and some projects also offer an optional paid cloud plan.

Which open source email marketing tool is best for a startup?

Listmonk ranks first for startups, with 23,701 GitHub stars, the AGPL-3.0 license and a Docker image; Mautic and Dittofeed follow. The startups ranking adds points for Docker images, permissive licenses, project websites and recent commits on top of stars and activity.

Which open source email marketing tool is best for a small business?

Listmonk ranks first for small business, with 23,701 GitHub stars, the AGPL-3.0 license and a Docker image; Mautic and Keila follow. The small business ranking adds points for Docker images, open-source licenses, project websites, recent commits and deploy guides on top of stars and activity.

Can I self-host these email marketing and newsletter tools with Docker?

Yes, 3 of the 6 picks. Listmonk, Keila and Dittofeed publish Docker images, so you can run them on a VPS or home server with Docker Compose. The others install from their own packages or source; follow each project's install guide.

Are all of these email marketing and newsletter tools open source?

All 6 apps on this list are open source. You can self-host and modify each one under its license.

The weekly digest

New self-hosted apps, every week

Fresh releases, rising projects and one deploy guide a week. Join home labbers and engineers who self-host.

One email a week. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.