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Buttondown vs Keila

Buttondown logo

Buttondown

News

The easiest way to start and grow your newsletter

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Keila logo

Keila

Email Marketing

AGPL newsletter tool from Germany, self-hostable or hosted in the EU with no free plan

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Buttondown limited built-in monetization compared to Substack, which offers native payment processing; Keila there is no free hosted plan at all, stated as deliberate policy, so unlike almost every competitor there is no way to run a small list at zero cost without self-hosting it yourself.
  • They diverge on capability: Buttondown covers Newsletter creation, Keila covers Priced by emails sent.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Buttondown and Keila actually diverge.

Attributes where Buttondown and Keila differ
AttributeButtondownKeila
Pricing modelUnknownPer month by emails sent
PlatformsWebWeb, Linux, Self-hosted
CategoryNewsEmail Marketing
Founded2017Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Buttondown

  • Newsletter creation
  • Markdown support
  • Subscriber management
  • Analytics
  • Paid subscriptions
  • Zapier
  • Stripe
  • Twitter

Only in Keila

  • Priced by emails sent
  • Bring your own sender
  • Self-hosting
  • EU hosting
  • Sign-up forms
  • Segmentation
  • Markdown and block editor
  • Multiple projects

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Buttondown

  • Newsletter publishingnot Keila
  • Email marketingnot Keila
  • Audience buildingnot Keila

Keila

  • A membership organisation holding forty thousand contacts but sending only one newsletter a month, where contact-metered pricing would cost many times morenot Buttondown
  • A European publisher or public body that needs subscriber data held in the EU under a GDPR-friendly arrangementnot Buttondown
  • A technical team that wants to self-host its newsletter tool and route sending through its existing AWS SES accountnot Buttondown
  • An agency running several separate client lists that does not want to pay per project or per additional listnot Buttondown

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Buttondown

  • Limited built-in monetization compared to Substack, which offers native payment processing
  • Fewer growth and discovery features compared to Beehiiv or Ghost
  • Smaller community and ecosystem than larger newsletter platforms
  • Basic automation compared to full-featured email marketing platforms
  • No native mobile app for managing newsletters on the go

Keila

  • There is no free hosted plan at all, stated as deliberate policy, so unlike almost every competitor there is no way to run a small list at zero cost without self-hosting it yourself.
  • Marketing automation is minimal, with none of the behavioural triggers, journey builders or e-commerce revenue attribution that Klaviyo, Brevo and Mailchimp treat as table stakes.
  • The self-hosted route puts deliverability entirely on you: reputation, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, warm-up and bounce handling are your problem, and a badly configured instance will land in spam folders.
  • It is a small project from a small company, so the integration ecosystem is thin and there is no partner network, template marketplace or large body of community expertise to draw on.
  • Email volume tiers step in fixed blocks, so an organisation whose sending is uneven across the year either overbuys at the annual peak or has to change plan repeatedly.

Pricing, plan by plan

Buttondown

Free
  • Free$undefined/mo
    • Up to 100 subscribers
    • Core newsletter features
    • Hosted archives
  • Paid$undefined/mo
    • Pricing scales by subscriber count above 100
    • Add-on features from $9/month

Keila

Free
  • Self-hostedFree
    • AGPL-3.0-or-later licence with no fee
    • Official Docker image and sample compose file
    • You supply hosting and a sending backend
  • Keila XS$8/month
    • Two thousand emails per month
    • Unlimited contacts and projects
    • Send with Keila or bring your own email server
  • Keila M$32/month
    • Fifteen thousand emails per month
    • Unlimited contacts and projects
    • Sign-up forms and segmentation
  • Keila XXL$256/month
    • Two hundred and fifty thousand emails per month
    • Unlimited contacts and projects
    • Intermediate tiers at 16, 64 and 128 EUR for 5,000, 50,000 and 100,000 emails

Which should you pick?

Choose Buttondown if

  • You need newsletter creation.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want markdown support.
Buttondown review

Choose Keila if

  • You need priced by emails sent.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Self-hosted.
  • You also want bring your own sender.
Keila review

Questions people ask

Is Buttondown or Keila better?
Neither clearly leads. Buttondown starts at Free and Keila at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Buttondown or Keila?
Buttondown starts at Free and Keila at Free.
Does Buttondown or Keila run on more platforms?
Buttondown runs on Web. Keila runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted.
Can I use Buttondown for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Buttondown best used for?
Buttondown is most often used for newsletter publishing, email marketing, audience building. Of those, newsletter publishing and email marketing are not what Keila is typically brought in for.
What can Buttondown do that Keila cannot?
Buttondown covers Newsletter creation, Markdown support, Subscriber management, Analytics. Keila covers Priced by emails sent, Bring your own sender, Self-hosting, EU hosting.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Buttondown: How much does Buttondown cost?

Buttondown is free for your first 100 subscribers and includes core newsletter features. After that, pricing scales based on subscriber count. Add-on features start at $9/month each.

Source
Keila: Is Keila free?

The software is, under AGPL-3.0-or-later, if you self-host. The hosted service has no free plan by deliberate policy and starts at 8 EUR a month.

Buttondown: What editor options does Buttondown offer?

Buttondown supports Markdown, HTML, and WYSIWYG editors so you can compose newsletters in your preferred format.

Source
Keila: How is the hosted service priced?

By emails sent, from 8 EUR for two thousand up to 256 EUR for two hundred and fifty thousand a month. Contacts and projects are unlimited on every tier.

Buttondown: Does Buttondown track analytics?

Analytics are disabled by default in Buttondown, prioritizing privacy. You can enable tracking if desired, and the platform is GDPR-compliant.

Source
Keila: Can I use my own email provider?

Yes. AWS SES, Sendgrid, Mailgun, Postmark, generic SMTP or a personal inbox are all supported as sending backends.

Buttondown: What is Buttondown's company structure?

Buttondown is an independent, self-funded, and profitable SaaS platform founded by Justin Duke with no plans to take external investment or change that model.

Keila: Are there discounts?

Pentacent offers reduced rates to nonprofits and open source projects on request.

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