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Email Marketing · head to head

Dotdigital vs Keila

Dotdigital logo

Dotdigital

Email Marketing

UK-listed email and cross-channel marketing platform with deep Adobe Commerce and Dynamics connectors

From
On request
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

  • Only Keila has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Dotdigital pricing is anchored on contact tiers, so inactive and unsubscribed contacts keep counting until you actively delete them and the bill grows with list decay rather than with sending.; 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: Dotdigital covers Automation builder, 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 Dotdigital and Keila actually diverge.

Attributes where Dotdigital and Keila differ
AttributeDotdigitalKeila
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotePer month by emails sent
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, REST APIWeb, Linux, Self-hosted

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Email Marketing).

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 Dotdigital

  • Automation builder
  • Commerce connectors
  • Dynamics 365 integration
  • Regional data residency
  • Liquid personalisation
  • SMS and WhatsApp

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.

Dotdigital

  • A Microsoft Dynamics 365 organisation that needs marketing automation without building the CRM sync itselfnot Keila
  • An Adobe Commerce retailer that wants basket and order data in campaigns without middlewarenot Keila
  • A European buyer that needs contact data held in the UK or EU with a named hosting region in the contractnot Keila
  • A procurement team that wants to review published financial statements before committing to a multi-year platformnot 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 Dotdigital
  • A European publisher or public body that needs subscriber data held in the EU under a GDPR-friendly arrangementnot Dotdigital
  • A technical team that wants to self-host its newsletter tool and route sending through its existing AWS SES accountnot Dotdigital
  • An agency running several separate client lists that does not want to pay per project or per additional listnot Dotdigital

Where each one falls short

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

Dotdigital

  • Pricing is anchored on contact tiers, so inactive and unsubscribed contacts keep counting until you actively delete them and the bill grows with list decay rather than with sending.
  • SMS, WhatsApp and chat are add-ons billed on top of the platform fee, so cross-channel programmes cost noticeably more than the headline quote suggests.
  • The automation builder handles scheduled and behavioural triggers well but is not designed for high-frequency real-time orchestration, which is where growing teams outgrow it.
  • Attribution reporting beyond opens, clicks and connected commerce revenue is thin without the additional analytics module.
  • Automation logic is not portable, so migrating away means rebuilding programmes by hand after exporting contacts and data through the API.

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

Dotdigital

On request
  • Dotdigital$undefined/month
    • Priced on a contact tier combined with a monthly email send allowance
    • SMS, WhatsApp and additional channels billed separately
    • Annual contracts standard, monthly available on entry tiers

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 Dotdigital if

  • You need automation builder.
  • You work on Web, REST API.
  • You also want commerce connectors.
Dotdigital 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 Dotdigital or Keila better?
Neither clearly leads. Dotdigital starts at On request and Keila at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Dotdigital or Keila?
Keila has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Dotdigital and Free for Keila.
Does Dotdigital or Keila run on more platforms?
Dotdigital runs on Web, REST API. Keila runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted.
Can I use Keila for free?
Yes. Keila has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Dotdigital starts at On request.
What is Dotdigital best used for?
Dotdigital is most often used for a microsoft dynamics 365 organisation that needs marketing automation without building the crm sync itself, an adobe commerce retailer that wants basket and order data in campaigns without middleware, a european buyer that needs contact data held in the uk or eu with a named hosting region in the contract, a procurement team that wants to review published financial statements before committing to a multi-year platform. Of those, a microsoft dynamics 365 organisation that needs marketing automation without building the crm sync itself and an adobe commerce retailer that wants basket and order data in campaigns without middleware are not what Keila is typically brought in for.
What can Dotdigital do that Keila cannot?
Dotdigital covers Automation builder, Commerce connectors, Dynamics 365 integration, Regional data residency. Keila covers Priced by emails sent, Bring your own sender, Self-hosting, EU hosting.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Dotdigital: Are unsubscribed contacts billed?

Yes, if they remain in the account. Contact tiers count stored contacts, so suppression lists still consume allowance until records are removed.

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.

Dotdigital: Is it a real alternative to enterprise engagement platforms?

For scheduled and behavioural ecommerce and B2B programmes, yes. For real-time cross-channel orchestration at scale it is not competing in the same bracket.

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.

Dotdigital: Where is contact data stored?

In the region contracted, with UK, EU, US and Australian hosting available, which is why it appears on European shortlists with residency requirements.

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.

Keila: Are there discounts?

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

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