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Email Marketing · head to head

Keila vs RD Station Marketing

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
RD Station Marketing logo

RD Station Marketing

Email Marketing

Marketing automation for growing businesses

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; RD Station Marketing pro plan requires 12-month contract lock-in and additional R$ 2,699 implementation fee. Enterprise plan pricing not disclosed.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Keila and RD Station Marketing actually diverge.

Attributes where Keila and RD Station Marketing differ
AttributeKeilaRD Station Marketing
Pricing modelPer month by emails sentsubscription
PlatformsWeb, Linux, Self-hostedWeb

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Keila

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

Only in RD Station Marketing

Nothing recorded that Keila does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

Keila

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

RD Station Marketing

  • Nurturing leads across email and WhatsApp with automated sequencesnot Keila
  • Managing sales pipelines with direct WhatsApp deal negotiationsnot Keila
  • Consolidating omnichannel support across WhatsApp, email, and chatnot Keila
  • Building email campaigns and landing pages without codingnot Keila
  • Prioritizing high-probability leads with AI qualificationnot Keila

Where each one falls short

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

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.

RD Station Marketing

  • Pro plan requires 12-month contract lock-in and additional R$ 2,699 implementation fee. Enterprise plan pricing not disclosed.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

RD Station Marketing

Free
  • Light Plan$16/month
    • Up to 1,000 active contacts
    • Special promotional pricing from USD 18 to USD 16/month
    • No lock-in contract
  • Basic Plan$72/month
    • Up to 1,000 contacts
    • Special promotional pricing from USD 112 to USD 72/month
    • No lock-in contract
  • Pro Plan$159/month
    • Up to 3,000 contacts
    • Mandatory 12-month annual contract
    • Required implementation fee of R$ 2,699
  • Enterprise Plan$undefined/mo
    • Custom pricing for bases exceeding 100,000 contacts
    • Maximum flexibility with unlimited users
    • Highest email send limits

Which should you pick?

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

Choose RD Station Marketing if

  • You want to start without paying.
RD Station Marketing review

Questions people ask

Is Keila or RD Station Marketing better?
Neither clearly leads. Keila starts at Free and RD Station Marketing at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Keila or RD Station Marketing?
Keila starts at Free and RD Station Marketing at Free.
Does Keila or RD Station Marketing run on more platforms?
Keila runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted. RD Station Marketing runs on Web.
Can I use Keila for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Keila best used for?
Keila is most often used for a membership organisation holding forty thousand contacts but sending only one newsletter a month, where contact-metered pricing would cost many times more, a european publisher or public body that needs subscriber data held in the eu under a gdpr-friendly arrangement, a technical team that wants to self-host its newsletter tool and route sending through its existing aws ses account, an agency running several separate client lists that does not want to pay per project or per additional list. Of those, a membership organisation holding forty thousand contacts but sending only one newsletter a month, where contact-metered pricing would cost many times more and a european publisher or public body that needs subscriber data held in the eu under a gdpr-friendly arrangement are not what RD Station Marketing is typically brought in for.
What can Keila do that RD Station Marketing cannot?
Keila covers Priced by emails sent, Bring your own sender, Self-hosting, EU hosting.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

RD Station Marketing: Does RD Station Marketing offer a free trial?

Yes. RD Station Marketing offers a 10-day free trial without requiring a credit card. No automatic charges apply after the trial ends.

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.

RD Station Marketing: What is the cheapest RD Station Marketing plan?

The Light Plan is the cheapest at USD 16/month (promotional pricing down from USD 18) for up to 1,000 active contacts with no contract lock-in.

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.

RD Station Marketing: Does RD Station Marketing have a contract requirement?

Light and Basic plans have no lock-in contracts. The Pro plan requires a mandatory 12-month annual contract plus an implementation fee of R$ 2,699.

Source
Keila: Are there discounts?

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

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