Email Marketing · head to head
Listmonk vs Ortto
Listmonk
Email Marketing
Self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager that ships as a single Go binary
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Ortto
Email Marketing
Australian marketing automation with a customer data platform and analytics included rather than sold separately
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Listmonk has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Listmonk it is not an email service provider. It hands mail to SMTP servers you configure and does nothing about IP warm-up, domain reputation, DKIM, DMARC or inbox placement, so deliverability failures are entirely yours to diagnose and fix.; Ortto contact-based pricing counts everyone stored, including unsubscribed and long-inactive records, so the bill rises with list decay unless someone owns a pruning routine.
- They diverge on capability: Listmonk covers Single binary deployment, Ortto covers Customer data platform.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Listmonk and Ortto actually diverge.
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 Listmonk
- Single binary deployment
- SQL segmentation
- Multi-SMTP queues
- Arbitrary subscriber attributes
- Go templating
- Transactional API
- Bounce processing
- Messenger webhooks
Only in Ortto
- Customer data platform
- Journeys
- Talk
- Dashboards and reports
- Playbooks
- Capture
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Listmonk
- A publisher with hundreds of thousands of subscribers faces a five-figure annual bill from a hosted provider and can send the same volume through Amazon SES for a fraction of it.not Ortto
- A developer wants campaign audiences defined by an arbitrary SQL query against subscriber attributes, which no hosted segment builder will express.not Ortto
- An organisation under privacy or data residency rules needs subscriber data to stay on infrastructure it controls, which rules out every hosted newsletter platform.not Ortto
- An open source project or nonprofit needs a mailing list tool with no per-subscriber cost, where the list will grow faster than any budget for it.not Ortto
Ortto
- A SaaS company that wants trial and onboarding lifecycle plus product analytics without buying two toolsnot Listmonk
- A small team replacing a stack of email tool, chat widget and dashboard product with one subscriptionnot Listmonk
- Reporting on revenue by campaign and cohort without exporting events to a warehouse firstnot Listmonk
- Teams already on Autopilot that need a supported migration path rather than a replatform to a US vendornot Listmonk
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Listmonk
- It is not an email service provider. It hands mail to SMTP servers you configure and does nothing about IP warm-up, domain reputation, DKIM, DMARC or inbox placement, so deliverability failures are entirely yours to diagnose and fix.
- Running it means running PostgreSQL, backups, upgrades and a mail relay, and the true cost is the engineering time to keep that stack healthy rather than the zero licence fee.
- The campaign editor and analytics are basic next to Mailchimp or Klaviyo: reporting is limited to opens, clicks and bounces, with no revenue attribution, no ecommerce integration and no deep engagement scoring.
- SQL-based segmentation puts audience definition beyond a non-technical marketer, so a marketing team without engineering support will be blocked on routine tasks.
- The AGPLv3 licence obliges you to release source modifications if you offer the software as a network service, which is a real constraint for anyone considering embedding it in a commercial product.
Ortto
- Contact-based pricing counts everyone stored, including unsubscribed and long-inactive records, so the bill rises with list decay unless someone owns a pruning routine.
- Each bundled component is shallower than the specialist it replaces, and the email template editor in particular is behind the ecommerce-focused competitors.
- Deliverability guidance and reputation tooling are thinner than at dedicated email providers, which matters most in the first months of a sending domain.
- The partner and agency ecosystem outside Australia and New Zealand is small, so hiring contractors with real Ortto experience is harder than for the larger platforms.
- Support hours follow Australian business time, so European and American teams often wait a working day for a substantive answer on complex issues.
Pricing, plan by plan
Listmonk
Free- Self-hostedFree
- Full AGPLv3 source
- Unlimited subscribers and campaigns
- No feature gating and no send limits in the software
- Third-party managed hosting$undefined/month
- Several unaffiliated providers offer hosted Listmonk
- No official hosted service from the maintainer
- Prices vary by provider and are not published centrally
Ortto
On request- Ortto$undefined/month
- Priced by number of contacts held, with separate email and SMS send allowances
- Talk live chat and additional seats charged separately
- Monthly and annual terms available
Which should you pick?
Choose Listmonk if
- You need single binary deployment.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Self-hosted, Docker, Linux, macOS, Windows.
- You also want sql segmentation.
Choose Ortto if
- You need customer data platform.
- You work on Web, REST API.
- You also want journeys.
Questions people ask
- Is Listmonk or Ortto better?
- Neither clearly leads. Listmonk starts at Free and Ortto at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Listmonk or Ortto?
- Listmonk has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Listmonk and On request for Ortto.
- Does Listmonk or Ortto run on more platforms?
- Listmonk runs on Web, Self-hosted, Docker, Linux, macOS, Windows. Ortto runs on Web, REST API.
- Can I use Listmonk for free?
- Yes. Listmonk has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Ortto starts at On request.
- What is Listmonk best used for?
- Listmonk is most often used for a publisher with hundreds of thousands of subscribers faces a five-figure annual bill from a hosted provider and can send the same volume through amazon ses for a fraction of it., a developer wants campaign audiences defined by an arbitrary sql query against subscriber attributes, which no hosted segment builder will express., an organisation under privacy or data residency rules needs subscriber data to stay on infrastructure it controls, which rules out every hosted newsletter platform., an open source project or nonprofit needs a mailing list tool with no per-subscriber cost, where the list will grow faster than any budget for it.. Of those, a publisher with hundreds of thousands of subscribers faces a five-figure annual bill from a hosted provider and can send the same volume through amazon ses for a fraction of it. and a developer wants campaign audiences defined by an arbitrary sql query against subscriber attributes, which no hosted segment builder will express. are not what Ortto is typically brought in for.
- What can Listmonk do that Ortto cannot?
- Listmonk covers Single binary deployment, SQL segmentation, Multi-SMTP queues, Arbitrary subscriber attributes. Ortto covers Customer data platform, Journeys, Talk, Dashboards and reports.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Listmonk: Does Listmonk send my emails?
No. It composes, queues and tracks campaigns, then hands the messages to SMTP servers you provide, such as Amazon SES, Postmark or your own relay.
Ortto: Is Ortto the same product as Autopilot?
It is the successor from the same company, rebranded in 2022 and substantially rebuilt. Older Autopilot tutorials no longer match the interface.
Listmonk: What does it cost to run?
The software is free. The real cost is a small server, a PostgreSQL database and per-email SMTP charges, which through SES are a fraction of hosted newsletter pricing at large list sizes.
Ortto: Do inactive contacts cost money?
Yes. Pricing counts contacts stored, so unsubscribed and dormant records consume allowance until they are deleted.
Listmonk: What licence is it under?
AGPLv3, which requires you to publish modifications if you offer it as a network service to others.
Ortto: Can it replace a BI tool?
For campaign, funnel and cohort reporting on its own event data, usually yes. For joins against finance or support data it cannot.
Listmonk: Is there an official hosted version?
No. Some unaffiliated providers offer managed Listmonk, but the maintainer does not run a hosted service.
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