Listmonkvs
MailerLite
MailerLite: If you want a cheap hosted newsletter tool with deliverability handled for you and a visual editor a marketer can use.
Listmonk
Self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager that ships as a single Go binary
As of 31 August 2026, Listmonk is free to use. A free AGPL newsletter manager that runs as one binary against PostgreSQL and will push millions of emails through your own SMTP. Softwr lists it under Email Marketing. Listmonk is made by Listmonk, maintained by Kailash Nadh, available on Web, Self-hosted, Docker, Linux.
Overview
What Listmonk does
Listmonk is a self-hosted mailing list and newsletter manager written in Go with a Vue front end and PostgreSQL for storage. It handles subscriber lists with single and double opt-in, arbitrary JSON attributes on subscribers, SQL-based segmentation, campaign composition in a visual editor, raw HTML or Markdown, Go templating for personalisation, scheduled and A/B campaigns, bounce processing, opt-out and privacy controls, a transactional message API and OIDC single sign-on. It is maintained by Kailash Nadh and the current release is version 6. Two things make it unusual. The first is deployment: it is a single static binary plus a Postgres database, with no Redis, no queue broker, no Python environment and no Node build step, so it installs on a small VPS in minutes and stays running without operational attention. The second is the segmentation model, which lets you write raw SQL against subscriber attributes rather than assembling conditions in a builder. That is far more expressive than the segment editors in hosted tools and completely inaccessible to a marketer who cannot write a query. Buyers are developers, publishers, open source projects and privacy-conscious organisations sending large volumes where per-subscriber pricing would be ruinous. The decisive trade-off is that Listmonk is not an email service provider. It composes and queues mail and hands it to SMTP servers you supply, whether Amazon SES, Postmark, SendGrid or your own relay, and it does nothing about IP reputation, domain warm-up, DKIM, DMARC or inbox placement. Every deliverability problem is yours.
What people use it 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.
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about 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.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Listmonk
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- ListmonkvsEmailOctopus
EmailOctopus: If you want to send through Amazon SES for low cost but want the interface and deliverability tooling managed rather than self-hosted.
- ListmonkvsButtondown
Buttondown: If you are an individual writer who wants simplicity and paid subscriptions and has no interest in running a server.
Pricing
What Listmonk costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Self-hosted
Free
- Full AGPLv3 source
- Unlimited subscribers and campaigns
- No feature gating and no send limits in the software
- You supply the server, PostgreSQL and SMTP capacity
Third-party managed hosting
On request
- Several unaffiliated providers offer hosted Listmonk
- No official hosted service from the maintainer
- Prices vary by provider and are not published centrally
Capabilities
Features
Single binary deployment
Static Go binary plus PostgreSQL, with no external queue, cache or runtime dependencies
SQL segmentation
Write raw SQL against subscriber attributes to define a campaign audience
Multi-SMTP queues
Multi-threaded sending across several SMTP servers concurrently for high throughput
Arbitrary subscriber attributes
Store any JSON on a subscriber and template against it
Go templating
Full templating language in campaign bodies for real personalisation logic
Transactional API
Send templated transactional messages through the same instance as newsletters
Bounce processing
Ingest bounces over POP or webhooks from SES, SendGrid and Postmark and act on them
Messenger webhooks
Extend beyond email to other channels through HTTP messengers
OIDC SSO
Single sign-on for teams administering the instance
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
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.
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.
What licence is it under?
AGPLv3, which requires you to publish modifications if you offer it as a network service to others.
Is there an official hosted version?
No. Some unaffiliated providers offer managed Listmonk, but the maintainer does not run a hosted service.
Keep looking
Where to go from Listmonk
- Listmonk alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Listmonk pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Listmonk badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Email Marketing softwareThe full category
- Best Email Marketing softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Email Marketing software for
Compare Listmonk with
- EmailOctopus
- MailerLite
- Keila
- Sendy
- Campaign Monitor
- Mailjet
- Omnisend
- SendGrid
- Instantly
- Amazon SES
- SAP Emarsys
- Brevo
- Moosend
- Ortto
- RD Station Marketing
- Sailthru
- Shortwave
- Sendy
Other Email Marketing software
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Pricing on request11 researched notesCold email outreach platform with AI, lead sourcing, and mailbox rotation
Free plan12 researched notesRaw transactional email infrastructure priced per thousand messages, with no campaign UI at all
11 researched notesRetail-focused engagement platform now sold and contracted through SAP
Pricing on request11 researched notesLow-cost email marketing from 9 US dollars a month, owned by Sitecore since 2021
Pricing on request12 researched notesAustralian marketing automation with a customer data platform and analytics included rather than sold separately
Pricing on request11 researched notesRetail and publisher email personalisation, now one product inside the Marigold portfolio
Pricing on request11 researched notesAI-powered email assistant for intelligent inbox management
Free, then $30/mo12 researched notesSelf-hosted newsletter app bought once for $69 that sends through your own Amazon SES account
From $69/one-time12 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Listmonk, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Listmonk
Listmonk alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Listmonk pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Listmonk
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Listmonk badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
Best Email Marketing software alternatives
Email marketing tool with a genuine free tier, priced by contact count once paid
Per month by contact tier once on a paid planEmail marketing platform priced by contact tier, with unlimited sends only from the mid tier up
Per month by contact tier and plan levelRaw transactional email infrastructure priced per thousand messages, with no campaign UI at all
Per 1,000 emails sent, tiered by volume, no campaign features includedLow-cost email marketing from 9 US dollars a month, owned by Sitecore since 2021
Per month by contact countAGPL newsletter tool from Germany, self-hostable or hosted in the EU with no free plan
Per month by emails sentSelf-hosted newsletter app bought once for $69 that sends through your own Amazon SES account
One-time purchase