Alternatives / Brevo
Looking for an open source Brevo alternative? We compared 10 open source email marketing, newsletter, and automation platforms by license, self-hosting, sending, and features. They range from high-volume newsletter servers to marketing automation and journey tools, and several use licenses that are not standard open source.
Written by Maxime DERAME
Last updated:
| Alternative | Best for | License |
|---|---|---|
| Listmonk | High-volume newsletters and mailing lists | AGPL-3.0 |
| Billion Mail | Self-hosted email marketing with a mail server | AGPL-3.0 |
| Mautic | Full marketing automation | GPL-3.0+ |
| Plunk | Transactional and marketing email together | AGPL-3.0 |
| Dittofeed | Journeys and omni-channel messaging (some closed source) | MIT (some features are closed source) |
| Notifuse | MJML email builder (BSL-1.1 from v40) | BSL-1.1 (v40+) / AGPL-3.0 (earlier) |
| Sendune | AWS SES platform (full source not verified) | MIT for public email-designer repository |
| Keila | Privacy-first newsletters | AGPL-3.0 |
| Sendportal | Laravel email marketing (development stalled) | MIT |
| Hyvor Post | No-tracking newsletters (very young) | AGPL-3.0 |
We looked for open-source tools that overlap with Brevo's core: sending email campaigns and transactional messages, managing contacts, and automating marketing. We verified each project's license, recent activity, stars, and self-hosting in its repository. Brevo also offers SMS, chat, and a CRM, so we flag which alternatives cover more than email, and which use open-core, source-available, or unclear licenses. See our methodology for the full criteria.
Self-hosting a mailing tool does not give you inbox delivery. You must configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, warm up sending domains, handle bounces and complaints, and comply with consent rules such as GDPR. Most of these tools send through an external provider such as Amazon SES or SMTP, and Billion Mail also includes a mail server you operate.
Mautic and Dittofeed are closest to Brevo's marketing automation, with segmentation, journeys, and campaigns across channels. Listmonk, Keila, and Plunk are closer to simple newsletter and transactional tools, and Billion Mail combines email marketing with its own mail server.
Notifuse uses the Business Source License 1.1 from version 40 onward, with earlier versions under AGPL-3.0. Dittofeed is MIT, but multi-tenancy, embedding, and white-labeling are in a closed-source codebase. Sendune's public repository is only an MIT email designer, so the full platform is not verified as open source.
Listmonk, Billion Mail, Plunk, Keila, and Hyvor Post are AGPL-3.0. Mautic is GPL-3.0 or later, and Sendportal and Dittofeed's core are MIT.
Listmonk, Mautic, Plunk, Dittofeed, Notifuse, and Keila were updated within days of this update. Billion Mail's last commit was in June 2026. Sendportal's last release was in April 2024, so its development has stalled, and Hyvor Post is very young with only 33 stars.
Brevo is a proprietary hosted platform priced by email volume and features, with contacts and campaign data stored on its servers and sending limits on lower plans. Open-source alternatives let you self-host, send unlimited campaigns through your own provider such as Amazon SES, own your contact data, and avoid volume-based pricing, at the cost of managing deliverability, sender reputation, and consent yourself.
| Alternative | Type | License | Self-hosted | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Listmonk | Newsletter server | AGPL-3.0 | Yes | High volume |
| Billion Mail | Email marketing and mail server | AGPL-3.0 | Yes | All-in-one email |
| Mautic | Marketing automation | GPL-3.0+ | Yes | Campaigns and leads |
| Plunk | Email platform | AGPL-3.0 | Yes | Transactional and marketing |
| Dittofeed | Customer engagement | MIT (some closed) | Yes | Journeys |
| Notifuse | Email platform | BSL-1.1 (v40+) | Yes | MJML builder |
| Sendune | AWS SES platform | MIT (designer repo only) | Unverified | AWS users |
| Keila | Newsletter tool | AGPL-3.0 | Yes | Privacy |
| Sendportal | Email marketing (Laravel) | MIT | Yes | Laravel stacks |
| Hyvor Post | Newsletter platform | AGPL-3.0 | Yes | No tracking |
Send newsletters to a very large list
Listmonk is a single Go binary backed by Postgres that handles high-volume campaigns and transactional messages.
Want full marketing automation
Mautic manages leads, campaigns, forms, landing pages, and analytics, free to self-host under GPL-3.0 or later.
Want journeys and omni-channel messaging
Dittofeed offers low-code journeys and segmentation under MIT, though multi-tenancy and white-labeling are closed source.
Want transactional and marketing email together
Plunk combines transactional, marketing, and broadcast email under AGPL-3.0, with a managed cloud.
Want privacy-first newsletters
Keila is an AGPL-3.0 newsletter tool with segmentation and GDPR-focused data ownership.
Want a mail server plus marketing tool
Billion Mail bundles email marketing with a mail server under AGPL-3.0, but you must manage deliverability.