Alternatives / MailerLite
Looking for an open source MailerLite alternative? We compared 8 open source email marketing tools by license, sending, and maintenance. Listmonk is the leanest, Plunk and Billion Mail cover sending, and MailCheap bills by emails sent.
Written by Maxime DERAME
Last updated:
| Alternative | Best for | License |
|---|---|---|
| Listmonk | Lean newsletter manager | AGPL-3.0 |
| Billion Mail | Self-hosted SMTP and marketing | AGPL-3.0 |
| Plunk | Marketing and transactional email | AGPL-3.0 |
| Notifuse | MJML editor and A/B tests (BSL from v40) | BSL-1.1 (v40+) / AGPL-3.0 (earlier) |
| Sendportal | Laravel email marketing | MIT |
| Keila | Privacy-focused newsletters | AGPL-3.0 |
| MailCheap | Pay by emails sent | AGPL-3.0 |
| Hyvor Post | No-tracking newsletters | AGPL-3.0 |
We looked for open-source tools that send newsletters and campaigns like MailerLite. We verified each project's license, recent activity, stars, and self-hosting in its repository. See our methodology for the full criteria.
Listmonk is a single Go binary with multi-SMTP queues and a transactional API. Keila is a privacy-focused newsletter platform with automation workflows, and Sendportal is a Laravel-based tool. Hyvor Post sends newsletters with no tracking, so it has no open or click analytics.
Billion Mail includes an SMTP server, Plunk combines marketing and transactional email, Notifuse has an MJML editor and A/B tests, and MailCheap is billed by emails sent, with self-hosting needing your own sending account such as Amazon SES.
Notifuse uses the Business Source License from version 40, so recent versions are source available. Self-hosted email needs SPF, DKIM, and DMARC set up correctly.
Listmonk, Billion Mail, Plunk, Keila, MailCheap, and Hyvor Post are AGPL-3.0. Sendportal is MIT.
Most had commits within weeks of this update.
MailerLite is a proprietary service priced by subscribers. Open-source tools remove per-subscriber pricing, but you provide sending infrastructure and manage deliverability.
AGPL-3.0 self-hosted newsletter and mailing-list manager built around PostgreSQL. It supports campaigns, subscribers, segmentation, templates, analytics, bounce handling, multiple SMTP providers, OIDC, S3-compatible media, and a transactional email API; it does not provide delivery infrastructure itself.
Pricing: Free self-hosted software; connect an SMTP provider or mail server.
AGPL-3.0 self-hosted email platform combining SMTP infrastructure with newsletters, marketing campaigns, analytics, domain configuration, and campaign management. It uses components such as Postfix, Dovecot, and Rspamd, so it operates more of the delivery stack than a provider-backed email API.
Pricing: Open-source self-hosted platform.
AGPL-3.0 email platform combining transactional API delivery, SMTP relay, campaigns, automations, contacts, segments, inbound email, analytics, custom domains, and SPF/DKIM setup. Can be self-hosted or used through a managed service.
Pricing: Self-hosted open-source platform with hosted service available.
Self-hosted platform (Business Source License 1.1 from v40, AGPL-3.0 for earlier versions) for transactional email and marketing, including newsletters, visual MJML editing, A/B testing, segmentation, contact timelines, multiple workspaces, analytics, REST API, S3 integration, and multiple sending providers.
Pricing: Open-source self-hosted platform; configure a supported sending provider.
Keila is an open-source email marketing and newsletter tool with full data ownership, advanced segmentation, customizable templates, automation workflows, analytics, an API, and GDPR compliance. It is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and can be self-hosted.
Pricing: Free self-hosted; hosted plans available.
MIT self-hosted email marketing application built with Laravel, providing subscriber management, lists, segments, campaigns, tracking, workspaces, templates, and an API. It requires an external sending provider and has low recent development activity.
Pricing: MIT self-hosted software; connect an email sending provider.
MailCheap is an AGPL-3.0 newsletter platform where you pay for the emails you send instead of the size of your list. It can be self-hosted, which needs your own sending account such as Amazon SES, and the hosted version is a paid service.
Pricing: Hosted plans from $19 per month for 20,000 emails; self-hosting is free.
AGPL-3.0 newsletter platform built on Hyvor Relay, focused on sending without open, click, location, or behavioral tracking. It includes subscriber lists, signup forms, templates, archive websites, team collaboration, and a management API.
Pricing: Open-source self-hosted newsletter platform built on Hyvor Relay.
| Alternative | Type | License | Self-hosted | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Listmonk | Newsletter manager | AGPL-3.0 | Yes | Closest replacement |
| Billion Mail | Email server | AGPL-3.0 | Yes | Own mail server |
| Plunk | Email platform | AGPL-3.0 | Yes | Small teams |
| Notifuse | Email platform | BSL-1.1 (v40+) | Yes | Campaigns |
| Sendportal | Email marketing | MIT | Yes | Laravel users |
| Keila | Newsletter tool | AGPL-3.0 | Yes | GDPR-minded teams |
| MailCheap | Newsletter platform | AGPL-3.0 | Yes (own sender) | Occasional senders |
| Hyvor Post | Newsletter platform | AGPL-3.0 | Yes | Privacy-first |
Want lean newsletters
Listmonk uses little memory and has a transactional API.
Want pay-per-email pricing
MailCheap bills by emails sent, not list size.
Want campaigns with A/B tests
Notifuse offers an MJML editor, under a source-available license from v40.