Self-hosted alternatives to Mailchimp
Costs scale with list size whether or not you actually send anything.
Below are 10 open-source projects that cover the same ground, each scored 0–100 on how actively it is actually maintained — commit volume, release cadence and recent trend. 1 of the 10 are currently rated healthy or better. Ordering reflects that score, not sponsorship.
| Project | Health | Activity (11 mo) | Stars | Licence | Last release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mautic Marketing automation software (email, social and more). | Thriving · 95 | 11k | GPL-3.0 | 23 Sept 2026 | |
| Listmonk High performance, self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager with a modern dashboard. | Steady · 65 | 24k | AGPL-3.0 | 25 Sept 2026 | |
| Keila Reliable and easy-to-use newsletter tool (alternative to Mailchimp and Sendinblue). | Steady · 62 | 2.2k | AGPL-3.0 | 6 Sept 2026 | |
| phpList Newsletter and email marketing with advanced management of subscribers, bounces, and plugins. | Slowing · 50 | 872 | AGPL-3.0 | 9 Aug 2026 | |
| Sympa Mailing list manager. | Slowing · 41 | 315 | GPL-2.0 | 14 Aug 2026 | |
| Dittofeed Omni-channel customer engagement and messaging automation platform (alternative to Braze, Customer.io, Iterabl | Slowing · 38 | 3k | MIT | 28 Mar 2026 | |
| HyperKitty Access GNU Mailman v3 archives. | Unrated | — | GPL-3.0 | 21 Sept 2024 | |
| Postorius Web user interface to access GNU Mailman. | Unrated | — | GPL-3.0 | 21 Sept 2024 | |
| Mailman Manage electronic mail discussion and e-newsletter lists. | Unrated | — | GPL-3.0 | — | |
| mlmmj Mailing list management made joyful. | Unrated | — | MIT | — |
How these were picked
Every project listed here is open source and can run entirely on hardware you control. We start from the categories that match Mailchimp's job — Communication - Email - Mailing Lists and Newsletters — then rank by health score so that a popular-but-abandoned project never appears above a smaller one that is actively shipping. The scoring method is documented in full.
The scores are recomputed from repository data on every rebuild, so this page reflects the state of these projects as of 1 Oct 2026 — not the day it was written.
Mautic
Marketing automation software (email, social and more).
Best fit: Teams with technical resources who want to retain ownership of their marketing data and user lists without relying on third-party SaaS providers.
Worth knowing: Self-hosting a comprehensive marketing platform introduces significant operational overhead, particularly around maintaining deliverability rates, managing bounce handling, and configuring reliable background cron jobs for campaign delivery.
Listmonk
High performance, self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager with a modern dashboard.
Best fit: It is well-suited for developers and organisations who want to run their own bulk email infrastructure without relying on third-party SaaS providers.
Worth knowing: You must manage your own email deliverability reputation, SMTP relay configuration, and bounce handling, which can require significant operational effort. The copyleft AGPL-3.0 licence may also impose restrictions if you modify and network the software.
Keila
Reliable and easy-to-use newsletter tool (alternative to Mailchimp and Sendinblue).
Best fit: This is a good fit for individuals or small teams who want to move their email campaigns off third-party platforms and maintain full control over subscriber data.
Worth knowing: Self-hosting an email dispatch tool requires careful configuration of DNS records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to avoid deliverability issues. Additionally, the AGPL-3.0 licence imposes strict copyleft obligations if you modify the code and offer it as a service over a network.
phpList
Newsletter and email marketing with advanced management of subscribers, bounces, and plugins.
Best fit: It suits administrators who need to manage high-volume mailing lists independently using a standard PHP stack.
Worth knowing: The AGPL-3.0 licence places strong copyleft requirements on network-deployed modifications, and the project's maintenance pace has slowed down.
Sympa
Mailing list manager.
Best fit: It suits system administrators and organisations needing an established, self-hosted solution to manage high-volume email lists and structured mailing communications.
Worth knowing: Maintenance activity is currently slowing down, and configuration can be complex due to its older architecture and extensive feature set. You should expect a significant administrative learning curve compared to modern web applications.