listmonk — A free, open-source (AGPLv3) self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager distributed as a single Go binary, capable of handling millions of subscribers.
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Best for: developers and technical teams self-hosting newsletter and transactional email for large subscriber lists
Pricing: Completely free and open source; no paid tier or hosted offering exists.
- listmonk is free and open source under the AGPLv3 license.
- It's distributed as a single Go binary requiring only PostgreSQL as a dependency.
- The GitHub repository (knadh/listmonk) has approximately 23,000 stars.
- listmonk's benchmarks demonstrate handling 7+ million emails with minimal server resources.
- listmonk has a 5.0/5 rating from 3 reviews on Product Hunt, where it launched as the #1 product of the day in July 2019.
Limitations: No managed hosting or official support contract; deliverability and uptime are the operator's responsibility.; Requires self-hosting skills and managing a PostgreSQL database.; No built-in SMTP service — users must configure their own SMTP provider.
Top alternatives: Mailchimp, MailerLite, Ghost, Sendy, Brevo — full list
What is listmonk?
listmonk is a self-hosted, open-source newsletter and mailing list manager distributed as a single Go binary with a Vue.js dashboard, built for teams that want to own their email sending infrastructure rather than pay a SaaS provider per subscriber. It supports single and double opt-in lists, SQL-expression-based subscriber segmentation, dynamic email templates using Go's templating language, and multi-threaded, multi-SMTP sending queues designed for high throughput — the project's own benchmarks describe handling 7+ million emails with minimal server resources. Beyond newsletters, listmonk also supports transactional messaging, messenger webhooks for SMS/WhatsApp/FCM notifications, OIDC single sign-on, and granular permission controls, with a full REST API for subscribers, lists, campaigns, and templates. listmonk requires only PostgreSQL as a dependency and ships prebuilt binaries for Linux, macOS (Darwin), FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and Windows, plus Docker Compose deployment and one-click install options through several hosting providers. Because it's self-hosted and AGPLv3-licensed with no commercial edition, there's no vendor to call for support — deliverability, uptime, and email reputation management are entirely the operator's responsibility.
listmonk is a self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager distributed as a single binary, built for organizations that want full control over their email infrastructure instead of paying a per-subscriber SaaS fee. It's free and open source under the AGPLv3 license, requiring only PostgreSQL to run, and it handles subscriber segmentation with SQL expressions, multi-SMTP sending queues, and campaign analytics dashboards. listmonk is built for developers and technical teams comfortable self-hosting who need to manage large subscriber lists (the project demonstrates handling 7+ million emails with minimal resources) without ongoing subscription costs. There is no paid tier or hosted offering; the entire cost is the server it runs on.
Standout feature: Distributed as a single binary requiring only PostgreSQL, with SQL-expression subscriber segmentation and multi-SMTP sending queues capable of high-throughput campaigns without a per-subscriber fee.
Biggest weakness: There is no managed hosting option or vendor support contract; users must self-host, manage their own PostgreSQL database, and take full responsibility for email deliverability and sender reputation, which is a real operational burden compared to a managed SaaS newsletter tool.
Pros
- Completely free and open source (AGPLv3) with no paid tier or per-subscriber cost.
- Single binary with minimal dependencies (PostgreSQL only), simplifying deployment compared to more complex self-hosted stacks.
- SQL-expression-based subscriber segmentation gives fine-grained control not available in most SaaS tools.
- Demonstrated high-throughput sending (7+ million emails) with low resource consumption.
Cons
- No managed hosting or official support contract; deliverability and uptime are entirely the operator's responsibility.
- Requires comfort with self-hosting and managing a PostgreSQL database, a steeper barrier than a SaaS signup.
- No built-in SMTP sending service, so users must bring or configure their own SMTP provider(s) for deliverability.
- Smaller plugin/integration ecosystem than established commercial email marketing platforms.
listmonk pricing
Free · verified from the vendor's pricing page
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted | Free | Free and open source under AGPLv3; no paid tier or hosted offering exists. Requires PostgreSQL and a server the user provides. |
What reviewers say
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