# Listmonk

> The self hosted newsletter and mailing list manager for large lists

Category: Open source alternatives (https://aiarabicdev.com/alternatives)
Canonical page: https://aiarabicdev.com/alternatives/listmonk
Tags: email, newsletter, marketing, self-hosted

Listmonk manages subscribers, lists and email campaigns, replacing Mailchimp for newsletters and announcements. It is AGPL-3.0, a single Go binary with PostgreSQL, and has no paid hosted tier from the project.

## Facts

- Licence: AGPL-3.0
- Language: Go
- Cost: Free and open source
- Self hostable: yes
- Added: 2026-10-25
- Last checked: 2026-10-25

## Links

- Website: https://listmonk.app
- Source: https://github.com/knadh/listmonk
- Docs: https://listmonk.app/docs/

## Mailing lists without paying per subscriber

Mailchimp and similar services charge by the size of your list, so the bill grows with your audience. Listmonk stores subscribers in your own PostgreSQL database and sends through whatever SMTP provider you choose, so the cost becomes the price of sending, which is far lower with providers such as Amazon SES.

It covers the core: lists, double opt in, subscriber attributes and segments written as SQL queries, templates, campaign analytics, transactional emails through an API, and several SMTP servers at once. It is fast and light, and handles very large lists on modest hardware.

## What Mailchimp did for you that you now do

Deliverability becomes your job. You set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC, warm up your sending, handle bounces and complaints, and keep your provider happy. Mailchimp's reputation and compliance team quietly did much of this, and a mistake here sends your newsletter to spam.

It also has no drag and drop email designer as polished as Mailchimp's, no built in landing pages or ad tools, and no visual automation journeys. Segmentation through SQL is powerful for a developer and confusing for a marketer.

## Reach for it when

- your newsletter list has grown and the per subscriber bill hurts
- you are comfortable setting up an SMTP provider and DNS records
- you want subscriber data in your own database

## Watch out for

- deliverability, bounces and sender reputation are entirely your responsibility
- there are no visual automation journeys or landing pages like Mailchimp's
- segments are SQL queries, which suits developers more than marketers

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