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Self-Hosting Listmonk: Email Newsletter Platform

Listmonk is a self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager. Fast, efficient, and free — send millions of emails without per-subscriber pricing.

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What Is Listmonk?


Listmonk is a self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager. It's blazing fast (written in Go) and handles millions of subscribers.


Features


Subscriber Management

  • Import from CSV
  • Custom attributes (JSON)
  • Segmentation by attributes
  • Subscription management
  • Double opt-in
  • Blocklist management

    • Campaigns

  • Rich text and HTML editor
  • Template system
  • A/B testing
  • Scheduled sending
  • Campaign analytics
  • Click and open tracking

    • Performance

  • Multi-threaded sending
  • Handles millions of subscribers
  • Rate limiting per SMTP provider
  • Queue management

    • Templates

  • Go template syntax
  • Reusable layouts
  • Dynamic content
  • Variable substitution

    • Listmonk vs Mailchimp vs Brevo


  • Listmonk: Self-hosted, no subscriber limits, free
  • Mailchimp: SaaS, expensive at scale, most features
  • Brevo: SaaS, cheaper than Mailchimp, transactional email

    • Email Sending


    Listmonk doesn't send email directly. You need an SMTP provider:

  • Amazon SES ($0.10 per 1,000 emails)
  • Postmark ($1.25 per 1,000 emails)
  • Mailgun ($0.80 per 1,000 emails)
  • Your own SMTP server

    • Cost Comparison


    10,000 subscribers, 4 emails/month:

  • Mailchimp: ~$100/month
  • Listmonk + SES: ~$4/month

    • Deployment


    1. Deploy Listmonk on TinyPod

    2. Configure SMTP provider

    3. Import subscribers

    4. Create templates

    5. Send campaigns


    Resources: 1 CPU, 256 MB RAM with PostgreSQL.


    Listmonk saves serious money on email marketing. The cost difference at scale is staggering.