5 Best Open Source Newsletter Platforms in 2026

listmonk is a newsletter and mailing list manager that runs as a single Go binary with PostgreSQL, and it is the fastest free sender in this list. It stores subscribers, builds campaigns from templates and hands each message to an SMTP provider you connect, such as Amazon SES. Segments use SQL-style queries, so you can slice a large list precisely, and a transactional API lets the same install send receipts and password resets.

The catch is that you run everything yourself. There is no official hosted service, so you handle the server, updates, deliverability and sending costs. listmonk also has no visual automation journeys, so teams that need branching follow-ups should look at Mautic instead. For pure newsletter sending, though, nothing here is lighter or faster.

Ghost is a publishing platform that bundles a fast website, an email newsletter and paid memberships into one tool, and it takes 0% of your subscription revenue. The software is free under the MIT license, so you can self-host it on your own server, or pay for Ghost(Pro), the managed service run by the nonprofit Ghost Foundation. Members, newsletters and paid tiers all live in the same product, which no other tool here offers.

The catch is the plan ladder. Ghost(Pro) Starter starts at $15 a month billed yearly, or $18 month to month, but it allows only the default theme and no paid subscriptions. Paid subscriptions and custom themes need Publisher, from $29 a month billed yearly. Self-hosted Ghost also needs Mailgun for bulk newsletter sending, so the free install still has a sending bill.

Mautic is the most capable free tool in this list. It is an open-source marketing automation platform with a visual campaign builder, lead scoring, landing pages, forms, web tracking and A/B testing, plus multi-channel messaging across email, SMS, web notifications and mobile push. It is free under GPL-3.0 with no per-contact charge and no feature gates when self-hosted, and the current line is 7.x.

The catch is weight. Mautic is the heaviest tool here to install and maintain: it needs a PHP server with MySQL, cron jobs and queue management at volume, and the project discourages shared hosting. Managed hosting from partner Dropsolid starts at €247.50 a month billed annually, which is far above the other hosted routes here. Pick Mautic when automation is the job, not when you only send a weekly newsletter.

Keila is an open-source newsletter platform built in Elixir, with the most polished interface among the open-source tools in this list. It covers contacts, forms, campaigns, segmentation and analytics, and it can be self-hosted with Docker or used as Keila Cloud, a managed service hosted in Germany and France. Cloud plans start at €8 a month for 2,000 emails, with unlimited contacts and projects on every plan.

The catch is the missing pieces. Keila Cloud has no free plan, so trying it without paying means installing it yourself. Visual automation journeys and A/B testing are still on the roadmap as of 2026, and the community is smaller than the older tools here, so the integration catalog is thin. Keila suits teams that want a clean interface and EU hosting more than they want automation.

phpList is the oldest tool in this list, developed since 2000, and it shows in both directions. It is a newsletter manager for PHP and MySQL that runs on ordinary shared hosting, with mature subscription management, double opt-in pages and detailed bounce rules. Version 3.7.0 shipped in August 2026, so the project is still active. A paid hosted option is also available from phpList.com for teams that do not want a server.

The catch is the interface and the feature ceiling. The campaign builder is basic, with no drag-and-drop editor, and automation is limited to scheduled sends, with no visual journeys. Teams that want a modern editor or branching automation will find phpList thin. It suits a nonprofit or community list where stability and a low bill matter more than the interface.