Listmonk

Listmonk is the self-hosted newsletter manager that makes Mailchimp feel like a hostage situation. A single Go binary with PostgreSQL, it handles subscriber management, campaign sends, and analytics without charging you per subscriber. Pair it with any SMTP relay — Amazon SES at $0.10/1000 emails — and you've got a newsletter stack for pennies.

If you're an indie hacker running a newsletter and tired of Mailchimp's pricing tiers, Listmonk is your exit. It's fast, minimal, and just works. Mailtrain (Node.js) offers more automation and WYSIWYG templates but feels abandoned. Plunk is the newer open-source option with marketing workflows. Buttondown is the paid indie-friendly alternative.

The catch: Listmonk is AGPL-3.0, so your modifications must be open-sourced. There's no built-in automation — no drip sequences, no behavioral triggers. The template editor is basic. And "self-hosted email" means you own deliverability too: SPF, DKIM, warm-up, reputation management. That's real work most people underestimate.