Listmonk

What it is for

Listmonk is a self-hosted newsletter desk: you keep lists and send campaigns, and the official product is $0 (AGPL, single binary + Postgres). Use it when the job is lists you start at $0, not when you need a $20 chat seat.

What makes it unique: the cover is the official Listmonk Lists table (name, type, subscribers) from the product still — not a pricing card. The table itself is ops of Lists. There is no official hosted SKU; 3rd-party hosts are unaffiliated.

Key features

• Lists — a mailing list you add people to (Lists still; home). One list. Single / double opt-in and the cover subscriber counts are ops of this.
• Subscribers — a person you query with SQL (home One-way mailing lists). A row, not a list. Privacy export/delete sit here.
• Campaigns — a blast you queue across SMTPs (home Performance). A send, not a list. Templates (Go / visual / Markdown / HTML) are ops of this.
• Transactional — an API message to one subscriber (home Transactional mails). A one-off, not a campaign. Messengers (SMS / WhatsApp / HTTP) sit here.
• Self-host — the AGPL binary + Postgres at $0 (GitHub; home Free and open source). A control plane. OIDC / roles / API tokens are ops of running this. Analytics (opens, bounces, links) are a report on Campaigns, not a sixth desk.

--new-config / --install is install. 3rd-party “one-click” hosts are not listmonk’s price.

Who it's for

Best fit: teams who will self-host at $0 (one binary + Postgres) while they open a first Lists table, then stay on that bill when they send campaigns and transactional mail without buying an ESP seat.

Pricing

Verified 2026-10-23 (Asia/Shanghai) from listmonk.app. The homepage prints Free and open source. There is no /pricing SKU.

• Self-host — $0. AGPL. Single binary + Postgres. Unlimited lists/subscribers/campaigns on your hardware. Community project (since 2018). Latest we fetched: v7.0.0-beta.1 (20 Oct 2026).
• 3rd-party hosting — listed as unaffiliated (“listmonk has no affiliation”). Do not invent those dollars as listmonk’s card.

Confirm your own infra costs; taxes follow your location.

Limitations / costs

• You run Postgres. $0 is the license, not a managed DB.
• No official Cloud tile. A hosted instance is a third party or your VPS.
• A newsletter desk, not a marketing automation suite. For a hosted ESP see Loops.
• Transactional is an API, not a full CDP.

Alternatives

• Loops — hosted email when you will not run listmonk’s binary.
• Resend — transactional email API when you do not need lists/campaigns.
• Formbricks — surveys when the job is feedback, not a mailing list.

Official tutorial

The @knadh handle exists (listmonk’s author). Search-page oEmbed authors we opened were podcast recaps — do not embed those. No first-party Lists-UI upload was confirmed on 2026-10-23. Use the written path.

Written path: listmonk.app plus the Lists still.

Website

https://listmonk.app

Repository

https://github.com/knadh/listmonk

Source

Catalog row curated for AI Tools Nav. Cover is the official Listmonk Lists table. Dollars checked on listmonk.app (self-host $0 AGPL; no official Cloud SKU). No first-party YouTube embed.

Last verified

2026-10-23 (Asia/Shanghai) editorial check.