Keila vs listmonk
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted mail servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Keila
Open-source newsletter tool for senders
VS
listmonk
Self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager
| Feature | Keila | listmonk |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 97 · Excellent |
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Elixir | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,219 | ★ 23,552 |
| First released | 2021 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Mailchimp, Sendinblue | Mailchimp, Sendinblue |
What are Keila and listmonk?
Keila
Keila is a self-hosted newsletter and email marketing tool built with Elixir. It offers a friendly interface for managing contacts, designing campaigns, and tracking performance.
- Friendly newsletter editor
- Contact segmentation
- Campaign analytics
- Works with external SMTP or API senders
listmonk
listmonk is a high-performance, self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager written in Go. It supports millions of subscribers, rich campaign analytics, and a built-in admin dashboard.
- Handles millions of subscribers
- Campaign analytics dashboard
- Single binary deployment
- REST API and SMTP support
Keila vs listmonk: key differences
Keila is written in Elixir, while listmonk is built with Go. Listmonk has the considerably larger community, at 23,552 GitHub stars versus 2,219.
Why pick each one
Choose Keila if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.2k GitHub stars)
Watch out for
- Smaller community
- Newsletter-only scope
Choose listmonk if…
- Fast and scalable
- Modern admin UI
Watch out for
- Newsletter-focused, not a mail server
- Requires Postgres
Frequently asked questions
Is Keila or listmonk better?
Neither is universally better. listmonk has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Keila and listmonk free and open-source?
Yes. Keila is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and listmonk under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Keila and listmonk with Docker?
Keila: yes. listmonk: yes.