Keila vs SendPortal
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
SendPortal
Self-hosted email marketing and newsletter platform
| Feature | Keila | SendPortal |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 17 · At risk |
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Elixir | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,219 | ★ 2,174 |
| First released | 2021 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Mailchimp, Sendinblue | Mailchimp |
What are Keila and SendPortal?
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
SendPortal
SendPortal is a self-hosted email marketing application for Laravel that manages subscribers, segments, and campaigns, delivering newsletters through providers such as Amazon SES, Mailgun, or your own SMTP.
- Self-hosted newsletter platform
- Subscriber segments and campaigns
- Works with SES, Mailgun, and SMTP
Keila vs SendPortal: key differences
Keila is written in Elixir, while SendPortal is built with PHP. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Keila versus MIT for SendPortal. Keila lists first-class Docker deployment; SendPortal does not.
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 SendPortal if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (2.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in PHP
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Keila or SendPortal better?
Keila is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider SendPortal if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Keila and SendPortal free and open-source?
Yes. Keila is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and SendPortal under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Keila and SendPortal with Docker?
Keila: yes. SendPortal: check the project docs for container support.