SHSelfHostIndex

Mailing List Manager vs Papercups

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
MA Mailing List Manager Simple and efficient mailing list manager VS PA Papercups Open-source live chat and customer messaging
FeatureMailing List ManagerPapercups
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseMITMIT
LanguageElixir
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM50 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentbare-metaldocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars—★ 6,097
First released20242020
Replaces—Intercom, Drift

Why pick each one

Choose Mailing List Manager if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 50 MB RAM
Mailing List Manager details

Choose Papercups if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 6.1k GitHub stars
  • Written in Elixir
Papercups details

Frequently asked questions

Is Mailing List Manager or Papercups better?

Neither is universally better. Papercups has the larger community, while Mailing List Manager is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Mailing List Manager and Papercups free and open-source?

Yes. Mailing List Manager is licensed under MIT and Papercups under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Mailing List Manager and Papercups with Docker?

Mailing List Manager: check the project docs for container support. Papercups: yes.

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