listmonk vs Mail-in-a-Box
| Tagline | High-performance self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager | Turn any Ubuntu VPS into a complete, self-hosted mail server in one command |
| Category | Email & Newsletters | Email & Newsletters |
| Replaces | Mailchimp, ConvertKit (Kit), SendGrid | Gmail / Google Workspace, Mailchimp, SendGrid |
| GitHub stars | 22k | 15k |
| Language | Go | Shell |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | CC0-1.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 3/5 Moderate | 2/5 Easy |
| Deploy options | Docker Docker Compose Manual | Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 14 days ago | 25 days ago |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
listmonk
- No built-in marketing automation/journey builder like Mailchimp
- No bundled deliverability/IP reputation management — you supply your own SMTP/SES
- No native landing page or e-commerce/CRM integrations
- Reporting and analytics are basic compared to commercial suites
Mail-in-a-Box
- Requires a dedicated Ubuntu VPS with a clean IP reputation; shared hosting is not supported
- No built-in bulk mailing or newsletter campaign tools
- Limited horizontal scalability; single-server architecture only
- Webmail (Roundcube) is functional but far less polished than Gmail's UI
Bottom line
Choose Mail-in-a-Box if you want the lower-effort setup; choose listmonk for the larger community and ecosystem. listmonk has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.
Mail-in-a-Box
Turn any Ubuntu VPS into a complete, self-hosted mail server in one command