$20/mo
Paid plan minimum
up to 500 members
Report
Should I Use Groups.io?
Groups.io is a modern email group service and listserv alternative with no ads. Create mailing lists with calendars, files, wikis, and more.
Worth it
Worth itBuy if you run a community, HOA, nonprofit, or fan group that lives on email discussion — it is cheap, ad-free, and well supported.
Cheap, ad-free listserv for communities and HOAs. Free under 100 members, $20/mo minimum. Wrong fit for team chat or private lists.
Confidence: Medium
$0.04
Per-member rate
per member per month
Yes
Free tier
lists under 100 participants
$80/mo
2,000-member group
scales linearly with members
Value for money
5
Free under 100 members, $0.04/member after
Ease of use
4
Email-based; members just reply
Feature depth
4
Calendars, files, wikis, unlimited subgroups
Support quality
5
Long-time users call support excellent
Security posture
3
No public security page found
Pros
Cons
Gotchas
- mediumPricing cliff: free ends at 100 members, then $20/month minimum applies.²
- mediumCompetitor says member email addresses appear in every message — verify privacy settings before onboarding.⁴
- mediumNo public security page; vet data handling yourself before committing sensitive groups.⁵
- lowPer-member billing adds up: 2,000 members = $80/month, forever.²
Best for
- HOAs and neighborhood groups
- Nonprofits and community organizations
- Hobbyist and user communities
- Academic research networks
Not for
- Small teams wanting internal chat — use Slack or Discord instead
- Anyone needing member anonymity — emails are visible to the group
- Companies that only need distribution lists — Google Groups is free
- Chat-first communities that will never check email threads
Companies that use it
Companies that could
- Case Western Reserve University⁸Uses Google Groups instead
Pricing
Free
$0
- Lists under 100 participants
- Core email group features
Premium
$20/mo minimum ($0.04/member)
- Up to 500 members at $20/mo
- Unlimited subgroups, wikis, calendars
Large groups
$0.04/member/month
- 2,000 members = $80/mo
- Nonprofit rates referenced by reviewers
Security
No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.
What users say
Users praise Groups.io as a solid, ad-free hosted listserv with excellent support; critics flag member-email visibility and the paid-tier minimum.
“groups.io is decent if you're looking for hosted solutions.”
“The two biggest advantages I can think of are that Groups.io has no ads and support is excellent.”
“groups.io lists are free for lists with under 100 participants, the $20/mo would be for a premium plan which doesn't sound like you'd need that.”
Alternatives
Compare Groups.io with each alternative.
Gaggle Mail
Simpler group email; free up to 1,000 members
Groups.io vs Gaggle MailGoogle Groups
Free; fine for internal distribution lists and permissions
Slack
Real-time chat for teams that skip email threads
Groups.io vs SlackMail-List.com
Privacy-first hosted email list alternative
Groups.io vs Mail-List.comFull analysis
Based on 14 public sources; several are competitor comparison pages, so pricing and privacy claims are secondhand.
Sources
official
review
- groups.io is decent if you're looking for hosted solutions — Hacker Newsnews.ycombinator.comreview
security
- Groups.io Security pagegroups.iosecurity
- What is groups.io and how do I use it? — American Universitywastedfood.american.edunews
review
- Emails moving from Sympa listserv to Google Groups — Case Observerobserver.case.edunews
- Google groups alternatives? — Ask MetaFilterask.metafilter.comreview
review
- Groups.io – a Functional Replacement for Yahoo!Groupsblindmapmaker.wordpress.comreview
news
Rate this review
Anonymous. You can change your vote.
Loading votes…
Ask a follow-up
Ask if a use case fits. Answers stay inside this report and its sources.
Comments
One queue. No replies. Give a display name first. Limit: 7 comments per day.
No comments yet.