listmonk
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy it if you can run a server: it is genuinely free, fast, and handles millions of subscribers.
Comparison
listmonk vs Mailchimp
listmonk and Mailchimp both land on Depends.
Mailchimp
Depends
Confidence: High
Buy if you're a small business or startup testing email marketing on the free tier.
| Compare | listmonk | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | Technical teams comfortable self-hosting | Small businesses starting email marketing free |
| Who it's not for | Non-technical teams . no server, no product | Large or fast-growing lists . pricing punishes growth |
| Privacy | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.³ | Three breaches in 12 months (2022-23); brand actively abused in phishing. |
| Support quality | No support evidence in sources reviewed | Insufficient direct evidence in reviewed sources |
| Public sentiment | Users praise listmonk as fast, intuitive, and dramatically cheaper than Mailchimp, with self-hosting as the main hurdle.⁴ | Long-time users increasingly complain about complexity, pricing, and post-Intuit decline, while professional reviewers still rate the core email and AI tools highly.12 |
| Biggest gotcha | You own IP reputation; poor setup means spam folders, not the vendor⁴ | Premium tier starts at $350/month; costs jump steeply between tiers15 |
Pick listmonk when
- Technical teams comfortable self-hosting
- High-volume one-way newsletters
- Cost-sensitive Mailchimp escapees
- Product launch waitlists
When listmonk is not a fit
- Non-technical teams . no server, no product
- Anyone needing vendor SLAs or support hand-holding
- Two-way email conversations; lists are one-way
- Teams unwilling to own deliverability and patching
Pick Mailchimp when
- Small businesses starting email marketing free
- Teams wanting AI-assisted campaigns
- Senders who want a polished, mature platform
When Mailchimp is not a fit
- Large or fast-growing lists . pricing punishes growth
- Anyone wanting simple, predictable billing
- Advanced senders needing deep features (users call it limited)
- Teams handling sensitive recipient data
Sources
- knadh/listmonk on GitHubgithub.comofficial
- listmonk official sitelistmonk.appofficial
- Listmonk security pagelistmonk.appsecurity
- ListMonk - Hacker News discussionnews.ycombinator.comnews
- Listmonk on Product Huntproducthunt.comreview
review
- Listmonk Self-Hosted Newsletter: Deployment Guide (Webnestify)webnestify.cloudreview
- Best Listmonk Alternative for SaaS (Sequenzy)sequenzy.comreview
official
- Listmonk ratings (opensourceprojects.cc)opensourceprojects.ccreview
- Charity communications - Reddit r/CRMreddit.comreview
review
- Mailchimp Pricing 2026: Watch Out for These Extra Costsemailtooltester.comreview
review
review
review