HACKER Q&A
📣 tombot

Cheap way to run a small newsletter?


For a newsletter of around 1,500 subscribers mailchimp wants £34 a month.

What cheaper / better alternatives are out there for less than 2,000 subscribers? Are we using Amazon SES + an open source tool, what’s good?

  👤 dejaydev Accepted Answer ✓
Plunk will run you $1.5 every time you want to send out an email ($0.001/email * 1500)

Plunk is pretty much Amazon SES + an open source tool turned into a product. It's selfhostable but if you prefer software intended to be selfhosted then Sendy might work well for you too. Issue is Sendy costs $70~ upfront.

Plunk: https://useplunk.com

Sendy: https://sendy.co

👤 alsobrsp
I manage phplist for a small doctor's office. Works well with 4k subscribers. Open Source.

https://www.phplist.com

👤 mmarian
I used emailoctopus for the newsletter I shut down a while back. Worked well, but you need to test it to make sure deliverability is good from the get go.
👤 asicsp
Gumroad is a free option. I run a programming newsletter with about 1000 subscribers.
👤 __rito__
Why is no one mentioning Substack? It's an honest question. To me, in OP's situation, it's the obvious choice. What am I missing?
👤 rozenmd
Buttondown.com is really good, with a founder that still cares about the business.
👤 brendanrc2
ConvertKit (soon to be Kit) is free for up to 10,000 subscribers.

convertkit.com

(I work there)

👤 codegeek
You can use https://listmonk.app or https://sendy.co and use a provider lke SES under the hood.
👤 twapi
You may consider MailerLite. Cheap and reliable.

SES + Sendy is pretty cheap but SES production approval is not very easy to get these day, specially for new projects

👤 brudgers
£34 a month

That’s not nothing and can feel like more than it should cost. It’s also less than a one sided Xerox at Kinkos, that is cheap relative to historical newsletter costs and within the budget of any business and most organizations.

White listed email servers are what you are paying for. Tools and service are also what you are paying for. A hobby project might not need those, but it is a cost of doing business for a business. £34 a month can and should be passed on to customers. Good luck.