Listmonk: a newsletter with no subscriber cap and no monthly fee
Email platforms charge per subscriber, and the price climbs exactly when your list starts to matter. Listmonk removes that variable: you pay for the server and the sending, nothing else.
Short answer
Listmonk is an open source newsletter manager you install on your server with Docker. It does not charge per subscriber or per campaign: you pay for the VPS (a few dollars a month) and the sending provider, which at normal volumes costs cents per thousand emails. In exchange, deliverability is on you: SPF, DKIM and DMARC are your responsibility.
- Last updated
- April 14, 2026
- Last verified
- April 14, 2026
- Tested with
- Listmonk 3.x con PostgreSQL 16
Antes de empezar necesitas
- A VPS with Docker and Docker Compose
- Your own domain with DNS access
- An account with a sending service: Amazon SES, Postmark, Brevo or similar
The pricing model of email platforms has a well known catch: they charge per subscriber, not per value delivered. A list of twenty thousand people costs the same whether you write to it every week or once a year.
Listmonk breaks that relationship. It is fast, written in Go, and it handles large lists on a modest server.
1. Prepare the installation
mkdir -p /opt/listmonk && cd /opt/listmonk
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/knadh/listmonk/master/docker-compose.yml -o docker-compose.yml
Review the file and change the PostgreSQL password before continuing.
2. Initialise the database
Listmonk needs to create its schema once:
docker compose run --rm app ./listmonk --install
It will ask for confirmation. After that you can bring everything up:
docker compose up -d
3. Connect the sending service
Go into the panel, open Settings → SMTP and enter your provider's details. Start with low concurrency (five connections and a conservative messages-per-second limit) and raise it only once you confirm the provider is not throttling you.
4. Create your list and the form
Listmonk generates a public subscription form with double opt-in. Turn it on: it is the difference between a healthy list and one full of fake addresses that ruin your sending reputation.
5. Test before you fire
Send the first campaign to a test list with your own addresses on Gmail, Outlook and some corporate mailbox. Check that it lands in the main inbox, not in promotions or spam. If it lands badly on one of them, the problem is almost always in DNS, not in the content.
Common mistakes
Using the VPS's own SMTP. It works in testing and fails in production. IP reputation cannot be improvised.
Importing an old list all at once. Addresses that have been inactive for years generate bounces, and bounces destroy your reputation. Send a re-engagement campaign to a small segment first.
Not backing up PostgreSQL. Your subscribers live there. It is probably the hardest data in your whole business to rebuild.
Alternatives
If you need automated sequences and visual funnels, a commercial platform will cost you money but saves you building that by hand. If your volume is small (under a thousand subscribers) the free plan of almost any commercial service is more convenient than administering a server.
Frequently asked questions
Does Listmonk send the emails by itself?
It can, using its own SMTP, but you should not. A new VPS has no sending reputation and your emails will land in spam. Connect a specialized service: Listmonk handles lists, templates and campaigns, and that service handles delivery.
What does sending actually cost?
It depends on the provider. Transactional services usually charge per thousand emails, not per subscriber, so a large list that gets one email a month comes out much cheaper than on a traditional platform. Confirm the current rate on the provider's site before moving your list.
Can I import my current list?
Yes, with a CSV. Only import contacts who gave consent; showing up at a sending provider with a purchased list is the fastest way to get your account closed.
Does it have automations like a welcome sequence?
That is its weakest point. Listmonk does campaigns and segments with SQL queries, but it has no visual sequence builder. If your business depends on automated funnels, you will miss this.
