Both one-time: thin wrapper vs. full platform

Broadcast vs Sendy

Both are self-hosted and bought once, but they’re different products. Sendy is a low-cost, stable wrapper around Amazon SES. Broadcast is a fuller email marketing platform with ESP flexibility, real automations, and updates that never cost extra.

Buy Broadcast for $250 See all self-hosted options

At a Glance

License
Sendy: ~$69 per install
Broadcast: $250 one-time
Email provider
Sendy: Amazon SES only
Broadcast: SES, Postmark, any SMTP
Automations
Sendy: Autoresponders
Broadcast: Drip + branching
Updates
Sendy: major versions cost extra
Broadcast: all 2.x updates included

Straight answer: Sendy is the cheapest way to send through Amazon SES, and it’s been stable for years. If you’re committed to SES, want a minimal wrapper, and don’t need real sequences, Sendy is a fine, and cheaper, choice. Choose Broadcast when you want freedom to switch email providers, automations beyond autoresponders, updates that never cost extra, and licensing that scales to multiple brands or clients.

Feature Comparison

Where Broadcast and Sendy each pull ahead

Feature Broadcast Sendy
Software cost $250 one-time ~$69 one-time
Subscribers Unlimited Unlimited
Email provider (ESP) SES, Postmark, Mailgun, any SMTP Amazon SES only
SES integration (bounces, warm-up) Yes Tight
Drip / welcome sequences Built-in Autoresponders only
Conditional / branching automations Yes No
Segmentation Tags, lists, custom fields Lists + basic segments
Template editor Drag-and-drop blocks, brand kit, HTML Drag-and-drop (Sendy 7) and HTML
Transactional email API Yes Basic API
Interface Modern, in 12 languages Redesigned in Sendy 7, with dark mode
Multi-brand / client licensing Extended: up to 25 servers Fee per installation
Data ownership Your server Your server
Hosting App + Postgres PHP / MySQL (LAMP)
Updates Every 2.x release included. One-click upgrade in the dashboard. Major versions are paid (Sendy 7 upgrade: $34)
Release speed 68 releases since May 2026 13 releases since Sendy 7 (May 2026)
Support Email and Discord, included Email
AI assistant Ask AI, included (bring your own key) Paid add-on ($49)
Two-factor sign-in Authenticator app, can be required for all users Passkeys (Sendy 7.1)
Subscriber preference page Topics with per-topic unsubscribe Manage Subscription page
Scheduled offsite backups Built in: S3, R2, B2 or any S3-compatible storage No, back up MySQL yourself
SPF / DKIM / DMARC monitoring Built in, with alerts SES health indicator

Credit where it’s due: Sendy’s tight SES integration and rock-bottom price are real strengths, and it’s been dependable for the better part of a decade. Sendy 7 also brought a new interface and a drag-and-drop editor in 2026. The trade-offs are SES lock-in, automations that stop at autoresponders, paid major upgrades, and per-installation licensing that adds up across clients.

Broadcast ships every week

Releases since November 2025

139

releases, 72 with new features. The last one was yesterday.

Shipped in the last 90 days

  • v2.51.0 Sequences now list the subscribers that stopped with an error. You can retry the failed step for one subscriber, or retry or dismiss all of them at once.
  • v2.51.0 Sequence webhooks report retried and dismissed subscribers (sequence.subscriber_resumed with reason “retry”, sequence.subscriber_removed with reason “dismissed”).
  • v2.50.0 Sequences have a Reply-To address in their settings, so replies to sequence emails go to the inbox you choose instead of the sender address.
  • v2.50.0 Each Send Email step in a sequence can set its own Reply-To address, which overrides the sequence’s.
  • v2.50.0 Each Send Email step on the sequence canvas shows how many emails it sent, opened and clicked, with open and click rates and bounces.

See the full release chart → | Read the changelog

What each one actually costs

Both are one-time purchases, so this is the rare comparison where upfront price is a fair fight. Sendy is cheaper to start; the gap narrows, or flips, once you count multiple installs and the features you’d otherwise go without.

Sendy

  • Software: ~$69 one-time, per installation
  • Hosting: ~$5–20/mo VPS (LAMP)
  • Sending: Amazon SES only (~$0.10 / 1,000 emails)
  • The catch: SES lock-in, and each client/brand site is another license

Best value when you run a single SES-based install and only need broadcasts plus autoresponders.

Broadcast

  • Software: $250 one-time (Extended: up to 25 servers)
  • Hosting: ~$5–20/mo VPS, app + Postgres
  • Sending: your choice of SES, Postmark, Mailgun, or any SMTP
  • The upside: real sequences, ESP freedom, updates included, multi-install licensing

Best value when you want room to grow features, switch providers, or run more than one brand.

Where They Differ Most

ESP Lock-In

Sendy is built around Amazon SES, which is great if SES is your forever choice, but if you ever want Postmark’s deliverability, Mailgun, or a plain SMTP relay, you switch platforms entirely. Broadcast treats the ESP as a setting: SES, Postmark, Mailgun, SendGrid, or any SMTP, swappable without leaving the product.

Automations

Sendy’s automation is autoresponders: timed messages after signup. That covers a basic welcome email, but not branching, conditions, or behaviour-based triggers. Broadcast includes drip sequences with conditional logic, so onboarding and nurture flows respond to what subscribers actually do.

Updates & Release Speed

Sendy 7 brought a new interface and a drag-and-drop editor in May 2026, and existing owners paid $34 to upgrade. Broadcast ships about every week, and every 2.x release is included in the price. You click Upgrade now in the dashboard, and a short tour shows what changed.

Running Multiple Brands or Clients

Sendy’s license is per installation, so every client site or brand is another purchase. Broadcast’s Extended License covers up to 25 servers for one price, built for agencies and consultants managing many installs. See licensing →

Who Should Choose What

An honest take on when each tool makes sense

Choose Broadcast if you…

  • Want freedom to choose or switch your ESP, not just SES
  • Need real drip sequences with conditions, not just autoresponders
  • Want new features every week, with no upgrade fees
  • Run multiple brands or client installs (Extended License)
  • Want room to grow without changing platforms

Sendy might be better if you…

  • Are committed to Amazon SES for the long haul
  • Want the lowest possible upfront price
  • Only need broadcasts and simple autoresponders
  • Run a single install and don’t mind paying for major upgrades

Frequently Asked Questions

Upfront, yes: Sendy is around $69 versus Broadcast’s $250, both one-time. But Sendy’s license is per installation, so multiple brands or clients mean multiple purchases, while Broadcast’s Extended License covers up to 25 servers. And the cheaper price comes with SES lock-in and autoresponder-only automation. Cheapest isn’t always lowest total cost.
Yes. Sendy is built specifically as a front end for Amazon SES. If you later want to use Postmark, Mailgun, or a different SMTP relay, you’d have to move to another platform. Broadcast supports SES, Postmark, Mailgun, SendGrid, and any SMTP provider, and lets you switch without changing tools.
Sendy offers autoresponders: a series of timed emails after someone subscribes. It doesn’t have conditional branching or behaviour-based triggers. Broadcast includes drip sequences with conditional logic, so flows can react to opens, clicks, and other subscriber actions.
Yes. Export your Sendy lists to CSV and import them into Broadcast, including tags and custom fields. Since you can keep using Amazon SES with Broadcast, your sending setup carries over too: you’re adding flexibility and features, not starting from scratch.
Broadcast is usually the better fit for agencies. Sendy charges per installation, so each client adds cost, and you’re tied to SES. Broadcast’s Extended License covers up to 25 servers for one price, with ESP flexibility per client and a dashboard in 12 languages that clients can use themselves.
Sendy, Broadcast, Listmonk, Mautic, phpList, and Keila each suit different needs. See our honest 2026 comparison of self-hosted email marketing software, or the focused Broadcast vs Listmonk and Broadcast vs Mautic comparisons.

Buy once, without the SES lock-in

Keep the one-time-purchase economics, and add ESP flexibility, real automations, and updates that never cost extra.

Every 2.x update is included. Version 2.0 shipped on March 16, 2026. A license bought that day has received all 97 releases of version 2 at no extra cost.

Try the live sandbox Buy Broadcast for $250

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Still deciding?

Comparisons cover the tradeoffs. How To covers whether Broadcast does the specific thing you need, organized by what you are trying to accomplish rather than by feature name. If the answer is no, it says no.

Browse How To Segment subscribers Branch a sequence Bring an existing list