Keila vs Sendy: free open-source newsletters or a cheap SES wrapper?

Keila and Sendy are both cheap ways to send a newsletter from your own server. Keila is free, open source, and sends through any provider. Sendy is a $69 PHP application that wraps Amazon SES. The real questions are whether you are committed to SES, and whether you need follow-up emails after signup.

Quick answer

Pick Keila if you want free and open source, the freedom to use any email provider, or a managed EU-hosted option. Pick Sendy if you send through Amazon SES, want timed autoresponders after signup, and like a PHP app you can drop on any host. If you need sequences with branching, neither has them, and Broadcast is a $250 one-time license that does.

Conflict of interest

We make Broadcast, a paid self-hosted alternative to both. We have run Keila and Sendy ourselves and this page tries to be fair to each. If something reads as unfair, tell us and we will fix it.

At a glance

Keila Sendy
What it is Open-source newsletter tool Commercial wrapper around Amazon SES
Language Elixir on Phoenix PHP and MySQL
License AGPL, free About $69 one-time per install
Major upgrades Free Paid (Sendy 7 upgrade: $34)
Email provider SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, any SMTP Amazon SES only
Automation One welcome email per form Timed autoresponder series
Email editors Blocks, Markdown, MJML, HTML Drag-and-drop (Sendy 7) and HTML
Transactional API Yes, since 0.30 (June 2026) Basic API
Two-factor sign-in Planned Passkeys (Sendy 7.1)
AI assistant No Paid add-on ($49)
Managed option Keila Cloud, 8 to 256 euros a month None
Dated release notes Yes, on GitHub No
Best for Open-source teams, EU teams SES users on a budget

What each one is for

Keila is built in Germany in Elixir on Phoenix. It has the most polished interface among open-source email tools. Segments can filter on opens and clicks. Each signup form can send a welcome email, and since June 2026 there is an API for transactional email. It sends through whatever provider you choose.

Sendy has done one job for about a decade: send email through Amazon SES at SES prices. It handles SES bounces and complaints well, and its autoresponders send a timed series after someone subscribes. Sendy 7 (May 2026) brought a new interface with dark mode, a drag-and-drop editor and an SES health indicator.

Email provider

This is the biggest difference. Sendy works with Amazon SES and nothing else. If SES suspends your account, or you want Postmark for its inbox placement, you have to change platforms.

Keila sends through SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark or any SMTP server, and you can change provider later without changing tools.

Automation

Sendy’s autoresponders are the stronger feature. You can send a series of emails at set delays after signup, such as a welcome on day 0, a guide on day 2 and an offer on day 7. There is no branching.

Keila sends one welcome email per signup form. Multi-step automations are on Keila’s roadmap but not shipped as of October 2026.

Setup, upgrades and releases

Sendy runs on almost any PHP and MySQL host, including shared hosting. Keila ships an official Docker image, which is easy on a VPS, but Elixir runtime problems have fewer people who have seen them before.

Upgrades cost money only on Sendy. Sendy 7 was a $34 upgrade for existing owners. Keila upgrades are free: pull the new Docker image.

Keila publishes dated releases on GitHub: 9 since November 2025. Sendy’s release notes have no dates, and they list 13 releases since Sendy 7 came out in May 2026. Broadcast has published 125 releases since November 2025. The release speed page has the chart.

Cost

  • Keila: free, plus a $5 to $20 a month VPS. Or Keila Cloud at 8 to 256 euros a month.
  • Sendy: about $69 per installation, plus paid major upgrades, plus hosting. An agency with ten client installs pays ten times.
  • With either self-hosted tool you pay your provider. Amazon SES is about $0.10 per 1,000 emails.
  • Broadcast, for comparison: $250 once, or $1,000 for up to 25 servers, with every 2.x update included.

Who should pick what

Choose Keila if: - You want free and open source. - You want to choose, and later change, your email provider. - You want a managed EU-hosted version as an option.

Choose Sendy if: - You are committed to Amazon SES. - You want a timed autoresponder series after signup. - You want to run it on ordinary PHP hosting.

Consider Broadcast if: - You need sequences with conditions and branches, not only timed steps. - You want any email provider, one-click upgrades, and support by email and Discord. - You run many installs and want one license for up to 25 servers. Details on Broadcast vs Keila and Broadcast vs Sendy.

Frequently asked

Is Keila free and Sendy paid?

Yes. Keila is free under the AGPL. Sendy costs about $69 per installation, and major versions are paid upgrades. Keila Cloud, the managed version of Keila, is paid.

Can Keila send through Amazon SES like Sendy?

Yes. Keila can send through Amazon SES, and also through SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark or any SMTP server. Sendy can only send through SES.

Which has better automation, Keila or Sendy?

Sendy. Its autoresponders send a timed series after signup. Keila sends one welcome email per signup form. Neither has conditional branching.

Which is easier to host?

Sendy runs on almost any PHP and MySQL host. Keila runs as a Docker image, which is easy on a VPS but not on shared hosting.

Can I move from Sendy to Keila, or the other way?

Subscribers move as CSV in either direction. Sendy autoresponders do not carry over, so you rebuild them. Moving to Broadcast works the same way, with CSV import that keeps tags and custom fields.

Any provider, real sequences

Broadcast sends through SES like Sendy, or any other provider like Keila, with drip sequences and branching built in. One Docker image, a $250 one-time license with every 2.x update included, and support by email and Discord.

How Broadcast works Try the live demo

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