Mosaico alternatives: open source email template builders, compared

Mosaico is an open-source, drag-and-drop email template editor from VOID Labs in Italy. It has been around since 2015, it is GPL-3.0, and it is the editor behind CiviCRM’s popular Mosaico extension and Mailtrain. People usually find it while looking for an “open source email template builder” to embed in their own app, or because it is the editor inside a tool they already run.

It is also an editor, not a product. You get a JavaScript application and one production template. Image uploads, image resizing, saving templates, and sending are yours to build. This page covers where Mosaico stands in 2026 and the alternatives, sorted by what you are actually trying to do.

What Mosaico is, and where it stands in 2026

Mosaico’s big idea is that the template defines the editor. You write an HTML email with Mosaico’s template language (special attributes that mark which blocks, text, images and colours are editable), and Mosaico turns that into a drag-and-drop editing UI. That is powerful if you want designers to produce locked-down, on-brand templates. It also means that a new template is real work: you are writing HTML email and a schema at the same time.

Here is the state of the project as of September 2026:

• License. GPL-3.0. That is fine for running it internally. If you plan to ship it inside a product you distribute, read the copyleft terms before you commit.
• Releases. Still pre-1.0. The latest release is v0.18.11 (August 2025). Before that, v0.18.10 came out in July 2023. Commits continue in small batches, most recently in September 2026 for build tooling, so it is maintained, just slowly.
• Stack. Knockout.js 3.5, jQuery, and TinyMCE 4 for inline text editing, built with Grunt. The README asks for Node 24 to build it. None of that is wrong, but it is a 2015 frontend stack, and it will feel foreign next to a React or Vue app.
• Templates. The open-source distribution ships one production-ready template, “versafix-1”. The second template you see on the mosaico.io demo, “versafluid”, is not part of the open-source release.
• Adoption. About 1,800 GitHub stars and 500 forks. The CiviCRM Mosaico extension is the biggest user we found, listed on civicrm.org as stable with over 4,600 active installs and a release in September 2026. Mailtrain has supported Mosaico since its 1.23 release.

One correction to a common assumption: Mautic’s current email builder is GrapesJS with MJML, not Mosaico. If you are on Mautic, see Mautic alternatives instead.

What you need to self-host Mosaico

The Mosaico wiki is direct about this: Mosaico “needs a server based backend, for image upload/manipulation, email download and send, or any other integration with your services.” The repository includes a small Node backend that shows the three endpoints you need to reproduce:

• /upload to list and receive image uploads, generating thumbnails.
• /img to resize and crop images on the fly and to draw placeholder images at a given size. The editor calls this constantly while you design.
• /dl to download the finished HTML or send a test email.

That backend’s own README says it has no authentication or security options and should not be used in production. So in practice, self-hosting Mosaico means writing your own version of those endpoints (in PHP, Python, Ruby or Node), adding image processing (ImageMagick, GD or similar), storage for images and saved templates, and access control. That is why most people meet Mosaico inside CiviCRM or Mailtrain, where someone has already done that part.

The alternatives at a glance

The free Broadcast email template builder is a separate case: a browser tool, not a library. It is covered below.

GrapesJS

GrapesJS is the most active open-source web builder framework, with over 26,000 GitHub stars and releases continuing in 2026 (v0.23.6 in August 2026). The core is BSD-3-Clause. For email there are two routes:

• grapesjs-preset-newsletter adds email-safe section, button, image and text blocks and a command to export HTML with inlined CSS. It works, but it has not had a release since June 2023.
• grapesjs-mjml makes the editor produce MJML, which then compiles to responsive HTML. This plugin is more active (v1.0.8 in March 2026), and it is what Mautic builds its email editor on.

GrapesJS is a framework, not a finished editor, so plan on configuration work and your own storage and asset manager. The company behind it also sells a hosted Studio SDK with free and paid tiers, but the open-source core stands on its own. Pick GrapesJS if you want to stay open source and permissively licensed, and you have front-end time to spend.

MJML

MJML is not a visual editor. It is a markup language (<mj-section>, <mj-column>, <mj-button>) that compiles to responsive, table-based HTML that holds up in Outlook. It is MIT-licensed, has over 18,000 stars, and is actively released (v5.4.1 in September 2026).

If the people making your emails are developers, MJML is usually a better answer than any drag-and-drop editor: templates live in git, diffs are readable, and you can render them in your build. Several editors on this page, including GrapesJS’s MJML plugin and Easy Email, use MJML under the hood.

Easy Email

Easy Email is a React drag-and-drop editor built on MJML, MIT-licensed, with about 3,100 stars and commits as recent as August 2026. If your app is already React, it is one of the quickest ways to get a Mosaico-style editor without Knockout. Its README notes that the open-source version supports React 18 and that React 19 support is in a paid “Easy Email Pro” edition, so check that against your stack.

Maily

Maily (maily.to) is an MIT-licensed editor built on Tiptap, with about 4,000 stars. It is closer to a Notion-style writing experience than a block-and-column canvas: you write, and pre-designed components (logo, buttons, and so on) handle the email-safe markup, with a separate render package producing the HTML. It suits product updates and plain newsletters more than heavily designed layouts. If you prefer to build emails as React components in code rather than in an editor, React Email from Resend (MIT) is the code-first equivalent.

Unlayer

Unlayer is the commercial editor most people compare Mosaico against. The react-email-editor package (plus Angular and Vue wrappers) is MIT-licensed, but it is a wrapper: the editor itself loads from Unlayer’s servers (editor.unlayer.com/embed.js). There is a free plan with no credit card, limited to one domain and two saved templates and without white-labeling. Paid plans on its pricing page started at $250 a month (Launch) when we checked.

Pick Unlayer if you are building a SaaS product, want a polished editor this week, and are comfortable with a hosted dependency and a monthly bill. It is not a self-hosted option.

Beefree SDK

Beefree SDK is the embeddable version of the Beefree editor. You install @beefree.io/sdk from npm, and your backend exchanges a client ID and secret with Beefree’s authentication service for a token. The npm package is open source, but the editor depends on Beefree’s service. There is a free plan for prototyping; paid plans started at $400 a month (Essentials) when we checked. Same trade as Unlayer: a very capable editor, a hosted dependency, and a SaaS price.

Where the free Broadcast email template builder fits

Sometimes the job is not “embed an editor”, it is “I need one good HTML email and I do not want to install Mosaico to get it”. That is what the free email template builder is for.

• No install and no signup. It runs in your browser. Nothing you build is uploaded to our servers.
• Email-safe output. It exports table-based HTML with inline styles, a VML button for Outlook desktop, and a single mobile breakpoint. Copy it or download it and paste it into any platform that accepts custom HTML.
• Starts from something. There are 12 starter templates, and the theme panel sets colours, font, width and corner radius once for every block.
• Saves locally. Designs autosave to local storage in your browser. There is no account, so a design stays on that browser; the exported HTML is your copy.
• Images by URL. You paste the URL of an image that is already hosted. That removes the need for Mosaico’s upload and resize backend, and it also means the builder will not host or resize images for you.

It is not a library, so it does not replace Mosaico inside your own app. It replaces Mosaico when all you wanted was the HTML.

Where Broadcast fits

A lot of people end up evaluating Mosaico because they want designed newsletters on their own infrastructure, and Mosaico is the editor in the tool they were going to run. If that is you, the editor is only a fraction of the problem. You still need lists, sign-up forms, double opt-in, unsubscribes, bounce handling, sending through an ESP, and sequences.

Broadcast is a self-hosted email marketing platform that includes all of that, with a drag-and-drop editor built in. The editor works like the free builder, plus a brand kit (logo, colours, font and social links set once per channel), saved templates, previewing an email as a specific subscriber with their merge fields filled in, and sending. Emails are rendered on the server as table-based HTML with inline styles and Outlook-safe buttons, so the preview, the test email and the real send match. Images live in Broadcast itself, so there is no image backend to write.

It runs as one Docker image on your own server, sends through the ESP you choose (Amazon SES, Postmark, or any SMTP provider), and costs $250 once. More on the editor in A drag-and-drop email builder that starts from your brand.

Broadcast is not open source, and it is not an editor you can embed in your own product. If either of those is a requirement, GrapesJS, Easy Email or MJML is the better fit.

Which one to pick

1. You are building a product and want an open-source editor inside it. GrapesJS with the MJML plugin. Easy Email or Maily if you are on React.
2. Your emails are written by developers. MJML, or React Email.
3. You want a finished embeddable editor and have a budget. Unlayer or Beefree SDK.
4. You are happy with Mosaico’s template-driven model and can write the backend. Stay on Mosaico. It still works, and the template language is its real strength.
5. You need a single HTML email now. The free email template builder.
6. You want to send newsletters from your own server without wiring an editor to anything. Broadcast.

Frequently asked

Is Mosaico still maintained?

Slowly. The latest release is v0.18.11 from August 2025, and there were commits in September 2026, mostly build and test updates. It is not abandoned, but it is not moving fast either, and it is still pre-1.0.

Is Mosaico free for commercial use?

It is GPL-3.0. You can use it commercially, including running it on your own servers. If you distribute software that includes Mosaico, the GPL’s copyleft terms apply to that distribution, so check with whoever handles licensing for you. VOID Labs also offers commercial support.

Does Mosaico need a backend?

Yes. The editor calls a server for image uploads, image resizing and placeholders, and for downloading or sending the finished email. The repository ships a development backend that its README says not to use in production, so you write your own.

What is the best open-source alternative to Mosaico?

GrapesJS, for most people. It is permissively licensed (BSD-3-Clause), actively developed, and has an MJML plugin for email-safe output. Easy Email is a good choice for React apps.

Is there a Mosaico alternative that needs no install at all?

The free Broadcast email template builder runs in your browser with no signup and exports Outlook-safe HTML. The hosted editors, Unlayer and Beefree, also need no install, but they are services you embed with an account.

I use Mosaico through CiviCRM. Should I switch?

If CiviCRM is your CRM and mailings are one part of it, the Mosaico extension is maintained and well used, so there is little reason to switch. If you mostly use CiviCRM for newsletters, a dedicated platform like Broadcast will be simpler to run.

Related

• Best email template builders in 2026
• Mautic alternatives
• Listmonk alternatives
• Broadcast vs Mautic
• Broadcast vs Listmonk
• The 7 best self-hosted email marketing platforms
• Free email template builder