Sendy alternatives: six options when SES-only and autoresponders are not enough

If you want out of SES, look at Listmonk. If you want automation past a timed welcome series, look at Broadcast or Mautic. That covers most people searching for a Sendy alternative. Sendy is a PHP application, about $69 one-time per installation, and it has done one job well for about a decade. This page sorts the alternatives by which of Sendy’s three limits you have run into.

Quick answer

The best Sendy alternative depends on which limit you hit. Listmonk if you want any SMTP relay and the fastest free option. Keila if you want a modern open-source UI. Mautic if you need a real campaign builder and can run a PHP stack. phpList if subscription management is the job. Mailtrain if your team is on Node. Broadcast if you want branching sequences and one license across your servers, and it keeps sending through SES so the setup carries over.

Conflict of interest

We make Broadcast, which is on this list. We have run Sendy and most of the others. If a section reads as unfair to a competitor, tell us and we will fix it.

Why people leave Sendy

Three reasons come up over and over.

If you send broadcasts through SES and a welcome series is enough, stay on Sendy. It is hard to beat at the price.

The six alternatives at a glance

Platform License Adds over Sendy Costs you Best for
Listmonk AGPL, free Any SMTP relay, high throughput, clean API No automation at all Broadcast senders who want off SES
Keila AGPL, free The best UI in open source, EU hosting story Automations still on the roadmap Non-developers who want to stay open source
Mautic GPL, free Campaign graphs, lead scoring, landing pages A PHP stack to run and days of tuning Marketing teams with an ops person
phpList AGPL, free Mature double opt-in and list management A dated UX, scheduled sends only Non-profits and long-running lists
Mailtrain GPL, free Templates, multi-list, basic automation Smaller community Teams already on Node
Broadcast $250 one-time, $1,000 for 25 servers Branching sequences, any ESP, support Not open source Agencies and teams who outgrew autoresponders

Listmonk

Listmonk is a single Go binary with a Postgres database, free under the AGPL. It is very fast and sustains high throughput on modest hardware. It sends through any SMTP relay or Amazon SES, so it fixes the lock-in directly. The API is clean and the maintainer ships consistently.

It has no drip sequences, no triggered emails, and no branching, so it is a step down from Sendy’s autoresponders on automation. Reporting is spare and there is one basic embeddable subscribe form.

Pick Listmonk if relay freedom and speed are what you want and you do not use autoresponders. Detail in Listmonk vs Sendy.

Keila

Keila is an Elixir and Phoenix application under the AGPL, built in Germany, with an official Docker image. It has the most polished UI among open-source email tools, which is the clearest contrast with Sendy. Segments and scheduled sends work today. Automations and A/B testing are on the roadmap as of mid-2026, so it does not yet replace autoresponders.

The EU origin gives it a strong DSGVO story. Elixir hosting is less common than PHP, so ops help is a little harder to find. There is also Keila Cloud, a managed EU-hosted version at 8 to 256 euros a month with no free tier, if you would rather not run it.

Pick Keila if the interface was the thing that bothered you. Detail in Keila vs Listmonk.

Mautic

Mautic is PHP under the GPL, free, and has the deepest automation builder in open source. Campaign graphs with branching, lead scoring, landing pages, dynamic content, CRM integrations. If autoresponders were the ceiling you hit, this is the other extreme.

The price is operational. It needs a web server, PHP-FPM, MySQL, cron, and Redis or a queue, plus a larger server than the rest of this list. First installs commonly take days to tune, and deliverability problems usually trace back to queue configuration.

Pick Mautic if you are replacing a marketing automation suite and someone can own the stack. Detail in Sendy vs Mautic.

phpList

phpList has been around since 2000, is PHP under the AGPL, and is very mature. Subscription management and double opt-in are the strong parts. Automation is limited to scheduled sends, which is less than Sendy gives you, and performance at scale needs tuning. The UX is from another era.

Pick phpList if the list and its opt-in record matter more than what you send to it.

Mailtrain

Mailtrain is a Node.js platform under the GPL with a good template system, multi-list support, segments, and basic automation. Version 2 was a substantial rewrite. The community is smaller than Mautic’s. It is free, which removes the per-install license question entirely.

Pick Mailtrain if your team already runs Node services and wants to extend the tool in JavaScript.

Broadcast

Broadcast is our product, so read this section with that in mind. It is a self-hosted Rails application sold as a $250 one-time license, with an Extended License at $1,000 covering up to 25 servers, which is the answer to the per-install math if you run client installs.

It keeps your sending setup. Broadcast connects to SES the same way Sendy does, so your verified domains and warmed reputation carry over, and you can move to Postmark, SendGrid, Resend, Mailgun, or any SMTP later without changing platforms. Automation goes past autoresponders to drip sequences with conditional branching, alongside segmentation, opt-in forms, a transactional API, webhooks, and multi-domain support. It installs as a single Docker image in about 30 minutes, includes email support, and has a 30-day money-back guarantee. It is not open source, and it has no lead scoring or landing pages.

Pick Broadcast if you want branching automation and one license across many installs while staying on SES. Detail in Broadcast vs Sendy.

How to choose

  1. You want off SES and only send broadcasts. Listmonk.
  2. You want off autoresponders and keep SES. Broadcast.
  3. You need a full campaign builder and have an ops person. Mautic.
  4. You want a modern UI and stay open source. Keila.
  5. You run many client installs. Broadcast’s Extended License, or a free tool.
  6. Your list is a community list. phpList.
  7. Your stack is Node. Mailtrain.

Frequently asked

What is the best free alternative to Sendy?

Listmonk. It is free under the AGPL, it sends through any SMTP relay or SES, and it is faster than Sendy on the same hardware. You give up autoresponders to get there.

Is there a Sendy alternative that is not tied to Amazon SES?

Listmonk, Keila, Mautic, phpList, Mailtrain, and Broadcast all send through any SMTP relay. Broadcast also connects to SES, Postmark, SendGrid, Resend, and Mailgun, so you can keep SES now and change later.

Is there a Sendy alternative with real automation?

Broadcast has drip sequences with conditional branching. Mautic has campaign graphs with branching, lead scoring, and dynamic content. Mailtrain has basic automation. Listmonk has none, and Keila has automations on the roadmap rather than shipped.

Is Sendy’s license expensive for agencies?

It can be. The license is about $69 per installation, so twenty client sites means twenty licenses. Free tools remove that entirely. Broadcast’s $1,000 Extended License covers up to 25 servers.

Can I move my Sendy subscribers somewhere else?

Yes. Export as CSV and import into any of these tools. Autoresponder series do not transfer, so rebuild those by hand. Broadcast keeps tags and custom fields intact on import.

Keep SES, lose the ceiling

Broadcast sends through your existing Amazon SES account and adds drip sequences with conditional branching. One Docker image, a $250 one-time license, $1,000 for up to 25 servers, and email support.

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