Should I self-host Mailchimp?

What you lose

• Mailchimp's sender reputation — you'll ride SES/Postmark's instead, and warm-up is real
• The template marketplace and journey builder

What you're paying Mailchimp for

• subscriber lists & segments
• campaign sending
• templates
• signup forms
• analytics

Ranked alternatives

1. listmonk

Your mailing list, your campaigns and your click stats out of one Go binary, with the sending handed to an SMTP relay you pick.

knadh/listmonk · ★ 22,699 · last commit 0d ago · AGPL-3.0

Hardware

Runs comfortably on Raspberry Pi.

The tested compose file (our evidence, CI-booted)

# listmonk — newsletter + mailing lists (replaces Mailchimp's list half; you still need an
# SMTP relay like SES/Postmark for deliverability — that cost is in the verdict math notes)
services:
  listmonk:
    image: listmonk/listmonk:latest
    container_name: listmonk
    restart: unless-stopped
    depends_on:
      listmonk-db:
        condition: service_healthy
    command: [sh, -c, "./listmonk --install --idempotent --yes && ./listmonk"]
    environment:
      LISTMONK_app__address: 0.0.0.0:9000
      LISTMONK_db__host: listmonk-db
      LISTMONK_db__port: "5432"
      LISTMONK_db__user: listmonk
      LISTMONK_db__password: listmonk
      LISTMONK_db__database: listmonk
      LISTMONK_db__ssl_mode: disable
    ports:
      - "9000:9000"
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "wget -qO- http://localhost:9000/health >/dev/null || exit 1"]
      interval: 5s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 24
      start_period: 20s

  listmonk-db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: listmonk
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: listmonk
      POSTGRES_DB: listmonk
    volumes:
      - listmonk-pg:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U listmonk"]
      interval: 5s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 12

volumes:
  listmonk-pg:

Want a guided install instead? caniselfhostit.com/mailchimp has AI-agent prompts that assume a bare machine — that's their half of the stool, and it's good.

Verification

# Timed setup log: Mailchimp → listmonk

**Protocol:** v1 · **Verified by:** zernonia · **Date:** 2026-08-10
**Assistant:** claude-code · **Environment:** containerized runner, 2 vCPU class, Docker 29.3 / Compose v5.1

## Timeline

| Step | Time |
|---|---|
| Read upstream docs, draft compose with healthcheck | ~20 min |
| **Boot: all services healthy in 16 s (measured, `compose up --wait`)** | — |
| Endpoint-level workflow check (login/health/API serve) + re-run from clean volumes | ~20 min |
| **Total: ~60 min** | |

Boot and endpoint checks are machine-verified; `setup_min` is the wall-clock total for this
session including authoring, diagnosis and re-runs. Endpoint-level ≠ full human UI workflow —
dispute anything that doesn't reproduce (CONTRIBUTING.md).

## What broke

- --install must run before first serve (the compose command chains it idempotently)
- Sending anything real requires an SMTP relay — factor ~$1-5/mo for SES into your own math

## Verdict-relevant notes

- Verdict assumes the Essentials list-size tier; large lists change both sides of the equation.

Verdict history

• 2026-08-10: unscored → YES — Initial verdict: listmonk runs your lists and campaigns for the cost of a Postgres; pair it with SES at ~$0.10/1k emails and Mailchimp's $156/yr becomes a rounding error. Deliverability is now a skill you own.