Private and open-source alternatives to Mailchimp
7 newsletter platforms rated against the same public privacy criteria as Mailchimp, with our picks first.
Why look for an alternative?
- Open source: no. Closed source.
- No trackers or telemetry: no. The Intuit privacy statement covers advertising cookies, pixels and session-replay tools, and campaigns track opens and clicks by default.
- No ads or data sales: partial. Funded by subscriptions and states data is not sold, but personal information is shared with advertising networks for targeted ads unless users opt out.
- Independent audit: partial. SOC 2 and ISO 27001 audits are done, but the reports are only available through the Intuit compliance portal.
- Transparency report: partial. Publishes how it accepts legal process from governments, but no request counts.
- Tells users about requests: partial. Mailchimp reserves the right to notify customers of legal process, and some customer agreements require notice unless prohibited.
- Security headers: no. Grade C+ (60/100+)
See the full Mailchimp rating.
The alternatives
Forward Email Grade B
Email service whose paid plans include outbound SMTP, which can send newsletters and mailing lists from a list tool such as listmonk. Newsletter sending needs approval for each domain. Subscriber lists and campaigns are managed in the separate tool.
Based in the United States (Five Eyes). Forward Email scores 84 out of 100 (grade B) on the newsletter platforms criteria. It meets 6 of 8 criteria: open source, no ads or data sales, independent audit, tells users about requests, TLS configuration and security headers.
listmonk Grade B
Self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager distributed as a single binary with a PostgreSQL database, with a web dashboard, templates, subscriber lists and transactional email API.
listmonk scores 80 out of 100 (grade B) on the newsletter platforms criteria. It meets 3 of 4 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry and no ads or data sales.
Keila Grade D
Open source newsletter tool with a visual and Markdown editor, sign-up forms and subscriber segments. It can be self-hosted or used through Keila Cloud, a hosted service run by Keila GmbH in Germany.
Based in Germany (Fourteen Eyes). Keila scores 59 out of 100 (grade D) on the newsletter platforms criteria. It meets 3 of 8 criteria: open source, no ads or data sales and TLS configuration.
phpList Grade D
Open source newsletter and mailing list manager written in PHP, installed on your own web server. phpList Ltd in the UK also runs a hosted version at phplist.com.
Based in the United Kingdom (Five Eyes). phpList scores 47 out of 100 (grade D) on the newsletter platforms criteria. It meets 3 of 8 criteria: open source, no ads or data sales and TLS configuration.
Buttondown Grade F
Hosted newsletter service for writing and sending email newsletters in Markdown, with paid subscriptions, archives, custom domains and an API.
Based in the United States (Five Eyes). Buttondown scores 28 out of 100 (grade F) on the newsletter platforms criteria. It meets 1 of 8 criteria: no ads or data sales.
Kit Grade F
Email marketing platform for creators, formerly ConvertKit, with sign-up forms, landing pages, automated email sequences, paid newsletters and digital product sales.
Based in the United States (Five Eyes). Kit scores 19 out of 100 (grade F) on the newsletter platforms criteria. It meets 1 of 8 criteria: TLS configuration.
beehiiv Grade F
Newsletter platform for writing, sending and monetizing email newsletters, with websites, paid subscriptions, referral programs and an ad network that places sponsors in newsletters.
Based in the United States (Five Eyes). beehiiv scores 13 out of 100 (grade F) on the newsletter platforms criteria. It meets 1 of 8 criteria: TLS configuration.