# Private and open-source alternatives to Substack

1. [Forward Email](https://privacyratings.com/newsletters/forward-email/): B (84/100). 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.
2. [listmonk](https://privacyratings.com/newsletters/listmonk/): B (80/100). 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.
3. [Keila](https://privacyratings.com/newsletters/keila/): D (59/100). 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.
4. [phpList](https://privacyratings.com/newsletters/phplist/): D (47/100). 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.
5. [Buttondown](https://privacyratings.com/newsletters/buttondown/): F (28/100). Hosted newsletter service for writing and sending email newsletters in Markdown, with paid subscriptions, archives, custom domains and an API.
6. [Kit](https://privacyratings.com/newsletters/kit/): F (19/100). Email marketing platform for creators, formerly ConvertKit, with sign-up forms, landing pages, automated email sequences, paid newsletters and digital product sales.
7. [beehiiv](https://privacyratings.com/newsletters/beehiiv/): F (13/100). Newsletter platform for writing, sending and monetizing email newsletters, with websites, paid subscriptions, referral programs and an ad network that places sponsors in newsletters.

Source: https://privacyratings.com/alternatives/substack/