Listmonk self-hosted newsletter platform (19k stars): blazing-fast Go binary, PostgreSQL backend, and minimal resource footprint on a 4 GB Liquid Web VPS.
Billionmail and Listmonk are both self-hosted, open-source email tools. But comparing them head-to-head misses the point: they solve different problems, and the most effective self-hosted email stack often uses both together.
Mautic and Listmonk are the two most common self-hosted answers to Mailchimp and HubSpot email — but they solve different problems. Listmonk is a high-performance newsletter sender. Mautic is a full marketing automation platform with drip campaigns, lead scoring, landing pages, and CRM-lite features. Picking the wrong one means either paying for complexity you don't need or hitting a ceiling on automation you can't reach.
Mailchimp Essentials charges $20/month for 500 contacts and 6,000 sends. Self-hosting removes both caps: a Liquid Web 2–4 GB Managed VPS running Listmonk can send to an unlimited subscriber list at the cost of your SMTP relay — typically $1–3 per 10,000 emails via Postmark or Mailgun.
TL;DR
docker-compose.yml: Listmonk (newsletters) + Postal (SMTP delivery) + Billionmail (IP reputation) + PostgreSQL 16 + MySQL 8.0 + RabbitMQ + Redis 7 + CaddyThis guide deploys a three-layer self-hosted email stack: Listmonk handles subscriber lists and campaign management, Postal provides the SMTP delivery engine with bounce processing and DKIM signing, and Billionmail monitors IP reputation and blacklist status. Together they replace the Mailchimp + Postmark combination for teams that want full control over their email infrastructure.
TL;DR
docker-compose.yml: Billionmail (SMTP) + Mautic (automation) + PostgreSQL + MariaDB + CaddyThis guide pairs Billionmail (self-hosted SMTP server) with Mautic (marketing automation) on a single Liquid Web 16 GB VPS. Mautic handles contact segmentation, campaign flows, landing pages, and lead scoring. Billionmail provides the SMTP relay that Mautic sends through.