# 12 Best Open Source Alternatives for SendGrid Canonical: https://caniforkit.com/sendgrid Last updated: 2026-11-07 Looking for the best open source alternative for SendGrid? Compare 12 verified free and open source alternatives to SendGrid (Listmonk, Billion Mail, Postal) with license details, self-hosting requirements, and practical trade-offs. ## SendGrid Overview & Subscription Cost - **Product**: SendGrid - **Category**: [seo & marketing](https://caniforkit.com/category/seo-marketing) - **Paid Subscription Price**: $49/month per seat - **1-Seat Annualized Cost**: $588/year - **5-Person Team Annualized Cost**: $2,940/year - **10-Person Team Annualized Cost**: $5,880/year - **Can I Vibe-Code / Rebuild It Myself?**: NO (use a free alternative, save the tokens) - **Rebuild Verdict**: Instead of paying recurring SaaS fees for SendGrid or rebuilding it from scratch, deploy one of the 12 battle-tested open-source alternatives like Listmonk. ## Verified Free & Open Source Alternatives | Alternative | Type | License | Runs On | GitHub Stars | Head-to-Head | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Listmonk](https://caniforkit.com/fork/listmonk) | Open Source | AGPL-3.0 | Self-host | ★ 24.2k | [Compare vs SendGrid](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-listmonk) | | [Billion Mail](https://caniforkit.com/fork/billion-mail) | Open Source | Open Source | Self-host | ★ 16.2k | [Compare vs SendGrid](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-billion-mail) | | [Postal](https://caniforkit.com/fork/postal) | Open Source | Open Source | Self-host | ★ 16.9k | [Compare vs SendGrid](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-postal) | | [Mautic](https://caniforkit.com/fork/mautic) | Open Source | GPL-3.0+ | Self-host | ★ 10.9k | [Compare vs SendGrid](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-mautic) | | [Plunk](https://caniforkit.com/fork/plunk) | Open Source | AGPL-3.0 | Self-host | ★ 5.6k | [Compare vs SendGrid](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-plunk) | | [useSend](https://caniforkit.com/fork/usesend) | Open Source | Open Source | Self-host | ★ 4.8k | [Compare vs SendGrid](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-usesend) | | [Notifuse](https://caniforkit.com/fork/notifuse) | Open Source | AGPL-3.0 | Self-host | ★ 2.3k | [Compare vs SendGrid](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-notifuse) | | [Sendportal](https://caniforkit.com/fork/sendportal) | Open Source | Open Source | Self-host | ★ 2.2k | [Compare vs SendGrid](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-sendportal) | | [Keila](https://caniforkit.com/fork/keila) | Open Source | AGPL-3.0+ | Self-host | ★ 2.3k | [Compare vs SendGrid](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-keila) | | [Sessy](https://caniforkit.com/fork/sessy) | Open Source | Open Source | Self-host | ★ 945 | [Compare vs SendGrid](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-sessy) | | [Hyvor Relay](https://caniforkit.com/fork/hyvor-relay) | Open Source | Open Source | Self-host | ★ 922 | [Compare vs SendGrid](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-hyvor-relay) | | [Wraps](https://caniforkit.com/fork/wraps) | Open Source | Open Source | Local | ★ 66 | [Compare vs SendGrid](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-wraps) | ## In-Depth Alternative Profiles ### Listmonk - **Fork Page**: [Listmonk Profile](https://caniforkit.com/fork/listmonk) - **Head-to-Head Comparison**: [SendGrid vs Listmonk](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-listmonk) - **Official Website**: https://listmonk.app/ - **Source Code Repository**: https://github.com/knadh/listmonk - **License**: AGPL-3.0 - **Runs On**: Self-host - **GitHub Stars**: 24.2k - **Maintenance Activity**: nov 2026 - **Supported Platforms**: web, self-hosted, docker to self-host - **Summary**: Send email campaigns and transactional messages to millions of subscribers with a single high-performance binary backed by Postgres. - **The Catch vs SendGrid**: listmonk is fast and explicit about subscriber states, but it lacks Brevo's managed deliverability, broad automation suite, CRM-style contact tools, and polished visual workflow builder. - **Installation**: Docker Compose or a single release binary plus PostgreSQL - **Setup**: You still need a PostgreSQL database and a trustworthy SMTP/API sender with authenticated DNS. - **Data Storage**: Subscribers, campaigns, templates, and analytics live in a PostgreSQL database on your server. ### Billion Mail - **Fork Page**: [Billion Mail Profile](https://caniforkit.com/fork/billion-mail) - **Head-to-Head Comparison**: [SendGrid vs Billion Mail](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-billion-mail) - **Official Website**: https://www.billionmail.com/ - **Source Code Repository**: https://github.com/aapanel/billionmail - **License**: Open Source - **Runs On**: Self-host - **GitHub Stars**: 16.2k - **Maintenance Activity**: nov 2026 - **Supported Platforms**: web, self-hosted, docker to self-host - **Summary**: Self-hosted email marketing platform with unlimited sending, AI-powered email creation, real-time analytics, and no monthly fees. Complete SMTP solution. - **The Catch vs SendGrid**: Requires self-hosting setup, updates, and server maintenance compared to managed SendGrid. - **Installation**: Clone https://github.com/aapanel/billionmail or deploy with Docker Compose - **Setup**: Deploy via Docker or binary release from GitHub and configure environment variables. - **Data Storage**: All application data and configuration live on your own server or local database. ### Postal - **Fork Page**: [Postal Profile](https://caniforkit.com/fork/postal) - **Head-to-Head Comparison**: [SendGrid vs Postal](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-postal) - **Official Website**: https://docs.postalserver.io/ - **Source Code Repository**: https://github.com/postalserver/postal - **License**: Open Source - **Runs On**: Self-host - **GitHub Stars**: 16.9k - **Maintenance Activity**: nov 2026 - **Supported Platforms**: web, self-hosted, docker to self-host - **Summary**: Run your own mail delivery infrastructure with a web interface, webhooks, IP pools, and spam filtering integrations for inbound and outbound email. - **The Catch vs SendGrid**: Requires self-hosting setup, updates, and server maintenance compared to managed SendGrid. - **Installation**: Clone https://github.com/postalserver/postal or deploy with Docker Compose - **Setup**: Deploy via Docker or binary release from GitHub and configure environment variables. - **Data Storage**: All application data and configuration live on your own server or local database. ### Mautic - **Fork Page**: [Mautic Profile](https://caniforkit.com/fork/mautic) - **Head-to-Head Comparison**: [SendGrid vs Mautic](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-mautic) - **Official Website**: https://www.mautic.org - **Source Code Repository**: https://github.com/mautic/mautic - **License**: GPL-3.0+ - **Runs On**: Self-host - **GitHub Stars**: 10.9k - **Maintenance Activity**: nov 2026 - **Supported Platforms**: web, self-hosted, self-host, real ops - **Summary**: Mautic is a free and open source marketing automation platform that helps businesses manage leads, create campaigns, and analyze results. - **The Catch vs SendGrid**: Mautic can match deep automation, but the user must operate the application, database, cron, upgrades, backups, mail transport, and deliverability stack. - **Installation**: Download the production package or install with Composer, then configure PHP, a database, cron, and a mail transport - **Setup**: The first wall is not the installer but production operation: PHP and database tuning, several cron jobs, HTTPS, backups, upgrades, SMTP/API sending, and DNS authentication. - **Data Storage**: Contacts, segments, campaigns, events, and reports live in the configured MySQL or MariaDB database; assets, configuration, logs, and queue files live on the server filesystem. ### Plunk - **Fork Page**: [Plunk Profile](https://caniforkit.com/fork/plunk) - **Head-to-Head Comparison**: [SendGrid vs Plunk](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-plunk) - **Official Website**: https://useplunk.com - **Source Code Repository**: https://github.com/useplunk/plunk - **License**: AGPL-3.0 - **Runs On**: Self-host - **GitHub Stars**: 5.6k - **Maintenance Activity**: nov 2026 - **Supported Platforms**: web, self-hosted, docker to self-host - **Summary**: Plunk unifies marketing, transactional, and broadcast emails into a single, complete solution for businesses of all sizes. - **The Catch vs SendGrid**: Plunk is developer-first and much thinner in visual audience management, CRM depth, segmentation tooling, and marketer-oriented reporting. - **Installation**: Hosted signup, or the official Docker Compose stack - **Setup**: Hosted use still needs domain authentication; self-hosting adds PostgreSQL, Redis, MinIO, Nginx or another proxy, exposed web and SMTP services, DNS, and ongoing deliverability work. - **Data Storage**: The self-hosted stack stores core data in PostgreSQL, jobs and cache in Redis, and objects in MinIO; hosted data is kept in Plunk's EU infrastructure. ### useSend - **Fork Page**: [useSend Profile](https://caniforkit.com/fork/usesend) - **Head-to-Head Comparison**: [SendGrid vs useSend](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-usesend) - **Official Website**: https://usesend.com - **Source Code Repository**: https://github.com/usesend/usesend - **License**: Open Source - **Runs On**: Self-host - **GitHub Stars**: 4.8k - **Maintenance Activity**: nov 2026 - **Supported Platforms**: web, self-hosted, docker to self-host - **Summary**: Open source email platform for transactional and marketing emails. Self-host or use cloud service with transparent pricing - pay only for emails sent. - **The Catch vs SendGrid**: Requires self-hosting setup, updates, and server maintenance compared to managed SendGrid. - **Installation**: Clone https://github.com/usesend/usesend or deploy with Docker Compose - **Setup**: Deploy via Docker or binary release from GitHub and configure environment variables. - **Data Storage**: All application data and configuration live on your own server or local database. ### Notifuse - **Fork Page**: [Notifuse Profile](https://caniforkit.com/fork/notifuse) - **Head-to-Head Comparison**: [SendGrid vs Notifuse](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-notifuse) - **Official Website**: https://www.notifuse.com - **Source Code Repository**: https://github.com/notifuse/notifuse - **License**: AGPL-3.0 - **Runs On**: Self-host - **GitHub Stars**: 2.3k - **Maintenance Activity**: nov 2026 - **Supported Platforms**: web, self-hosted, docker to self-host - **Summary**: Free open-source email platform for newsletters and transactional emails. Self-hosted alternative to Mailchimp with visual MJML editor, A/B testing, and analytics. - **The Catch vs SendGrid**: Notifuse is newer and narrower, without ActiveCampaign's mature CRM, predictive features, and thousand-plus integration ecosystem. - **Installation**: Hosted signup, or one application container plus PostgreSQL for self-hosting - **Setup**: Self-hosting still needs Docker, PostgreSQL, a public HTTPS endpoint, an SMTP or API sending provider, and correctly authenticated sending domains. - **Data Storage**: Self-hosted contacts, campaigns, automations, and events live in PostgreSQL; files can use S3-compatible storage, and the configured email provider receives message payloads. Hosted data lives in Notifuse's cloud. ### Sendportal - **Fork Page**: [Sendportal Profile](https://caniforkit.com/fork/sendportal) - **Head-to-Head Comparison**: [SendGrid vs Sendportal](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-sendportal) - **Official Website**: https://sendportal.io - **Source Code Repository**: https://github.com/mettle/sendportal - **License**: Open Source - **Runs On**: Self-host - **GitHub Stars**: 2.2k - **Maintenance Activity**: nov 2026 - **Supported Platforms**: web, self-hosted, docker to self-host - **Summary**: Open-source email marketing platform offering unlimited subscribers, campaigns, and workspaces. Self-hosted solution with powerful API and beautiful interface. - **The Catch vs SendGrid**: Requires self-hosting setup, updates, and server maintenance compared to managed SendGrid. - **Installation**: Clone https://github.com/mettle/sendportal or deploy with Docker Compose - **Setup**: Deploy via Docker or binary release from GitHub and configure environment variables. - **Data Storage**: All application data and configuration live on your own server or local database. ### Keila - **Fork Page**: [Keila Profile](https://caniforkit.com/fork/keila) - **Head-to-Head Comparison**: [SendGrid vs Keila](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-keila) - **Official Website**: https://keila.io - **Source Code Repository**: https://github.com/pentacent/keila - **License**: AGPL-3.0+ - **Runs On**: Self-host - **GitHub Stars**: 2.3k - **Maintenance Activity**: nov 2026 - **Supported Platforms**: web, self-hosted, docker to self-host - **Summary**: Self-hosted newsletter platform with powerful features, data protection, and full control over your mailing lists and campaigns. - **The Catch vs SendGrid**: Keila gives you a friendly campaign editor and tracking, but delivery reputation, SMTP configuration, backups, and upgrades become your responsibility rather than Campaign Monitor's. - **Installation**: Keila Cloud signup or Docker image plus PostgreSQL - **Setup**: Self-hosting requires Docker, PostgreSQL, a public HTTPS domain, and credentials for SMTP, SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, or Postmark. - **Data Storage**: Self-hosted subscribers, campaigns, and job state live in PostgreSQL; uploaded campaign assets live on persistent server storage. ### Sessy - **Fork Page**: [Sessy Profile](https://caniforkit.com/fork/sessy) - **Head-to-Head Comparison**: [SendGrid vs Sessy](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-sessy) - **Official Website**: https://sessy.do/ - **Source Code Repository**: https://github.com/marckohlbrugge/sessy - **License**: Open Source - **Runs On**: Self-host - **GitHub Stars**: 945 - **Maintenance Activity**: nov 2026 - **Supported Platforms**: web, self-hosted, docker to self-host - **Summary**: Track SES deliveries, bounces, opens and clicks in a self-hosted dashboard with real-time search, analytics and reputation monitoring. - **The Catch vs SendGrid**: Requires self-hosting setup, updates, and server maintenance compared to managed SendGrid. - **Installation**: Clone https://github.com/marckohlbrugge/sessy or deploy with Docker Compose - **Setup**: Deploy via Docker or binary release from GitHub and configure environment variables. - **Data Storage**: All application data and configuration live on your own server or local database. ### Hyvor Relay - **Fork Page**: [Hyvor Relay Profile](https://caniforkit.com/fork/hyvor-relay) - **Head-to-Head Comparison**: [SendGrid vs Hyvor Relay](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-hyvor-relay) - **Official Website**: https://relay.hyvor.com - **Source Code Repository**: https://github.com/hyvor/relay - **License**: Open Source - **Runs On**: Self-host - **GitHub Stars**: 922 - **Maintenance Activity**: nov 2026 - **Supported Platforms**: web, self-hosted, docker to self-host - **Summary**: Self-hosted email API alternative to AWS SES & Mailgun. Open-source AGPL-3.0 with enterprise features, automated deliverability, and cloud version coming 2026. - **The Catch vs SendGrid**: Requires self-hosting setup, updates, and server maintenance compared to managed SendGrid. - **Installation**: Clone https://github.com/hyvor/relay or deploy with Docker Compose - **Setup**: Deploy via Docker or binary release from GitHub and configure environment variables. - **Data Storage**: All application data and configuration live on your own server or local database. ### Wraps - **Fork Page**: [Wraps Profile](https://caniforkit.com/fork/wraps) - **Head-to-Head Comparison**: [SendGrid vs Wraps](https://caniforkit.com/vs/sendgrid-vs-wraps) - **Official Website**: https://wraps.dev/ - **Source Code Repository**: https://github.com/wraps-team/wraps - **License**: Open Source - **Runs On**: Local - **GitHub Stars**: 66 - **Maintenance Activity**: nov 2026 - **Supported Platforms**: desktop, cross-platform, one-click install - **Summary**: Build email templates as React components and automations in TypeScript. Deploy to your AWS account with SES integration. Marketing teams edit content without code. - **The Catch vs SendGrid**: Community-driven open source project without dedicated enterprise SLAs. - **Installation**: Clone https://github.com/wraps-team/wraps or deploy with Docker Compose - **Setup**: Download the native package or installer for your operating system. - **Data Storage**: All application data lives locally on your own machine. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is the best free alternative to SendGrid? The top free alternative to SendGrid is Listmonk (open source, AGPL-3.0). Send email campaigns and transactional messages to millions of subscribers with a single high-performance binary backed by Postgres. Other popular SendGrid replacements include Billion Mail, Postal, Mautic. ### How much does switching from SendGrid to a free alternative save? SendGrid starts at $49/month per seat ($588/year). Switching a 5-person team to a free alternative like Listmonk saves $2,940 per year in software subscription fees. ### What is the catch when switching away from SendGrid? While Listmonk replaces core SendGrid features without subscription fees, the real-world trade-off is: listmonk is fast and explicit about subscriber states, but it lacks Brevo's managed deliverability, broad automation suite, CRM-style contact tools, and polished visual workflow builder. ## Related - [seo & marketing Software Category Hub](https://caniforkit.com/category/seo-marketing) - [All Paid SaaS Alternatives Index](https://caniforkit.com/alternatives) - [Self-Hosted Software Directory](https://caniforkit.com/self-hosted) - [Homepage](https://caniforkit.com)