Keila Review (2026)
Privacy-first open-source newsletters, hosted in the EU or self-hosted. Founded 2021. Our verdict for privacy-conscious senders in the eu — scored across ease of use, features, value and support.
Affiliate disclosure: Critingo is reader-supported. If you sign up through links on this page we may earn a commission — it costs you nothing extra and never changes our verdicts. We verify pricing and terms regularly, but they change often: always confirm on the vendor's site before buying.
Our score
Four factors, weighted equally. We adjust scores when vendors ship major changes.
| Keila — our score: 3.8/5 | |
|---|---|
| Ease of use | |
| Features | |
| Value for money | |
| Support | |
Pricing
Always confirm on the vendor's site — this changes often and we flag stale data.
| Model | per-email |
| Free plan | No — no free plan (self-hosting is free) |
| Paid from | From €8/mo for 2,000 emails, unlimited contacts |
| Free trial | None |
| Official pricing | https://www.keila.io/pricing |
Pros & cons
- Open source (AGPLv3) with a hosted cloud option
- Unlimited contacts and projects on every plan
- Bring your own email server or send via Keila
- Privacy options, GDPR documentation, EU hosting
- No free plan
- Sending limits are small at the cheapest tiers (2,000 emails/mo at €8)
- No automations or landing pages in the feature set we verified
- Smaller ecosystem than the big platforms
Best for
- Privacy-conscious senders in the EU
- Developers who want a self-hostable newsletter tool
Feature checklist
| automation | ✗ No |
| signup forms | ✓ Yes |
| landing pages | ✗ No |
| paid subscriptions | ✗ No |
| ecommerce | ✗ No |
| analytics | ✓ Yes |
| api | ✓ Yes |
Compare Keila with alternatives
Same category, different trade-offs.
MailerLite
The best value all-rounder
AWeber
The veteran that's still competitive
Keila: FAQ
Is Keila free?
No permanent free plan — Keila offers a free trial instead (No — no free plan (self-hosting is free)). Check their pricing page for current terms.
How much does Keila cost?
From €8/mo for 2,000 emails, unlimited contacts. Pricing usually scales with list size — see Keila's official pricing page for today's numbers, as vendors change them several times a year.
Is Keila worth it in 2026?
For privacy-conscious senders in the eu, yes — that's who it's built for. Our score: 3.8/5, based on ease of use, features, value and support. Read the breakdown below to see if your priorities match.
What are the best Keila alternatives?
MailerLite, AWeber, EmailOctopus — see our full alternatives guide for the details.
Our verdict
Keila scores 3.8/5 and is our pick for privacy-conscious senders in the eu. Its standout strengths: open source (agplv3) with a hosted cloud option and unlimited contacts and projects on every plan. The main trade-offs: no free plan.
How we score: four factors rated 1–5, averaged, based on the vendor's public pricing pages, documentation, changelog and user reports. An automated check visits the pricing page daily (see the test bench notes above); when a vendor changes materially, this page gets updated — check the "last updated" date above.How we review.