listmonk Review (2026)
Free, self-hosted newsletter and mailing-list manager. Founded 2019. Our verdict for developers and technical teams — 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.
| listmonk — our score: 3.5/5 | |
|---|---|
| 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 | self-hosted |
| Free plan | Yes — free software, you pay your own server and SMTP costs |
| Paid from | Free software; you supply hosting and an SMTP/SES provider |
| Free trial | None |
| Official pricing | https://listmonk.app/ |
Pros & cons
- Free and open source with no subscriber limits
- Handles very large lists on modest hardware
- Full API and templating
- You own all of your data
- You must host it and set up SMTP and deliverability yourself
- No hosted version or official support
- Limited automation compared with commercial tools
- Not suited to non-technical users
Best for
- Developers and technical teams
- Very large lists on a tiny budget
Feature checklist
| automation | ✗ No |
| signup forms | ✓ Yes |
| landing pages | ✗ No |
| paid subscriptions | ✗ No |
| ecommerce | ✗ No |
| analytics | ✓ Yes |
| api | ✓ Yes |
Compare listmonk with alternatives
Same category, different trade-offs.
MailerLite
The best value all-rounder
AWeber
The veteran that's still competitive
listmonk: FAQ
Is listmonk free?
Yes — listmonk offers a free plan (free software, you pay your own server and SMTP costs). Paid plans add capacity and features.
How much does listmonk cost?
Free software; you supply hosting and an SMTP/SES provider. Pricing usually scales with list size — see listmonk's official pricing page for today's numbers, as vendors change them several times a year.
Is listmonk worth it in 2026?
For developers and technical teams, yes — that's who it's built for. Our score: 3.5/5, based on ease of use, features, value and support. Read the breakdown below to see if your priorities match.
What are the best listmonk alternatives?
MailerLite, AWeber, EmailOctopus — see our full alternatives guide for the details.
Our verdict
listmonk scores 3.5/5 and is our pick for developers and technical teams. Its standout strengths: free and open source with no subscriber limits and handles very large lists on modest hardware. The main trade-offs: you must host it and set up smtp and deliverability yourself.
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.