In simple English
This tool lets you run your own email newsletter service. You can import subscriber lists, design messages, and track who opens them. It runs on your own server, so your subscriber data stays private. You do not pay monthly fees to a third-party company. It takes some technical knowledge to install and keep running.
What it is
A self-hosted email marketing application written in PHP that manages large subscriber lists, campaign queues, and delivery statistics. It offers both a web interface and a command-line interface for heavy sending tasks.
What it is good for
Solo builders and publishers who want to send newsletters to thousands of subscribers without paying high monthly fees to commercial email services.
- Runs on your own server so you control all subscriber data.
- Handles very large lists and tracks open and click statistics.
- Supports scheduling, pausing, and domain-based throttling for delivery.
- Requires a web server with PHP and a MySQL database to install.
- Licensed under the GNU AGPLv3 licence, which places network-use restrictions on modified code.
- Manual upgrades require database backups and file copying.
commercial newsletter platforms like Mailchimp or Substack
Amazon SES for reliable message delivery
docker run -d -p 80:80 phplist/phplist