Self-hosted alternatives to SendGrid
Want transactional and marketing email delivery without handing your data to SendGrid? These 8 self-hosted apps run on your own server (most are open source; licenses are listed below). Cheapest estimated hosting starts at about $3.5/month.
About SendGrid: Twilio's email delivery API for transactional and marketing mail.
| App | Health | Stars | License | Docker | RAM (est.) | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward Email direct | Active | 1.7k | BUSL-1.1, MPL-2.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Listmonk | Active | 24.1k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 512 MB | $3.5/mo |
| Haraka | Active | 5.6k | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| OpenSMTPD | Active | 586 | ISC | – | 512 MB | $3.5/mo |
| chasquid | Unknown | – | Apache-2.0 | – | 512 MB | $3.5/mo |
| Courier MTA | Unknown | – | GPL-3.0 | – | 512 MB | $3.5/mo |
| EmailRelay | Unknown | – | GPL-3.0 | – | 512 MB | $3.5/mo |
| Sendy | Unknown | – | ⊘ Proprietary | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
The options in detail
1. Forward Email
Privacy-focused encrypted email for everyone. All-in-one (alternative to Gmail, Mailchimp, Sendgrid).
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release v2.19.0 (2026-11-04). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
2. Listmonk
High performance newsletter and mailing list manager with a modern dashboard.
Active Last commit 2026-11-03. Latest release nightly (2026-11-04). Needs roughly 512 MB RAM. How to run it →
3. Haraka
Fast, highly extensible, and event driven SMTP server.
Active Last commit 2026-11-03. Latest release v3.3.5 (2026-10-17). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
4. OpenSMTPD
Secure SMTP server implementation from the OpenBSD project.
Active Last commit 2026-11-03. Latest release 7.9.0p0 (2026-09-13). Needs roughly 512 MB RAM. How to run it →
5. chasquid
SMTP (email) server with a focus on simplicity, security, and ease of operation.
Unknown Needs roughly 512 MB RAM. How to run it →
6. Courier MTA
Fast, scalable, enterprise mail/groupware server providing ESMTP, IMAP, POP3, webmail, mailing list, basic web-based calendaring and scheduling services.
Unknown Needs roughly 512 MB RAM. How to run it →
7. EmailRelay
Small and easy to configure SMTP and POP3 server for Windows and Linux.
Unknown Needs roughly 512 MB RAM. How to run it →
8. Sendy
Email newsletter application that lets you send bulk emails via Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) or other SMTP services.
Unknown Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
Why self-host instead of SendGrid?
- Own your data — it lives on a server you control, with backups you decide on.
- Predictable cost — a small VPS often replaces per-seat pricing for a whole team or family.
- No lock-in — open-source licenses let you keep running the software even if a vendor disappears.
The trade-off: you are responsible for updates, backups and security. Pick an app marked Active (a commit in the last 90 days) and with Docker support for the easiest ride.
Browse related categories
Other alternatives guides
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