Is Plunk really free?

Yes. Plunk is open source: the code is public and installing it costs nothing. At most you pay for hosting if you put it on a server, often a few euros a month. Mailchimp, on the other hand, costs €12 a month.

Do I need to code to install Plunk?

No. The level is intermediate and the install takes about 30 minutes with the prompt from the page: Claude does the work, you answer its questions.

How is it different from Mailchimp?

Plunk does most of what Mailchimp does, without a subscription, and your data stays with you. The point by point comparison is on the page.

Yes. With an open source tool installed on your side, your files stay on your machine or your server. Nobody can close your account or change the price.

Free alternative

Free alternative to Mailchimp

Mailchimp costs €12 a month. Here are the 2 open source tools that replace it for free, best one first.

Public entry price, taken from Mailchimp’s website (mailchimp.com). Over a year, that is €144 that stays in your pocket.

What replaces Mailchimp

The main alternative

Plunk

🟡 Intermediate⏱️ ~30 min to installSave €12/mo

Plunk gathers in one tool what you pay Mailchimp or Brevo for. You send a newsletter to your whole list with the editor and templates, set up automations (a welcome email on signup, a sequence after an action), and your site or app sends its transactional emails through a simple API. Contacts, segments and history stay on your server, with no contact cap and no logo forced into your emails. The install uses Docker Compose, a Postgres database and a Redis. AGPL-3.0 license. The cloud version includes 1,000 free emails a month, then charges per email sent. Worth knowing: Plunk does not send by itself, it goes through Amazon SES, which charges about 9 cents per thousand emails. So you need an AWS account with your verified domain.

Loucash’s verdict on Plunk

7/10

Let me say it upfront: this library runs on Brevo, and I have not migrated yet. Plunk is still the right alternative if you pay Mailchimp or Brevo for your list: campaigns, automations and transactional emails in one place, unlimited contacts, no forced logo, and everything stays with you. The API is simple, the dashboard is clean. What you have to accept: Plunk cannot send without Amazon SES. You need an AWS account, your verified domain, a request to leave the sandbox, and you carry the sending reputation. Mailchimp and Brevo, you mostly pay them for that, deliverability handled by people whose job it is. If your list is small or your sends rare, the price gap is not worth the time spent at AWS. My math: from a few thousand contacts and one send a week, Plunk saves you several tens of euros a month for a few cents at Amazon. That is when I will switch.

Who it is for: You pay Mailchimp or Brevo for a list of several thousand contacts, you have a server, and you accept to spend half an hour at Amazon SES.

See the full page →See the tool ↗

Also in the library
listmonk
🟡 Intermediate⏱️ ~30 min to installSave €12/mo
listmonk does what you pay Brevo or Mailchimp for your newsletter. You import subscribers as a CSV, sort them into single or double opt-in lists, write your campaign in the drag-and-drop editor or in Markdown, and schedule it. You track opens, clicks and bounces, your site sends its transactional emails through the API, and a signup form drops into your page. The interface is available in French. No paid version, no official cloud: one Docker image, a Postgres database, AGPL-3.0 license. Emails go out through the SMTP of your choice, Amazon SES for instance, at under €0.15 per thousand. Worth knowing: listmonk has no automated flows. Apart from the double opt-in confirmation, nothing goes out by itself on signup: your site or n8n triggers your welcome email through the API.
See the full page →See the tool ↗

Plunk versus Mailchimp: the match

Price
Plunk
€0, plus a small VPS and about 9 cents per thousand emails at Amazon
Mailchimp
€12 a month for 500 contacts, then by tier
Contacts
Plunk
No limit
Mailchimp
500 on Essentials, the price climbs with the list
Logo in your emails
Plunk
None
Mailchimp
Present on free, €9 more at Brevo to remove it

Mailchimp ↗

VS	Plunk	Mailchimp ↗
Price	€0, plus a small VPS and about 9 cents per thousand emails at Amazon	€12 a month for 500 contacts, then by tier
Contacts	No limit	500 on Essentials, the price climbs with the list
Logo in your emails	None	Present on free, €9 more at Brevo to remove it
Transactional emails	Included, by API	Separate service, billed separately
Where your contacts live	On your server	With them
Deliverability	Up to you: SPF, DKIM and Amazon SES	Handled by them, it is their job

The prompt that installs Plunk

Paste this prompt into Claude: it checks the repository, asks you its questions and installs the tool step by step.

Installe Plunk sur mon serveur (la plateforme email open source, alternative à Mailchimp et Brevo, repo GitHub useplunk/plunk, image Docker driaug/plunk) en suivant la doc officielle docs.useplunk.com/self-hosting/introduction. Pars de zéro : vérifie que Docker et Docker Compose sont présents, sinon installe-les. Commence par Amazon SES : explique-moi comment créer un compte AWS, vérifier mon nom de domaine dans SES (enregistrements DNS DKIM et SPF à poser), créer un configuration set, demander la sortie du mode bac à sable pour envoyer à n'importe qui, et créer une clé d'accès IAM limitée à SES. Ensuite récupère le docker-compose.yml officiel de la doc, crée le fichier .env avec un JWT_SECRET long et aléatoire, les URL de mon tableau de bord et de mon API sur deux sous-domaines (app. et api.), la base Postgres et le Redis du compose, la région et les clés SES, et DISABLE_SIGNUPS à true dès que mon compte est créé. Mets un reverse proxy Caddy devant qui sert les deux sous-domaines en HTTPS avec certificats automatiques, sans publier les ports du conteneur. Lance le tout, crée mon compte, ajoute mon domaine d'envoi, puis envoie un mail de test à mon adresse depuis une campagne et un autre depuis l'API. Explique chaque étape simplement, je débute.

Review the GitHub repository and check whether it is safe to install given my machine and my infrastructure. Ask me as many questions as possible, using widgets, to clarify my request and be as precise as you can.

Frequently asked questions

Is Plunk really free?: Yes. Plunk is open source: the code is public and installing it costs nothing. At most you pay for hosting if you put it on a server, often a few euros a month. Mailchimp, on the other hand, costs €12 a month.
Do I need to code to install Plunk?: No. The level is intermediate and the install takes about 30 minutes with the prompt from the page: Claude does the work, you answer its questions.
How is it different from Mailchimp?: Plunk does most of what Mailchimp does, without a subscription, and your data stays with you. The point by point comparison is on the page.
Do I own my data?: Yes. With an open source tool installed on your side, your files stay on your machine or your server. Nobody can close your account or change the price.

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