Keila vs Mailtrain

Keila

Open-source email newsletter platform with privacy focus

Mailtrain

Self-hosted newsletter app with automation

Feature Keila Mailtrain
Category Email Marketing Email Marketing
Sub-category Newsletter Newsletter
Maturity stable stable
Complexity intermediate intermediate
Performance tier medium medium
License AGPL-3.0 GPL-3.0
License type copyleft copyleft
Pricing fully free fully free
GitHub stars 1.5K 6.0K
Contributors 0 0
Commit frequency weekly weekly
Plugin ecosystem none none
Docs quality good good
Backing org Pentacent Mailtrain
Funding model community community
Min RAM 512 MB 512 MB
Min CPU cores 1 1
Scaling pattern single_node single_node
Self-hostable Yes Yes
K8s native No No
Offline capable No No
Vendor lock-in none none
Languages Elixir Node.js
API type REST REST
Protocols HTTP HTTP
Deployment docker docker, npm
SDK languages
Team size fit small, medium small, medium
First release 2020 2020
Latest version

When to use Keila

  • GDPR-compliant newsletter sending
  • Privacy-first email campaigns
  • Subscriber form building with captcha

When to use Mailtrain

  • Automated newsletter workflows
  • RSS-to-email campaigns
  • Custom subscriber field management

Keila anti-patterns

  • Smaller community than Listmonk
  • Elixir-based — niche for contributors
  • Fewer integrations

Mailtrain anti-patterns

  • Development less active
  • Node.js dependency chain
  • Less polished than Listmonk
Full Keila profile → Full Mailtrain profile → All comparisons