What it takes to self-host Keila

Self-hosted Keila costs nothing in licenses: you need a container engine, the pentacent/keila image and a PostgreSQL database. If the app sits behind a reverse proxy, the proxy must pass WebSockets through. Caddy and Traefik do that out of the box, and Keila links to a guide for Nginx.

Keila does not deliver mail itself. You plug in an SMTP server, Amazon SES, Sendgrid, Mailgun or Postmark. Automatic bounce and complaint handling only works with SES when you self-host, so with plain SMTP you will be cleaning your list by hand.

Keila Cloud pricing

Plan	Emails a month	Price a month
XS	2,000	€8
S	5,000	€16
M	15,000	€32
L	50,000	€64
XL	100,000	€128
XXL	250,000	€256

Every plan includes unlimited contacts and projects. Prices are in euros only, and there is no free tier. Open source projects, and nonprofits or small businesses that cannot afford a plan, can ask Keila for a discount by email. A US list of 15,000 subscribers mailed twice a month needs the L plan, since the M plan stops at 15,000 emails a month.

Does Keila have email automation?

Not yet. Keila sends a welcome email to new subscribers, available since January 2026, and transactional emails through its API since version 0.30.0 in June 2026. Drip sequences, A/B tests, two-factor login and shared projects are listed on the public roadmap with no date. The software is still numbered 0.x.

What is there covers a regular newsletter well: a block editor, Markdown, plain text and MJML, Liquid templating, signup forms with double opt-in, and segments built on contact data and behavior.

Tracking without IP addresses or cookies

Keila records opens and clicks without storing the subscriber's IP address or setting a cookie, and tracking can be switched off with one click. Keila Cloud runs on servers in Germany and France, and Keila GmbH publishes a GDPR data processing agreement, which matters if your list includes subscribers in the EU.

Keila GmbH is registered in Bayreuth, Bavaria, and run by Philipp Schmieder. The GitHub repository dates from January 2021, has over 2,200 stars and still receives commits in October 2026. The latest release is 0.30.3, published in September 2026.

Keila strengths and limitations

Strengths

Free and open source when you run it yourself.
No platform rules on a self-hosted install.
Privacy-friendly tracking, EU-hosted cloud.
Active development by an identified company.

Limitations

Cloud terms allow account closure for any reason, no refund.
No drip sequences or A/B tests yet.
Bounce handling limited to SES when self-hosted.
Euro pricing only on the cloud.

Keila or listmonk?

listmonk is the other free AGPLv3 option in this directory, and also runs on PostgreSQL. If you would rather pay once for a PHP app with automation workflows, Acelle Mail sells its regular license for $80.