Keila review: open-source Mailchimp alternative with self-hosting, EU-hosted cloud pricing from 8 euros per month, and GDPR-friendly analytics.
Category
Email Marketing
Pricing
Open Source (self-hosted); Subscription (Keila Cloud), from Free (self-hosted); EUR 8/month (Keila Cloud XS plan)
Verified
Not yet
Last updated
July 18, 2026
Headquarters
Germany
APIOpen SourceFreemiumSelf-Hosted
Overview
Keila is an open-source email newsletter platform built in Elixir and Phoenix, developed by pentacent and operated by the Germany-based Pentacent, Philipp Schmieder Medien. It is released under the AGPLv3 license with no proprietary features gated behind the paid version.
It can be run fully self-hosted via Docker at no cost, or used as Keila Cloud, a managed service hosted entirely in Germany and France for strict European privacy standards.
Key Features
Keila offers a visual block editor plus Markdown and MJML support for composing campaigns, customizable sign-up forms, and contact segmentation through both a visual editor and a query-style segment language.
It includes privacy-respecting analytics that can be disabled with one click, bot protection via hCaptcha or Friendly Captcha, double opt-in, Liquid templating for personalization, and a REST API with a beta Zapier integration.
Pricing
Self-hosting Keila via Docker is completely free, with unlimited contacts and projects and no feature restrictions compared to the paid cloud version.
Keila Cloud is priced in six volume-based tiers from EUR 8 per month for 2,000 emails up to EUR 256 per month for 250,000 emails, with unlimited contacts on every tier and no permanent free plan.
Key Features
Visual and Markdown email editor — Compose campaigns with a block-based visual editor, Markdown, or custom MJML templates.
Sign-up form builder — Create and embed customizable subscription forms with configurable fields.
Contact segmentation — Segment contacts using a visual editor or a powerful query-style segment language.
Privacy-respecting analytics — Campaign analytics that can be fully disabled with one click for privacy-first organizations.
Double opt-in and bot protection — hCaptcha or Friendly Captcha integration plus double opt-in confirmation flows.
Liquid personalization — Dynamic email content personalization using the Liquid templating language.
REST API — Programmatic management of contacts and campaigns, with a beta Zapier integration.
Bring-your-own email provider — Send via SMTP, Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun or Postmark.
Pros & Cons
Pros
100 percent open source with no proprietary premium features
Self-hosted version is free and functionally identical to paid Keila Cloud
EU-hosted managed option in Germany and France supports strict GDPR compliance
Privacy-first analytics that can be fully disabled
Bring-your-own email provider flexibility
Cons
No permanent free tier for the managed Keila Cloud service
Smaller community and fewer integrations than Mailchimp or Mautic
Fewer built-in automation workflows than competitors like Mailcoach
Newer and less production-hardened than more established open-source tools like Listmonk
Self-hosting requires familiarity with Elixir and Docker
Pricing
Self-Hosted Free Free forever (Docker)
Keila Cloud XS EUR 8/month Monthly
Keila Cloud S EUR 16/month Monthly
Keila Cloud M EUR 32/month Monthly
Keila Cloud L EUR 64/month Monthly
Keila Cloud XL EUR 128/month Monthly
Keila Cloud XXL EUR 256/month Monthly
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Keila free?
The self-hosted version is completely free; the managed Keila Cloud service starts at EUR 8 per month.
Is Keila open source?
Yes, Keila is 100 percent open source under the AGPLv3 license with no gated premium features.
Where is Keila Cloud hosted?
Keila Cloud runs entirely on servers located in Germany and France.
What email providers does Keila support?
Keila supports direct SMTP as well as Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun and Postmark.
Does Keila offer automation workflows?
Keila offers basic automation but fewer built-in workflows than competitors like Mailcoach or Mautic.
How does Keila compare to Mailchimp?
Keila is an open-source, self-hostable alternative to Mailchimp with unlimited contacts on every plan and an EU-hosted option for GDPR compliance.