Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

PHPMailer VS Listmonk

Compare PHPMailer VS Listmonk and see what are their differences

PHPMailer logo PHPMailer

Email sending library for PHP.

Listmonk logo Listmonk

Send e-mail campaigns from a powerful dashboard. High performance and features packed into one app.
  • PHPMailer Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-12
  • Listmonk Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-08-30

PHPMailer features and specs

  • Widely Used
    PHPMailer is one of the most popular mail libraries for PHP, which means it is well-tested and trusted by a large community.
  • SMTP Support
    It provides robust support for sending emails via SMTP, including authentication mechanisms, which enhances the reliability of email delivery.
  • HTML and Attachments
    PHPMailer allows easy sending of HTML emails and attachments, simplifying the creation of complex messages and file handling.
  • Error Handling
    Provides detailed error messages and debugging features, which can significantly help in identifying issues during the email sending process.
  • Internationalization
    Supports multiple languages and UTF-8 content, which is essential for sending emails to recipients worldwide.

Possible disadvantages of PHPMailer

  • Setup Complexity
    While flexible, setting up PHPMailer can be complex for beginners, especially when configuring SMTP settings correctly.
  • Dependency Management
    PHPMailer relies on Composer for dependency management, which requires users to have an understanding of this tool if they haven't used it before.
  • Overhead
    For very simple email sending tasks, using PHPMailer might add unnecessary overhead compared to PHP's native mail() function.
  • Version Compatibility
    Updating PHPMailer along with PHP updates can sometimes lead to compatibility issues or require codebase changes.
  • Security Considerations
    As with all software that deals with email sending, incorrect configurations of PHPMailer can expose servers to security vulnerabilities such as open relays.

Listmonk features and specs

  • Open Source
    Listmonk is free to use, modify, and distribute. This can offer significant cost savings compared to proprietary email marketing solutions.
  • Self-Hosted
    Allows you to have full control over the software and your data, providing enhanced security and customization possibilities.
  • Scalability
    Designed to handle millions of subscribers and messages effectively, making it suitable for both small and large-scale email marketing campaigns.
  • Multilingual Support
    Supports multiple languages, making it accessible for users from different linguistic backgrounds.
  • API Access
    Provides a comprehensive API, allowing for excellent integration with other software and platforms.
  • Flexible Database
    Supports both PostgreSQL and SQLite, catering to different user needs and technical requirements.

Possible disadvantages of Listmonk

  • Technical Expertise Required
    Being a self-hosted solution, it requires a certain level of technical knowledge for setup, maintenance, and troubleshooting.
  • Hosting Costs
    Although the software itself is free, you will need to incur costs for hosting and maintaining the server where Listmonk is installed.
  • Limited Built-In Templates
    May not come with a wide variety of pre-designed email templates, requiring users to create their own or import from other sources.
  • Community Support
    Unlike commercial solutions, support is primarily community-driven, which may lead to slower issue resolution compared to dedicated support teams.
  • Learning Curve
    The initial setup and configuration can be complex and may require a time investment to understand all its features and functionalities.

PHPMailer videos

Send Mail Using PHP Mailer With Gmail SMTP | 100% Working PHPMailer Tutorial

More videos:

  • Review - Send Mail Using Contact Form With PHPMailer and Gmail SMTP On Live Hosting Server

Listmonk videos

Listmonk

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to PHPMailer and Listmonk)
Email Marketing
7 7%
93% 93
Email Marketing Platforms
Newsletter Marketing
0 0%
100% 100
Email Delivery
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using PHPMailer and Listmonk. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Listmonk seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 27 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

PHPMailer mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of PHPMailer yet. Tracking of PHPMailer recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Listmonk mentions (27)

  • Ask HN: Self hosted Waitlist with Landing page?
    "Preferably using shadcn/react/supabase. I don't want to reinvent the wheel here." Respectfully, you don't need supabase for a landing page with waitlist especially when you don't want to reinvest the wheel. You have several options: 1. Find a WordPress theme that has the form built in. The fastest out of the box setup you will find. 2. If you don't want WordPRess or deal with PHP etc, then there are plenty of... - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Ask HN: Cheap way to run a small newsletter?
    You can use https://listmonk.app or https://sendy.co and use a provider lke SES under the hood. - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Show HN: I made an open source Mailchimp RSS-to-Email alternative
    Listmonk is a seriously awesome piece of software! Have used it to run multiple newsletters, over various version upgrades (almost all stress free), and even written some custom integrations with the API. https://listmonk.app. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Bots Invaded My Newsletter. Here's How I Fought Back with ML ⚔️ 🤖
    I have mainly name and email fields in the newsletter signup and there is no verification. Then I manually blacklisted all the bots in the email service Listmonk. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • My Open-Source toolkit for 2024
    Listmonk – An open-source alternative to Mailchimp just released version 3. It’s great as a stand-alone newsletter. Also seems like a low lift for capturing leads for side projects. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing PHPMailer and Listmonk, you can also consider the following products

SendGrid - Learn why more developers choose SendGrid for their email deliverability service to send transactional emails triggered by web apps. Get started for free

MailChimp - MailChimp is the best way to design, send, and share email newsletters.

Mailgun - A set of powerful APIs that enable you to send, receive and track email from your app effortlessly whether you use Python, Ruby, PHP, C#, Node.js or Java.

Sendy - Sendy is a self hosted newsletter app that sends emails 100x cheaper via Amazon SES

Brevo - Innovative online Email Marketing solution to manage your contacts, create & send your newsletters and track your results. More than 80 000 clients. Best prices and attractive features.

TinyLetter - Start writing your own newsletter instantly.