Mailcheap vs Keila vs SendPortal

Side by side, as alternatives to beehiiv. Rows that differ are highlighted; the strongest value in a row is marked. Unknown means no source yet.

Mailcheapmarclou/mailcheap

Keilapentacent/keila

SendPortalmettle/sendportal

beehiivpaid product

Cost and coverage

Price

$0 software; you run it

See pricing page source ↗

Subscriber lists and segments

Partly

Yes

Campaign editor and templates

Partly

Yes

Automations and drip sequences

Yes

Signup forms and landing pages

Partly

Yes

Open and click analytics

Partly

Yes

Paid subscriptions and newsletter website

Yes

Jobs covered

1 of 6 jobs

4 of 6 jobs

3 of 6 jobs

All 6

Popularity and activity (from GitHub)

Stars

1,275

2,239Top

2,178

—

Gain this week

Unknown

—

Signal

Building history

—

Commits / 4 wk

75Top

—

Latest release

Unknown

0.30.3 · 2026-09-06

v4.0.0 · 2026-10-12Top

—

Commits / 12 wk

—

People committing / 12 mo

—

Issues opened / closed, 30 days

0 / 0

3 / 2

0 / 0

—

Facts, with sources on each project page

Runs on my machine?Differs

Self-hosted on Vercel or any Node.js 22+ host

Self-hosted Docker image, or hosted Keila Cloud

Self-hosted Laravel application

Hosted by the vendor

Code licenceDiffers

AGPL-3.0

AGPL-3.0-or-later (copyleft); logo and extra/ directory excluded

MIT

—

Model weights licenceDiffers

No bundled weights; AI agents connect through its MCP server

No separate model weights

—

Commercial useDiffers

Yes, AGPL-3.0; you must share your source if you offer a modified version over a network

Yes under AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms; self-hosted version is not feature-gated in the README

Yes, MIT

—

Paid services needed?Differs

Needs Amazon SES or PostShiba for sending, both paid; MongoDB, QStash and hosting have free tiers

Your own inbox over SMTP works for small lists; larger lists need a sending service

App is free; needs an email service such as Amazon SES, Postmark, SendGrid, Mailgun, Mailjet, Postal or SMTP

Subscription

HardwareDiffers

Not checked yet

Not documented; needs a container engine and PostgreSQL

No hardware figures; needs PHP 8.3+ and MySQL 5.7+ or PostgreSQL 10+

—

Operating systemsDiffers

Deployment requires Node.js 22+ hosting. No explicit Windows/macOS/Linux server support matrix was verified.

Any host running a container engine; host OS support not listed

Any server with PHP 8.3+, Composer, a web server and MySQL or PostgreSQL; host OS not listed

—

Setup effortDiffers

Medium; deploy to Vercel or a Node.js host, then set up MongoDB, SES or PostShiba, QStash and DNS

Medium; Docker image or sample Docker Compose file, plus PostgreSQL

Medium; git clone, composer install, configure a web server and database

—

Stars over time

Switch to Growth % to compare projects of different sizes fairly.

Mailcheap
Keila
SendPortal

Focus a point, use arrow keys, or tap for its value.

Tracked daily since 16 Oct 2026. Dashed history: estimated from public records of when people starred the repo. Lines connect observations only; gaps contain no measured points.

Growth % starts at each project's first observed point in the shown range. Zero-star starts are unavailable.

Notes for a video or post

A plain summary with today's date and a link to the sources. Check each project page before you publish.

Mailcheap vs Keila vs SendPortal (as alternatives to beehiiv)
Figures from RepoQuarry, 21 Oct 2026. Sources: https://repoquarry.dev/compare?ids=mailcheap,keila,sendportal&product=beehiiv

beehiiv: See pricing page
Mailcheap: free software; does 1 of 6 beehiiv jobs
Keila: free software; does 4 of 6 beehiiv jobs
SendPortal: free software; does 3 of 6 beehiiv jobs

- Mailcheap: 1,275 GitHub stars, 75 commits in 12 weeks, licence AGPL-3.0
- Keila: 2,239 GitHub stars, 25 commits in 12 weeks, licence AGPL-3.0-or-later (copyleft); logo and extra/ directory excluded
- SendPortal: 2,178 GitHub stars, 2 commits in 12 weeks, licence MIT

Where they differ:
- Runs on my machine?: Mailcheap Self-hosted on Vercel or any Node.js 22+ host; Keila Self-hosted Docker image, or hosted Keila Cloud; SendPortal Self-hosted Laravel application
- Code licence: Mailcheap AGPL-3.0; Keila AGPL-3.0-or-later (copyleft); logo and extra/ directory excluded; SendPortal MIT
- Model weights licence: Mailcheap No bundled weights; AI agents connect through its MCP server; Keila No separate model weights; SendPortal No separate model weights
- Commercial use: Mailcheap Yes, AGPL-3.0; you must share your source if you offer a modified version over a network; Keila Yes under AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms; self-hosted version is not feature-gated in the README; SendPortal Yes, MIT
- Paid services needed?: Mailcheap Needs Amazon SES or PostShiba for sending, both paid; MongoDB, QStash and hosting have free tiers; Keila Your own inbox over SMTP works for small lists; larger lists need a sending service; SendPortal App is free; needs an email service such as Amazon SES, Postmark, SendGrid, Mailgun, Mailjet, Postal or SMTP
- Hardware: Mailcheap Not checked yet; Keila Not documented; needs a container engine and PostgreSQL; SendPortal No hardware figures; needs PHP 8.3+ and MySQL 5.7+ or PostgreSQL 10+
- Operating systems: Mailcheap Deployment requires Node.js 22+ hosting. No explicit Windows/macOS/Linux server support matrix was verified.; Keila Any host running a container engine; host OS support not listed; SendPortal Any server with PHP 8.3+, Composer, a web server and MySQL or PostgreSQL; host OS not listed
- Setup effort: Mailcheap Medium; deploy to Vercel or a Node.js host, then set up MongoDB, SES or PostShiba, QStash and DNS; Keila Medium; Docker image or sample Docker Compose file, plus PostgreSQL; SendPortal Medium; git clone, composer install, configure a web server and database

Stars show popularity, not quality. Check each project page before publishing.

Want share images and a ready video description? Open a project's creator kit.

Numbers: GitHub, fetched nightly. Facts: read from each project's own documentation, with the source on its page. How we check. marclou/mailcheap ↗pentacent/keila ↗mettle/sendportal ↗

Mailcheap vs Keila vs SendPortal

Stars over time

Notes for a video or post

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