Mailcheap vs Plunk 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

Plunkuseplunk/plunk

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

Partly

Yes

Signup forms and landing pages

Yes

Open and click analytics

Partly

Yes

Paid subscriptions and newsletter website

Yes

Jobs covered

1 of 6 jobs

3 of 6 jobs

All 6

Popularity and activity (from GitHub)

Stars

1,275

5,535Top

2,178

—

Gain this week

Unknown

—

Signal

Building history

—

Commits / 4 wk

75Top

—

Latest release

Unknown

v0.16.0 · 2026-10-08

v4.0.0 · 2026-10-12Top

—

Commits / 12 wk

139

—

People committing / 12 mo

—

Issues opened / closed, 30 days

0 / 0

5 / 4

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 with Docker Compose, or hosted Plunk

Self-hosted Laravel application

Hosted by the vendor

Code licenceDiffers

AGPL-3.0

AGPL-3.0 (copyleft)

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

Yes, MIT

—

Paid services needed?Differs

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

Self-hosting requires an AWS SES account for sending

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

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 with Docker and Docker Compose; host OS 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 Compose plus AWS SES setup and DNS for app, api and other subdomains

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

beehiiv: See pricing page
Mailcheap: free software; does 1 of 6 beehiiv jobs
Plunk: free software; does 3 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
- Plunk: 5,535 GitHub stars, 139 commits in 12 weeks, licence AGPL-3.0 (copyleft)
- 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; Plunk Self-hosted with Docker Compose, or hosted Plunk; SendPortal Self-hosted Laravel application
- Code licence: Mailcheap AGPL-3.0; Plunk AGPL-3.0 (copyleft); SendPortal MIT
- Model weights licence: Mailcheap No bundled weights; AI agents connect through its MCP server; Plunk 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; Plunk Yes under AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms; SendPortal Yes, MIT
- Paid services needed?: Mailcheap Needs Amazon SES or PostShiba for sending, both paid; MongoDB, QStash and hosting have free tiers; Plunk Self-hosting requires an AWS SES account for sending; SendPortal App is free; needs an email service such as Amazon SES, Postmark, SendGrid, Mailgun, Mailjet, Postal or SMTP
- Hardware: Mailcheap Not checked yet; Plunk Not documented; 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.; Plunk Any host with Docker and Docker Compose; host OS 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; Plunk Medium; Docker Compose plus AWS SES setup and DNS for app, api and other subdomains; 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 ↗useplunk/plunk ↗mettle/sendportal ↗

Mailcheap vs Plunk vs SendPortal

Stars over time

Notes for a video or post

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