Mailcheap vs SendPortal vs Plunk

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

SendPortalmettle/sendportal

Plunkuseplunk/plunk

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

2,178

5,535Top

—

Gain this week

Unknown

—

Signal

Building history

—

Commits / 4 wk

75Top

—

Latest release

Unknown

v4.0.0 · 2026-10-12Top

v0.16.0 · 2026-10-08

—

Commits / 12 wk

139

—

People committing / 12 mo

—

Issues opened / closed, 30 days

0 / 0

5 / 4

—

Facts, with sources on each project page

Runs on my machine?Differs

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

Self-hosted Laravel application

Self-hosted with Docker Compose, or hosted Plunk

Hosted by the vendor

Code licenceDiffers

AGPL-3.0

MIT

AGPL-3.0 (copyleft)

—

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, MIT

Yes under AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms

—

Paid services needed?Differs

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

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

Self-hosting requires an AWS SES account for sending

Subscription

HardwareDiffers

Not checked yet

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

Not documented

—

Operating systemsDiffers

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

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

Any host with Docker and Docker Compose; 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; git clone, composer install, configure a web server and database

Medium; Docker Compose plus AWS SES setup and DNS for app, api and other subdomains

—

Stars over time

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

Mailcheap
SendPortal
Plunk

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

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

- Mailcheap: 1,275 GitHub stars, 75 commits in 12 weeks, licence AGPL-3.0
- SendPortal: 2,178 GitHub stars, 2 commits in 12 weeks, licence MIT
- Plunk: 5,535 GitHub stars, 139 commits in 12 weeks, licence AGPL-3.0 (copyleft)

Where they differ:
- Runs on my machine?: Mailcheap Self-hosted on Vercel or any Node.js 22+ host; SendPortal Self-hosted Laravel application; Plunk Self-hosted with Docker Compose, or hosted Plunk
- Code licence: Mailcheap AGPL-3.0; SendPortal MIT; Plunk AGPL-3.0 (copyleft)
- Model weights licence: Mailcheap No bundled weights; AI agents connect through its MCP server; SendPortal No separate model weights; Plunk 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; SendPortal Yes, MIT; Plunk Yes under AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms
- Paid services needed?: Mailcheap Needs Amazon SES or PostShiba for sending, both paid; MongoDB, QStash and hosting have free tiers; SendPortal App is free; needs an email service such as Amazon SES, Postmark, SendGrid, Mailgun, Mailjet, Postal or SMTP; Plunk Self-hosting requires an AWS SES account for sending
- Hardware: Mailcheap Not checked yet; SendPortal No hardware figures; needs PHP 8.3+ and MySQL 5.7+ or PostgreSQL 10+; Plunk Not documented
- Operating systems: Mailcheap Deployment requires Node.js 22+ hosting. No explicit Windows/macOS/Linux server support matrix was verified.; SendPortal Any server with PHP 8.3+, Composer, a web server and MySQL or PostgreSQL; host OS not listed; Plunk Any host with Docker and Docker Compose; 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; SendPortal Medium; git clone, composer install, configure a web server and database; Plunk Medium; Docker Compose plus AWS SES setup and DNS for app, api and other subdomains

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 ↗mettle/sendportal ↗useplunk/plunk ↗

Mailcheap vs SendPortal vs Plunk

Stars over time

Notes for a video or post

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