Listmonk vs Loops
Listmonk is a newsletter platform while Loops is a email marketing platform. Listmonk has been around since 2018, giving it a 4-year head start over Loops (founded 2022). Listmonk is free, while Loops starts at $49/mo. Their pricing is not measured the same way, so we don't rank them on price. Both offer free plans to get started. Listmonk stands out with advanced analytics and a drag-and-drop editor, while Loops offers marketing automation.
Quick Verdict
Listmonk wins on deliverability.
Loops wins on rating, integrations.
Best for most users: Loops (saas startups).
Listmonk
Self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager
Listmonk is a free, open-source, self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager written in Go. It handles millions of emails with minimal resources and is best for developers and technical users who want full control over their email infrastructure.
Loops
The email platform built for SaaS
Loops is a developer-first email platform designed exclusively for SaaS companies, combining marketing and transactional email in a single clean interface. Built by Y Combinator alumni, it features a Notion-style block editor, event-based automation triggered by user behavior like signups and upgrades, and contact-based pricing with unlimited sends. Its standout strength is letting small SaaS teams replace both their marketing email tool and transactional service (like SendGrid) with one unified platform.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Listmonk | Loops |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.1/5 | 4.6/5 |
| Starting Price | Free | $49/mo |
| Free Plan | Unlimited (self-hosted, open source) | 1,000 contacts, 4,000 sends/month, Loops branding |
| Founded | 2018 | 2022 |
| Email Templates | 5 | 15 |
| Integrations | 10 | 24 |
| Deliverability Rate | 97% | 95% |
| Marketing Automation | No | Yes |
| A/B Testing | No | No |
| Landing Pages | No | No |
| Segmentation | Yes | Yes |
| Drag & Drop Editor | Yes | No |
| SMS Marketing | No | No |
| Ecommerce Features | No | No |
| API Access | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-Language | Yes | Yes |
| Web Push Notifications | No | No |
| Live Chat | No | No |
| Advanced Analytics | Yes | No |
Listmonk: Pros & Cons
Pros
- + Completely free and open source with no usage limits
- + Handles 7+ million emails with minimal CPU and 57 MB RAM
- + Single binary deployment with Docker support
- + SQL-based subscriber segmentation for advanced querying
- + Zero recurring costs — self-hosted with no per-subscriber fees
Cons
- − Requires technical knowledge to set up and maintain
- − No built-in SMTP, must configure an external provider like Amazon SES
- − Lacks automation workflows, A/B testing, and landing pages
- − Community support only via GitHub
- − No managed hosting option — you handle server maintenance yourself
Loops: Pros & Cons
Pros
- + Clean Notion-style block editor with extremely fast email creation and minimal learning curve
- + Unified platform for both marketing and transactional emails eliminates need for separate services like SendGrid
- + Simple contact-based pricing with unlimited sends and no per-seat charges on all paid plans
- + Strong developer-focused API with direct integrations for Stripe, Supabase, Clerk, and webhook support
- + Founder-led customer support with direct access via live chat, email, and 1:1 Calendly calls
Cons
- − Limited automation logic — lacks advanced multi-branch workflows and conditional logic found in mature platforms
- − No built-in CRM or detailed contact history, requiring external tools for relationship management
- − Editor has reported bugs including no undo functionality, risking accidental content loss
- − Narrow SaaS-only focus makes it unsuitable for ecommerce, media, or non-tech industries
- − Very small integration ecosystem (24 native integrations) compared to competitors with hundreds
The Verdict
Loops edges ahead with a 4.6/5 rating compared to Listmonk's 4.1/5. The gap comes mainly from ease of use (4.4 vs 3.5) and support (4.5 vs 3.7). On deliverability, Listmonk reports 97% compared to 95% for Loops — a meaningful difference if inbox placement is critical for your campaigns.
| Criterion | Weight | Listmonk | Loops |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | 30% | Free | $49/mo |
| Deliverability | 25% | 97% Winner | 95% |
| Rating | 25% | 4.1/5 | 4.6/5 Winner |
| Integrations | 10% | 10 | 24 Winner |
| Free Tier | 10% | Yes | Yes |
Weights determine how much each criterion counts toward the final score. See full methodology
Choose Listmonk if…
- + You need advanced analytics
- + You're a developers
- + You're a self hosters
Choose Loops if…
- + You need marketing automation
- + You're a saas startups
- + You're a developer first teams