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Mailtrain.org, self-hosted open-source Mailchimp clone

mailtrain.org

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Re: Mailtrain.org, self-hosted open-source Mailchimp clone

#31

Post by justinator »

the-dude wrote: post #26
justinator wrote: post #20

Also my Dada Mail Project is something I've been working on since 1999 . http://dadamailproject.com Self-hosted, works with Amazon SES. I have many clients that send many thousands of messages using the cheapest of Bluehost shared hosting accounts, when you also use Amazon SES as the mail service. (Things like Board of Realtors groups that post realty available to a discussion list)

Hi Justin I have known your project for a very long time now. Have you ever considered offering it as a SaaS ? Why not?

> Have you ever considered offering it as a SaaS ?

Sure, I've thought about it;

> Why not?

I'm probably at the limit of what I, as the sole developer of the project can do (or want to do) alone, while also performing my other tasks - such as my excellent product support for my clients.

To move to also running a SaaS, I would need a highly motivated partner to help with the workload of development some of the additional parts of the business.

For now, I'm pretty happy with existing in the niche I've made for myself: mostly those individuals and small businesses who find a SaaS like MailChimp too expensive to use. Really - all you need for something like Dada Mail to get started is a shared hosting account - something "Joe's Italian Restaurant" down the street probably already has. If you want to move up, hooking up Amazon SES is a no brainer and solves most all of the problems with sending out messages to a mailing list.

I also enjoy the quality of life given to me knowing I don't have to make sure the service is running 24/7. I live simply, and there's many projects and goals in my life that do not directly involve software.

Re: Mailtrain.org, self-hosted open-source Mailchimp clone

#32

Post by justinator »

wprapido wrote: post #29
justinator wrote: post #20

Also my Dada Mail Project is something I've been working on since 1999 . http://dadamailproject.com Self-hosted, works with Amazon SES. I have many clients that send many thousands of messages using the cheapest of Bluehost shared hosting accounts, when you also use Amazon SES as the mail service. (Things like Board of Realtors groups that post realty available to a discussion list)

does it have wordpress plugin?

I do get asked this question a lot, and I don't actually know what people are asking for. Perhaps a better question would be, "Does it have a wordpress plugin that allows me to do $some_intesting_thing"

If you have a Wordpress site (or any site design), Dada Mail has a templating system to allow it to take on that design,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-EEvGVCJl4

and adding something like a subscription form is an easy copy/paste.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cc3c4NTO2U

I am not a Wordpress plugin developer. There is a proof of concept API to some often-used functionality, as well as clients written in a few different languages to show you have to use the API. A wordpress plugin developer would need to talk to me to see what else they would need, and build upon what's already available. I'm listening!

http://dadamailproject.com/d/features-restful_web_services.p...

Re: Mailtrain.org, self-hosted open-source Mailchimp clone

#33

Post by the-dude »

justinator wrote: post #31
the-dude wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi Justin I have known your project for a very long time now. Have you ever considered offering it as a SaaS ? Why not?

> Have you ever considered offering it as a SaaS ? Sure, I've thought about it; > Why not? I'm probably at the limit of what I, as the sole developer of the project can do (or want to do) alone, while also performing my other tasks - such as my excellent product support for my clients. To move to also running a SaaS, I would need a highly motivated partner to help with the workload of development some of the addition…

Thank you for answering, can totally relate to the quality of life part. Good luck.

Re: Mailtrain.org, self-hosted open-source Mailchimp clone

#34

Post by justinator »

the-dude wrote: post #33
justinator wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Have you ever considered offering it as a SaaS ? Sure, I've thought about it; > Why not? I'm probably at the limit of what I, as the sole developer of the project can do (or want to do) alone, while also performing my other tasks - such as my excellent product support for my clients. To move to also running a SaaS, I would need a highly motivated partner to help with the workload of development some of the addition…

Thank you for answering, can totally relate to the quality of life part. Good luck.

Thank you! And thanks for keeping tabs!

Re: Mailtrain.org, self-hosted open-source Mailchimp clone

#35

Post by _asciiker_ »

shocks wrote: post #22
t3ra wrote: post #2

Can someone compare this to Sendy ?

I don't mean to slam the developers, but I use Sendy and have taken a peek under the hood. The code made me feel sick. Functionality wise, it seems the same. ninja edit: it made me sick because it was ugly, didn't feel secure, and it took me ages to make the changes I needed to make.

We've also been using Sendy and I agree, the code is far from perfect and we have spent countless hours either fixing some issues or adding much needed features, making it actually usable for SaaS (sentopia.net), will need to move away to something better in the near future, this maybe a good start!

Re: Mailtrain.org, self-hosted open-source Mailchimp clone

#36

Post by bliti »

justinator wrote: post #20

Also my Dada Mail Project is something I've been working on since 1999 . http://dadamailproject.com Self-hosted, works with Amazon SES. I have many clients that send many thousands of messages using the cheapest of Bluehost shared hosting accounts, when you also use Amazon SES as the mail service. (Things like Board of Realtors groups that post realty available to a discussion list)

I was looking for something like this. The perl code is quite easy to follow. Nice project! I will try and install it on webfaction and provide feedback for you to add to your docs. :)

Re: Mailtrain.org, self-hosted open-source Mailchimp clone

#37

Post by etjossem »

Another alternative: SendGrid recently released a much less expensive product [1] which shares most features with MailChimp. Contact storage costs $20 per month for a typical list of 20,000 subscribers (for comparison, storing the same number of contacts at MailChimp would be $150/mo).

We handle deliverability issues ourselves, so you won't have to maintain the reputation of a self-hosted solution. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me - my email's in my profile.

[1] https://sendgrid.com/solutions/email-marketing

Disclosure: I'm a SendGrid engineer.

Re: Mailtrain.org, self-hosted open-source Mailchimp clone

#38

Post by wprapido »

justinator wrote: post #32
wprapido wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

does it have wordpress plugin?

I do get asked this question a lot, and I don't actually know what people are asking for. Perhaps a better question would be, "Does it have a wordpress plugin that allows me to do $some_intesting_thing" If you have a Wordpress site (or any site design), Dada Mail has a templating system to allow it to take on that design, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-EEvGVCJl4 and adding something like a subscription form is an…

i'd definitely love to talk to you. how can we get in touch?

Re: Mailtrain.org, self-hosted open-source Mailchimp clone

#39

Post by lowglow »

justinator wrote: post #31
the-dude wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi Justin I have known your project for a very long time now. Have you ever considered offering it as a SaaS ? Why not?

> Have you ever considered offering it as a SaaS ? Sure, I've thought about it; > Why not? I'm probably at the limit of what I, as the sole developer of the project can do (or want to do) alone, while also performing my other tasks - such as my excellent product support for my clients. To move to also running a SaaS, I would need a highly motivated partner to help with the workload of development some of the addition…

You should toss your project on Baqqer, open up some attention and possibly get some pledges to help fund you finding more resources to grow your project.
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