Running mailing lists with listmonk or Mailman
If you want to send newsletters or announcements to people who signed up, listmonk is the open-source tool we recommend: a self-hosted mailing list manager with double opt-in, templates, campaign reports and one-click unsubscribe, which keeps your subscriber list on a server you control. If you want a discussion list, where every member can write to the whole group, GNU Mailman is the long-standing open-source choice. Either way, South African law requires consent before you send marketing email, and Gmail and Yahoo require proper authentication and an easy way to unsubscribe.
Newsletter or discussion list?
The two kinds of list do different jobs.
| Newsletter (announcement list) | Discussion list | |
|---|---|---|
| Who sends | You, to everyone on the list | Any member, to everyone on the list |
| Replies go to | You | The whole list, or the sender |
| Typical use | Product news, client updates, a monthly newsletter | A members' forum, a project team, a professional body |
| Tool | listmonk | GNU Mailman |
Mailman's own list styles encode this split: an "announce only" list where members cannot post, and an ordinary discussion list where they can.
listmonk: newsletters on your own server
listmonk describes itself as a self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager. It is released under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3, runs as a single program, and keeps its data in a PostgreSQL database.
What it gives you:
- Lists with single or double opt-in. With double opt-in, a new subscriber confirms by clicking a link in an email, which proves the address is theirs and that they asked.
- Campaigns and templates. Write once in a reusable HTML design and send to one or more lists.
- Reports. Campaign performance, bounces and the most-clicked links.
- Bounce handling, so addresses that no longer work are taken off your list.
- One-click unsubscribe headers, the standard Gmail and Yahoo now expect.
- Several sending routes, with rate limits, so a large campaign goes out at a pace receiving servers accept.
- Single sign-on and roles for a team.
The main reason to self-host is ownership. Your subscriber list is personal information you are responsible for. With listmonk it stays in your database, on a server you choose, instead of on a marketing platform's.
GNU Mailman: lists where members talk to each other
GNU Mailman is free software, under the GNU General Public License, for managing discussion and e-newsletter lists. Mailman 3 comes in three parts: Mailman Core, which runs the lists; Postorius, the web interface for members and administrators; and HyperKitty, the web archive of past messages.
By default, Mailman asks people to confirm by email when they subscribe or unsubscribe, and private lists can also require a moderator's approval. It suits professional bodies, clubs and project teams that need a shared conversation by email.
What POPIA requires before you send
Marketing email in South Africa is governed by section 69 of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).
- Consent, or an existing customer. Direct marketing by email is prohibited unless the person has consented, or is your customer and the mail is about your own similar products or services.
- Ask once. Someone who has not given consent may be asked for it only once.
- A way out in every message. Customers must be given a free, simple way to object when you collect their details and in every message you send. Every marketing message must say who it is from and give an address to which the recipient can ask you to stop.
The Information Regulator's guidance note on direct marketing (December 2024) adds that silence is not consent, that the sender must be able to prove consent, and that a business must keep a record of people who refused or objected.
A double opt-in list in listmonk, with the confirmation kept, gives you that proof.
What Gmail and Yahoo require
Since February 2024, Google and Yahoo have set rules for anyone who sends a lot of mail to their users. Google applies its bulk sender rules to senders of close to 5,000 messages a day to personal Gmail accounts, and has said it is tightening enforcement.
- Authenticate your domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
- Offer one-click unsubscribe in marketing mail, using the standard List-Unsubscribe headers, as well as a visible link.
- Honour unsubscribes within two days.
- Keep complaints low: a spam rate below 0.3%.
Even below those volumes, the same habits keep newsletters out of spam folders. Our help centre has best practices for mailing lists to avoid spam flagging, and the Email Security add-on keeps SPF, DKIM and DMARC configured on a domain hosted with Noiz.
Where to run it
If you want to run listmonk yourself, it and PostgreSQL run on a Noiz Cloud server: a self-managed virtual server with full root access over SSH, installed following the project's documentation.
Bulk and marketing sending have their own rules on any hosting service, so check the acceptable use policy for your hosting before you send a large campaign.
Ask us about your mailing list
Tell us what kind of list you need, how many subscribers you have and how often you send, and we will point you to the right option. Open a ticket.
Sources
Checked 19 October 2026.
Software
Law
- Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (sections 1 and 69)
- Information Regulator: guidance note on direct marketing
- Information Regulator: Acts and commencement
Sender rules
- Google: email sender guidelines
- Google: sender guidelines FAQ
- Yahoo: sender best practices
- RFC 8058: one-click unsubscribe
Noiz
- Cloud servers
- Security add-ons, including Email Security
- Best Practices for Mailing Lists to Avoid Spam Flagging (Noiz help centre)
Note: while some of this content was produced with the help of AI, the final editing has been done by a real human being.
