Listmonk on a Pikapod with AWS SES

If you'd like to be responsible for your own mailing list, I've found a solution that I can recommend.

Install Listmonk on a Pikapod. Listmonk is FOSS mailing list software. Pikapods are dead cheap virtual app containers. You'll have that up and running in literally one minute.

Now get yourself an Amazon SES account. When I set mine up I had to send them my site details to prove that I was legit. Which is fair enough for a bulk email service. Still, it took a week to get approved. Be patient.

Now configure bounce processing.

And now you're done. I can send a couple of thousand emails to a list that I control for about $1. I love it.

If you run in to any problems let me know and I can share my setup. And if you can't be bothered doing any of this and you still want a privacy-first email service, use Buttondown. I'm a happy ex-customer.

100% human. 0% AI. Always.