[asdxrfx]

I just canceled my Mailchimp account after hitting their "Standard" plan limits. $230/month to send emails to 15k subscribers feels insane when my entire server infrastructure costs $50/month. Started building my own newsletter platform (Fertit) and realized most of the "premium" features are just basic CRUD operations with SMTP integration. The math is wild: Mailchimp Standard: $230/month for 15k contacts My current costs: $50/month for unlimited (using my own SMTP) But then I realized why people pay it - the setup/maintenance time is brutal. Spent 3 weeks just getting subscriber management right. So the real question: would you pay $10/month for a middle ground? All the features of the big players, but you bring your own SMTP (SendGrid, Mailgun, etc.) and own your data? Currently testing this approach - curious if others see the same pricing/ownership gap I do. GitHub: https://github.com/rasadov/NewsletterManager