Migrate your subscribers, rebuild your templates, and save $350+/month. The complete guide to leaving Mailchimp for Punchmail.
Punchmail isn't a hobby project with a queue bolted on. It's a multi-layered sending engine designed from day one to handle millions of emails without breaking a sweat.
7 priority queues — tracking, sending, campaigns, automations, bounces, imports, default. Each with dedicated workers via Laravel Horizon.
Campaigns split into 500-subscriber batches. Multiple workers process batches simultaneously. Template compiled once, cached in Redis, reused across all batches.
Every open, click, bounce, and unsubscribe stored in ClickHouse with 6 materialized views for instant aggregation. No more slow MySQL GROUP BY on millions of rows.
Redis SETNX locks → MySQL unique index with INSERT IGNORE → job idempotency. Three layers guarantee zero duplicate sends, even during crashes and restarts.
Enterprise email marketing features without the enterprise price tag. Built by someone who's been sending email since before Gmail existed.
Drag-and-drop email builder with 10 block types. Compiles to bulletproof HTML via MJML. Looks perfect in every client — yes, even Outlook.
Nested AND/OR conditions across subscriber fields, tags, engagement history, and campaign activity. "Opened campaign X but didn't click in 90 days" — milliseconds.
Trigger-based workflows with conditions, delays, and actions. Welcome series, re-engagement, cart abandonment. Set it and forget it.
Connect any SMTP provider. Create pools with weighted distribution for IP warmup. Automatic failover. Per-campaign throttling. This is what enterprise ESPs charge thousands for.
Event tracking powered by ClickHouse. Millions of events, instant queries. Full per-campaign reports and per-subscriber activity timeline.
Test subject lines and content with 2-3 variants. Auto-send the winner based on opens or clicks. Data-driven sending.
IMAP/POP3 mailbox polling plus webhook receivers for SES, Postmark, and SendGrid. Automatic hard/soft classification with configurable thresholds.
Multiple suppression lists with email AND domain blocking. Platform-wide suppression for spamtraps and global unsubscribes. Three-layer dedup prevents duplicate sends.
RFC 8058 one-click unsubscribe (Gmail/Yahoo required), in-body unsubscribe, and full preference center. List-Unsubscribe headers automatic on every send.
The hardest part of leaving Mailchimp isn't the migration — it's the decision. Once you've decided, the actual process is straightforward. Export your audiences, import into Punchmail, rebuild your key templates, and you're sending. Most businesses complete the migration in a single afternoon.
Mailchimp exports your audiences as CSV files with all subscriber data: email, name, custom fields, tags, and signup date. Punchmail's import tool maps these fields directly. Your subscriber data transfers completely — no data loss, no manual cleanup required.
Templates need to be rebuilt since Mailchimp's template format doesn't transfer to other platforms. But this is actually a good thing — Punchmail's block editor produces cleaner HTML via MJML that renders more consistently across email clients. Most teams find their templates look better after rebuilding.
Automation workflows are the one area that requires manual recreation. Map your Mailchimp automations to Punchmail's trigger-based workflows: welcome series, re-engagement, post-purchase. The logic translates directly — it's just built in a different interface. Budget half a day for complex automation setups.
Export from Mailchimp, import to Punchmail. Field mapping preserves all subscriber data, tags, and custom fields.
Rebuild in Punchmail's block editor with MJML output. Cleaner HTML, better rendering, professional results.
Welcome series, drip campaigns, re-engagement flows. Rebuild your Mailchimp automations with Punchmail's trigger system.
Stop paying $350+/month on day one. Punchmail costs €49 once. The migration pays for itself before you finish your coffee.
We're not competing with Mailchimp's marketing budget. We're competing with their feature set.
| Punchmail | Mailchimp | Brevo | Sendy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CSV subscriber import | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Block email editor | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Automation workflows | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| A/B testing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Basic |
| Advanced segmentation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Basic |
| Self-hosted | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Own your data | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| SMTP pools | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Unlimited subscribers | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Pricing | €29 once | $350+/mo | $65+/mo | ✓ |
No PhD required. If you can copy-paste three commands, you can run Punchmail.
Clone the repo, copy the environment file, set your admin credentials.
git clone https://github.com/punchmail/punchmail && cp .env.example .env
One command spins up all 7 containers — app, database, analytics, queue, cache, email renderer. Done.
docker compose up -d
Add your SMTP provider in settings — Amazon SES, Postmark, your own Postfix, whatever. Create pools, set weights, configure failover.
Import subscribers, build your first campaign with the block editor, hit send. Welcome to email freedom.
No subscriber tiers. No send limits. No "contact sales." Just a price that makes sense.
🚀 Launch price for the first 100 customers. Then €99.
We migrated 45,000 subscribers from Mailchimp to Punchmail on a Saturday afternoon. Exported at 10am, imported by 10:15, rebuilt our 4 templates by noon, recreated automations by 3pm. Sent our Monday newsletter from Punchmail. No one noticed the switch.
Your subscribers. Your data. Your server. One price, forever.