Nitrosend vs Sendy.

Nothing to host, transactional included, agent-native, and your own SES key on Pro.

TL;DR

Sendy is a self-hosted newsletter application. You buy a $69 one-time license, install it on your own PHP and MySQL server, and send through your own Amazon SES account at $0.10 per 1,000 emails. If you're technical and your program is campaigns and autoresponders, that's the cheapest way to run a large list, and nothing on this page is going to pretend otherwise.

Nitrosend specializes in email, and the difference is everything the license doesn't cover: the server, the $34 major version, a second license for a second site, and a transactional email product Sendy doesn't have. An application you install and SSH into can't be an AI-native email platform, because an install isn't a product an agent can drive. Here, marketing and transactional run on one platform, and every capability is an MCP tool before it's a screen. BYO sending keys on Pro and above cover Amazon SES, so the account you already warmed comes with you. Self-hosting is one branch of a wider field, and the comparison index covers the hosted side of it.

Pricing math

What you actually pay.

Sendy has no plans, so each row pairs a volume with the whole stack: the license amortized, a server to run it on, and the AWS bill. Nitrosend's column is one plan price with sending included. Both columns are monthly and in USD.

Scenario	Nitrosend	Sendy
Getting started	Free: 8,000 emails to start, then 500/mo forever. Nothing to install. Unlimited contacts, full MCP, API, and CLI	No free plan and no trial. The $69 license, a server, and a configured AWS account all come before the first send
10,000 emails/mo	$20 Pro: 20,000 included, 3 seats, BYO sending and AI keys	About $1 to AWS on a $5 to $20 VPS, plus the license and the $34 major version when it lands
100,000 emails/mo	$100 Ultra: 125,000 included, 5 brands, 10 seats	About $10 to AWS, on a server big enough to push it. A campaign this size can take hours on a small VPS
1M emails/mo	$300 Enterprise: 500K to 4M+ at a published price	About $100 to AWS, plus the server

Prices accurate as of August 2026. Check vendor sites for current rates.

Migration

How to switch (or run both).

Nothing here is big-bang. The Sendy install keeps sending while you move, and the Amazon SES account underneath it never moves at all.

Keep the sending path. Add your existing Amazon SES credentials as a BYO sending key, available on Pro and above. The verified domain, the DKIM records, and the reputation you warmed for Sendy carry straight over, and the key's region has to match the domain you verified.
Verify the sending domain in Nitrosend. The records sit alongside the Sendy install's, so both can send from the same domain for as long as the overlap lasts.
Move the contacts. Export each Sendy list as CSV with its custom fields and import it with nitro_import_contacts. Lists map onto lists and custom fields onto custom fields, and an agency moving a client book moves one brand at a time.
Rebuild the autoresponders as flows with nitro_compose_flow. Sendy's autoresponders are time-delayed sequences, so this is a rewrite rather than a port, and it's usually the first time the branching has existed as one object.
Move transactional off the workaround with nitro_send_message, then retire the box. Keep the Sendy server up until its campaign reports are exported, because they live in that installation's own MySQL.

Honest credit

What Sendy does well.

Picking a tool is about fit. Here's what Sendy is genuinely good at.

A $69 one-time license with no recurring platform fee, so there's no monthly bill for the software itself.
Sending is billed by AWS direct at $0.10 per 1,000 emails, so one more email costs close to nothing.
The subscriber database sits in your own MySQL on your own server, so the list is genuinely yours.
Version 7 ships a real email builder, with drag-and-drop, WYSIWYG, and raw HTML switchable on the same email.
Version 7's sending engine is faster than version 6.
An Amazon SES health indicator sits in the sidebar, so sending status is visible without opening the AWS console.
White-labeled client accounts, called brands, carry their own permissions, pricing, and sending limits.
Brands are separate sending identities inside one install, so an agency can run several clients without a second copy of the application.
Bounces and complaints are handled automatically through Amazon SES feedback, with no setup beyond the SES configuration itself.
The API creates and sends campaigns, not only lists and subscribers.
It runs on ordinary PHP and MySQL hosting, so there's no unusual infrastructure to learn and a technical user is sending within a couple of hours.

What Nitrosend adds

Where we think we're better.

Nothing to host: no VPS, no PHP version to keep current, and no cron job that can stop the queue overnight.
Send speed is ours to solve rather than a function of the box you rented, so a campaign of 100,000 doesn't turn on your server size.
Unlimited contacts on every plan, including Free, so a list that grows without being mailed never moves the bill.
Marketing and transactional are one product, where the documented route on Sendy is an autoresponder set to send immediately with its own list per message type.
Branching flows with conditions and wait steps, where Sendy's autoresponders run on time delays.
MCP-first is an architecture, not an integration: every capability is an API endpoint and an MCP tool before it's a screen.
Deliverability, billing, tests, and approvals are tools too, and they're the four that usually stop an automation dead.
Upgrades are included, where a Sendy major version is $34 and a maintenance window you schedule yourself.
Brands and seats come with the plan, where one Sendy license covers a single website and a brand on its own domain is another $20.
BYO sending keys on Pro and above route mail through Amazon SES, Resend, Postmark, Mailgun, or SendGrid, so the transport stays yours and the decision stays reversible.

Use case fit

When to pick which.

Pick Sendy if

You're comfortable running a PHP and MySQL box and keeping it patched, your volume is high enough that the AWS bill is the only line that matters, you want the subscriber database on hardware you control, and your program is campaigns plus autoresponders with no transactional mail and no branching logic. At a million emails a month the invoice difference is real, and no platform fee argues with it. Teams landing here often weigh SocketLabs for the transactional half, Smartlead if the list is cold rather than owned, and Systeme when the newsletter is one part of a funnel.

Pick Nitrosend if

You don't want to own a server or an upgrade schedule, you need transactional and marketing in one place rather than an autoresponder standing in for one, you need automation that branches, or you want the program run from an agent command rather than a screen. And you keep the Amazon SES account either way, which is the part most people assume they're giving up.

What changes when you stop running the box

Self-hosting is an ownership arrangement rather than a discount. Sendy hands you the application, and you supply everything underneath it: the server, the PHP version, the cron job that moves the queue, and the maintenance window when a major release lands. The sending really is cheap, because AWS bills you direct and nothing sits in between taking a cut of it.

So what you're deciding is who holds the pager. On Sendy that's you, and it's still you on the night a large campaign is crawling out through the server you rented. We'd rather that job didn't exist, which is why send speed, upgrades, and uptime are ours here and the plan price is the whole of the software bill.

The license fee isn't really the choice here. Nitrosend is the version of this where it isn't your job. The free tier needs nothing installed at all, so you can send a campaign from an agent command or the email API before you decide anything about the server.

Sendy vs Nitrosend - common questions.

Can I keep sending through my own Amazon SES account?

Yes, and it's the migration path we recommend. BYO sending keys on Pro and above cover Amazon SES, so the account, the verified domain, and the reputation you warmed for Sendy all stay exactly where they are. What changes is the layer above them.

Is Nitrosend cheaper than Sendy?

Not on the invoice, and at a million emails a month it isn't close: Sendy is one license plus what AWS charges you. The comparison worth making is the whole stack, including the server, the $34 major version, the $20 custom domain license per brand, and the hours.

Does Sendy do transactional email?

There's no dedicated transactional feature. The documented route is an autoresponder set to send immediately, which means a separate list per message type. Nitrosend runs transactional and marketing on one platform, with the two streams kept deliverability-isolated.

Can Nitrosend replace Sendy?

Yes for campaigns, lists, segments, and autoresponders, and it adds transactional sending and branching flows on top. What changes is that you stop running a server: the campaigns, lists, flows, and deliverability checks you used to open a screen or an SSH session for are MCP tools, so you can run the whole email stack from one agent command. Campaign history lives in the Sendy installation's own MySQL database, so export it before the box goes off.

Start with the free tier.

8,000 emails to start, then 500 a month, unlimited contacts, full MCP, API and CLI access. No credit card.