Self-Hosted Autoresponder (Sendy) vs. Aweber

The Pros and Cons of Using a Self-Hosted Autoresponder (Sendy) vs. Aweber

In the world of email marketing, your autoresponder is like the engine that powers your marketing machine. It’s the lifeline to your subscribers and, ultimately, to your revenue. For years, we’ve always recommended Aweber as a newbie-friendly, effective tool for building and maintaining an email list. Aweber makes it easy for beginners to get started without too much hassle. However, with their recent price hike and added limits on broadcast email volume, we’re seeing a lot of people in our community start to feel the pinch.

This led us to explore alternatives, which brought us to Sendy—a self-hosted autoresponder we’ve been using successfully for years. There are significant differences between these two options, and choosing the best one depends entirely on your needs, resources, and goals. Let’s take a deep dive into the pros and cons of each, so you can make the choice that’s right for your business.

Aweber: The Hosted Autoresponder Solution for Newbies

When we say Aweber is ideal for beginners, we’re not kidding. Aweber handles everything from hosting and updates to list hygiene and deliverability, making it easy to focus on your marketing. Here’s a breakdown of Aweber’s strengths and its recent limitations.

Pros of Aweber

1. Ease of Use for Beginners
   Aweber’s interface is straightforward and beginner-friendly, with templates and tools that help new marketers set up, create, and send emails with minimal hassle. It includes tools like automation, segmentation, and analytics, all in one package.
2. Built-In Hosting and Security
   Aweber is fully hosted, so you don’t have to worry about server maintenance or security. All updates, backups, and list protections are handled for you, keeping your focus where it should be—on your email marketing.
3. Compliance and List Hygiene Support
   Aweber’s tools for managing subscribers help with list hygiene (cleaning out bounced or inactive emails) to maintain high deliverability. Aweber monitors IP reputation and works to keep your emails landing in the inbox.

Cons of Aweber

1. Price Increases and Email Limits
   Aweber’s recent price increase, paired with limits on the number of broadcast emails, has left many of our fellow marketers feeling frustrated. For those with larger lists or those who send frequent broadcasts, this can feel like an added tax on growth.
2. Challenges with Importing Lists
   Aweber isn’t very forgiving when it comes to importing lists. If you try to bring in a list from another service, you may find that a large portion of your audience is suppressed due to Aweber’s list quality checks. This can be a tough pill to swallow for marketers switching over and hoping to keep their full audience intact.
3. Expensive as You Scale
   With Aweber, costs go up as your subscriber count grows, potentially making it difficult to scale up without constantly digging deeper into your pockets. It’s manageable for beginners, but as you expand, it can become one of your biggest expenses.

Sendy: A Self-Hosted Autoresponder Solution

So, if Aweber isn’t cutting it for you, what’s the alternative? Enter Sendy, a self-hosted solution that lets you take back control over your list management, email sending, and expenses. But let’s be clear—Sendy requires a bit more tech know-how than Aweber.

Understanding Sendy: How It Works

Unlike Aweber, Sendy isn’t a hosted service. You buy the software ($69 one-time fee) and install it on your own server (your hosting account). Sendy functions as the interface where you create and store your emails and manage your subscriber data. But Sendy itself doesn’t actually send the emails—this is where SMTP services like Amazon SES, Sendgrid, Elastic Email, and Mailjet come in. Essentially, you’re using three main elements: software, database, and sending service.

Pros of Sendy

1. No Limits on Subscribers or Emails
   With Sendy, you’re in control, and there are no restrictions on how many subscribers you can have or how many emails you can send. This is a game-changer if you’re used to limitations from hosted providers.
2. Direct Control Over List Import and Hygiene
   Because Sendy is self-hosted, you don’t have to get approval or worry about suppressions when importing your list. It’s all up to you to keep your list clean, which is actually a good habit for any responsible marketer.
3. Lower Long-Term Costs
   Sendy’s one-time cost of $69 (at the time we wrote this) makes it much more affordable than a hosted solution, even when you factor in the SMTP fees. For example, Amazon SES charges as low as $0.10 per 1,000 emails sent, making Sendy incredibly economical, especially as your list grows.
4. Improved Deliverability with Greater Control
   When we switched to Sendy, we saw our open and click-through rates soar! Being able to manage our own IP reputation and list hygiene actually improved our deliverability, a critical factor in getting our emails read.

Cons of Sendy

1. Technical Setup and Maintenance
   Let’s be honest—Sendy isn’t plug-and-play. Setting it up involves installing the software on your server, linking it to an SMTP provider, and managing updates. If you’re tech-savvy, this is easy enough, but newbies might find this intimidating.
2. Limited SMTP Options
   As of now, Sendy connects with only four main SMTP providers: Amazon SES, Sendgrid, Elastic Email, and Mailjet. This may limit flexibility for those who want to use other SMTP services. Each SMTP provider has its own rules and reputation, so choosing the right one for your needs is essential. Plus remember these services charfe a “per email” fee for sending and prices vary from platform to platform.
3. Responsibility for IP Reputation and Deliverability
   When using Sendy, the burden of deliverability and IP reputation falls on you. Managing your IP reputation takes diligence in list hygiene, avoiding spammy content, and tracking bounces, but if done right, it can lead to better results than relying on a hosted provider’s IP reputation.

Making the Choice: Aweber or Sendy?

At the end of the day, the choice between Aweber and Sendy boils down to convenience versus control.

• Choose Aweber if you want a beginner-friendly platform that takes care of the technical details for you. It’s ideal if you’re just getting started, don’t want to mess with server setups, and are okay with paying a bit more for convenience. But keep in mind those recent restrictions and price increases, especially if you have a growing list.
• Choose Sendy if you’re looking for a cost-effective, scalable solution and are comfortable with a bit of a learning curve. Sendy lets you control every aspect of your email marketing, from list hygiene to sending. If you’re focused on building a big list and maximizing deliverability, Sendy offers flexibility and affordability that no hosted solution can match.

Final Thoughts

There’s no single “best” autoresponder out there—it all depends on what you need and where you’re at in your business. Aweber is great for newbies, (or at least it USED to be before it became super expensive) but if you’re ready to save money, maximize your reach, and have complete control, Sendy might be worth the transition.

We’ve been there, done that, and we’re here to tell you that no matter which option you choose, what matters is how you use it. Maintaining list hygiene, crafting engaging content, and optimizing your strategy is where the real results come from. The tool is only as good as the marketer behind it. Let us know what you think in the comments. (No affiliate links please)