Mailtrain is a self-hosted newsletter application built on Node.js and MySQL or MariaDB.
The tool addresses the need for organizations to manage email marketing campaigns without relying on third-party services. It provides subscriber list management, email template creation including MJML-based templates, list segmentation with custom fields, and campaign automation through triggered and RSS-based sends. The application includes a built-in Zone-MTA mail server to minimize setup complexity for email delivery. It supports multiple users with granular permissions and hierarchical namespaces for enterprise deployments. The architecture separates concerns across three endpoints—trusted for authenticated user management, sandbox for template editing, and public for subscriber-facing forms and archives—to prevent XSS attacks in multi-user environments.
Mailtrain suits organizations that want to avoid vendor lock-in and maintain full control over their email infrastructure. It requires a minimum of 2 vCPU and 4 GB RAM. The tool is appropriate for teams managing newsletters, segmented campaigns, and automated workflows who can dedicate resources to self-hosting. Installation is supported on CentOS 7 and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS with automated SSL certificate provisioning via Let's Encrypt.
