PHP List
Hosting
Install PHP List in one click on our fast, reliable UK web hosting. Fully managed with free SSL, daily backups, and dedicated expert support.
What is PHP List?
phpList is an open-source email newsletter and campaign manager first released in 2000 by Michiel Dethmers. It is the longest-running self-hosted newsletter application still under active development, and is licensed under the AGPL. The platform runs on PHP and MySQL, and ships with subscriber list management, double opt-in handling, segment-based sending, bounce processing, click tracking, and a templated message editor.
phpList sends mail through SMTP or local mail relays, and supports throttling settings to keep within shared-host sending limits. The admin interface is functional rather than pretty, and the project trades visual polish for reliability and a long track record.
It suits charities, membership groups, small publishers, and any owner who wants to keep their subscriber list on their own server rather than handing it to a third-party provider. The 365i one-click installer includes phpList with sensible defaults for shared hosting, and the platform handles modest sending volumes without difficulty. Larger lists usually move to a dedicated SMTP relay, which phpList supports natively.
365i’s editorial review of PHP List
phpList is the application I recommend most often when someone asks how to keep their newsletter list off Mailchimp or Brevo. It's been around since 2000, it's still actively developed, and it does one job well: send email to people who asked to receive it, track who opened it, and unsubscribe the people who don't want it any more. That's it. No CRM bolt-on, no marketing automation, no AI-generated subject lines. Just a newsletter platform you own.
What works well: the subscriber data lives in your own MySQL database, the double opt-in flow is solid, bounce handling has been refined over twenty years, and the AGPL licence means there's no rug-pull risk. You install it, you own it, and as long as your sending domain has SPF, DKIM and DMARC set up properly, your mail gets delivered.
What's annoying: the admin UI is from a different era. Buttons are small, the navigation isn't intuitive on first use, and the message editor is basic. The official theme is fine but plain. None of this matters once you've sent a few campaigns and learned the layout, but the first hour is a steep climb if you're used to Mailchimp's drag-and-drop builder.
"phpList is what you pick when you want to own your list. It's not pretty, and the editor will not impress your marketing team, but the deliverability and the data ownership are worth a hundred fancy dashboards. I've run phpList for our own customers since 2008."
Mark McNeece, Founder, 365i Hosting
On hosting: phpList runs comfortably on our shared hosting from £5.99/mo for lists up to about 5,000 subscribers sending once or twice a week. PHP 8.5 handles it cleanly, the MySQL footprint is small, and the cron job that processes the send queue ticks along without fuss. We give you proper cron access on shared hosting, which is the bit some budget hosts skip.
If you're sending to bigger lists or running daily campaigns, two things matter. First, your hosting plan's sending limit. Our shared hosting allows reasonable volumes through the local mail server, but anyone sending to 10,000 subscribers a day really wants a dedicated SMTP relay like Brevo, SendGrid, or Amazon SES routed through phpList. Second, sender reputation. Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC on your sending domain before you send your first campaign. We'll help you with the DNS records as part of 7-day expert support.
One thing I'd flag: phpList's installation script asks you to set the admin password during install. Pick a strong one and store it somewhere safe. Recovery is possible but fiddly. And keep the install up to date. Newsletter platforms get probed by spammers looking for open relays, and the security team behind phpList push fixes quickly when issues are reported.
Why Host PHP List with 365i?
Our web hosting is built for PHP applications like PHP List. Every plan includes everything you need to launch and grow.
One-Click Installation
Install PHP List with a single click from your control panel. No manual configuration, no FTP uploads, no database setup.
Free SSL Certificate
Every site gets a free SSL certificate, automatically configured and renewed. Keep your PHP List installation secure from day one.
99.9%+ Uptime Track Record
Enterprise-grade data centres in the UK, US & Asia with redundant power, cooling, and network connectivity. Shared hosting runs on autoscaling cloud infrastructure with a 99.9%+ historical uptime record; Managed Cloud Servers target 99.99% uptime; our VPS products carry a contractual 99.99% network availability SLA with service credits.
Daily Backups
Automatic daily backups with easy one-click restore. Your PHP List data is always safe and recoverable.
7-Day Expert Support
UK-based hosting specialists available 7 days a week including evenings, weekends, and bank holidays. Real people, real help.
SSD Storage
All plans run on fast SSD storage for snappy page loads and responsive admin panels. PHP List performs at its best.
Where PHP List Fits
Best for
Charities, membership groups, small publishers, and independent newsletter authors who want to own their subscriber data. Lists between a few hundred and a few thousand subscribers sending weekly or monthly. Owners who value data sovereignty and AGPL licensing over visual polish in the message editor.
Watch for
The admin UI looks dated and the message editor is basic compared to Mailchimp or Brevo. Bigger lists (10,000+) really want a dedicated SMTP relay rather than the local mail server. Sender reputation depends entirely on you getting SPF, DKIM and DMARC right. The platform does not include marketing automation or A/B testing.
Web Hosting for PHP List
Get PHP List up and running in minutes with our fast, reliable web hosting. Every plan includes one-click installation, free SSL, UK, US & Asia data centres, and dedicated expert support.
- 1 website
- 10 GB SSD storage
- Free SSL certificate
- 80+ 1-click installs
- Unlimited LVE resources
- Autoscaling cloud platform
- UK, US & Asia data centres
- 5 websites
- Unlimited SSD storage
- Free SSL certificate
- 80+ 1-click installs
- CDN included
-
Timeline Backup/Restore
Timeline Backup
- Website files and databases
- Daily snapshots, 30-day retention
- One-click file and database restore
- Everything above, plus email mailbox backups
- 60-day database retention
- Mailbox restore (to a temporary mailbox first, then sync back)
- Unlimited LVE resources
- Autoscaling cloud platform
- UK, US & Asia data centres
- 10 websites
- Unlimited SSD storage
- Free SSL certificate
- 80+ 1-click installs
- CDN included
-
Timeline Backup/Restore (Pro)
Timeline Backup
- Website files and databases
- Daily snapshots, 30-day retention
- One-click file and database restore
- Everything above, plus email mailbox backups
- 60-day database retention
- Mailbox restore (to a temporary mailbox first, then sync back)
- Unlimited LVE resources
- Autoscaling cloud platform
- UK, US & Asia data centres
All prices exclude VAT. No contract, cancel any time.
Need More Power for PHP List?
For high-traffic sites, large catalogues, or mission-critical deployments, our fully managed cloud servers give PHP List dedicated resources and enterprise-grade performance.
- Dedicated CPU, RAM & SSD storage
- 99.99% uptime
- Fully managed by our team
- Choose 365i, AWS, or Google Cloud
Servers
Servers
Servers
A PHP List case from our books
A regional charity in the North West joined us in 2025 with a phpList install that had been running on a budget host for around six years. They had roughly 4,200 subscribers, sent a fortnightly newsletter, and were getting growing complaints that their email landed in spam folders. Their old host had no proper SPF or DKIM tooling, and the local mail server's IP had been flagged on a couple of blocklists.
We migrated the install to our shared hosting at £5.99/mo, took the database and subscriber list across cleanly, set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC on their sending domain, and connected phpList to a dedicated SMTP relay so deliverability didn't depend on shared IP reputation. Total migration time was around five working hours over two days, including a test send to a small subset before we cut DNS.
Inbox placement on Gmail and Outlook moved from roughly 64% to over 96% across the next two campaigns, the spam-folder complaints stopped, and click-through rate climbed by about 28% inside two months.
What we would tell anyone in the same spot: deliverability is not a phpList problem, it's a DNS and SMTP problem. Get those right and the platform does its job quietly.
Anonymised at the client's request. Industry, scale, and timeline preserved.
What we look for in marketing software hosting
Marketing automation and newsletter software is mostly about email infrastructure rather than PHP performance. We help configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC at the DNS layer during setup, advise on warming up a sending domain rather than blasting from cold, and tune cron to handle send queues without timing out. For teams sending tens of thousands of emails a day, we strongly recommend an external transactional provider like Mailgun, SendGrid, or Brevo rather than relying on shared SMTP.
More applications you can install on 365i hosting
Beyond Marketing Software, our one-click installer covers 79 open-source PHP applications across 27 categories. A small selection from across the catalogue:
PHP List Hosting FAQ
Common questions we hear from people running PHP List on our hosting.
phpList runs on PHP 7.4 or later (PHP 8.1+ recommended) plus MySQL 5.7 or later. Our shared hosting includes PHP 8.5, MySQL 8, 256MB PHP memory, and proper cron access. That covers phpList comfortably for lists up to several thousand subscribers. The send queue runs on cron, so cron access is essential and is included on every 365i shared plan. Larger deployments may want a dedicated SMTP relay, which phpList supports out of the box.
Yes. phpList is in our one-click application installer alongside the rest of the 365i catalogue. The installer creates the database, places the files, and sets up the admin user. You then go through phpList's own configuration wizard to set the sender address, SMTP details if you're using a relay, and the cron schedule. End to end, allow about 20 minutes for a fresh install plus DNS records for SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
We provide hosting-layer support 7 days a week including evenings, weekends, and bank holidays. That covers PHP versions, MySQL, cron, SSL, DNS records (including SPF, DKIM and DMARC), backups, and migrations. We don't write custom phpList plug-ins or build email templates for you, that's development or design work. For application-specific questions the phpList community forums and documentation are very active. Datacentre infrastructure is monitored 24/7 by our hosting platform partner.
Yes, free of charge. Our migration service covers phpList alongside our wider supported application list. Send us your current host's FTP details and a database export and we'll move the install, the subscriber list, the campaign history, and any uploaded images. We'll set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC on the new host and run a test send to a small subset before we cut DNS over. Most phpList migrations take three to six working hours.
Yes, and it's arguably better for GDPR than third-party providers because the subscriber data lives on your own server, in your own database, in our UK datacentre by default. phpList supports double opt-in, granular subscription preferences, audit logs, and proper unsubscribe handling. You'll still need to write a privacy policy and cookie notice, and you'll want regular backups (we keep daily for 30 days). For UK charities and member groups, this is usually a cleaner GDPR setup than Mailchimp or HubSpot.
Ready to Host PHP List?
Get started with PHP List on our fast UK web hosting. One-click installation, free SSL, and dedicated expert support included.