README.md

Docker SendPortal

This repo contains the dockerized version of SendPortal, an open-source self-hosted email marketing. The docker flow is opinionated but you can use it as reference to make something of your own. All docker-related files are stored inside docker directory.

To start the setup:

1. Make sure you have docker installed. Check docker documentation if you haven't: https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/
2. Create a .env file based on .env.sample. Adjust the content of your .env according to your need.
3. Run the script: ./run.sh

The script will use environment variables from .env and builds a docker image called sendportal based on docker/Dockerfile. It will also run a redis and nginx container, namely sendportal_redis and sendportal_nginx. Lastly, the script will trigger the sendportal setup command using artisan sp:setup which asks for few details like domain name, database informations (if not provided yet), etc.

Once completed, you can access your SendPortal at http://localhost:9000.

Here's some screenshots of SendPortal running in localhost using docker:

1. Why SendPortal?

• The interface is clean
• The workflow is not so complicated; create campaign, send campaign, monitor campaign, repeat
• Good alternative if you want a DIY solution and cheaper to mailchimp
• It's open-source!

2. Why dockerizing it?

• You just want to quickly run the tool
• You don't want to deal with setting up the dependencies
• You want a flow that can be easily replicated

3. Why run.sh?

• It's easier for me because I can just arrange the commands based on my need (hey, it's opinionated!)
• I don't have to install docker-compose
• It works out of the box on most platforms (ubuntu, macOS, or Windows via Git Bash or WSL)

4. Is there any alternative to SendPortal?

• I tried Mailtrain but the flow is a bit confusing to me. And it seems to send queued emails at a slower rate (I once scheduled ~10k emails and it took 1 hour to finish).
• I checked phplist but the UI seems too crowded for me.

5. Where can I learn more about SendPortal features?

• You can start from its official documentation: https://sendportal.io/docs/features/subscribers
• If you want to know more about what kind of content you can put in your campaign email (eg. can you automatically insert your subscriber name?), check this Templates section: https://sendportal.io/docs/features/templates
• Finally, you can also check their Github issues at https://github.com/mettle/sendportal/issues to see what bugs are being solved, feature requests, etc.

6. Do you have a demo?

• Yes! It's here: https://sendportaldemo.wzulfikar.com
  • user: delpha.cronin@ethereal.email
  • password: demo1234
• If you want to see the emails that are sent by the demo app, check the mailbox too:
  • mailbox url: https://ethereal.email/messages
  • user: delpha.cronin@ethereal.email
  • password: rxg88vKsXfZ6pH7dea
• You can also check the Laravel Horizon that's is bundled by SendPortal. To do so, login to the demo site and go to https://sendportaldemo.wzulfikar.com/horizon

That's it. Hope it helps!