Forem: Ed Mills

5 Indie Alternatives to Mailchimp in 2026

Ed Mills — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 09:12:08 +0000

5 Indie Alternatives to Mailchimp in 2026

Tired of Mailchimp's pricing or limitations? You're not alone. Here are indie-built alternatives — smaller teams, transparent pricing, and they actually listen to users.

1. EmailOctopus

Email marketing that does more for less

View on IndieStack

2. LetterSpace

Self-hosted open-source newsletter platform

View on IndieStack

3. Buttondown

The best way to start, grow, and run your newsletter

View on IndieStack

Browse all indie alternatives to Mailchimp and 100+ other tools at IndieStack.

IndieStack is a directory of indie-built software alternatives. Every tool is made by solo developers or small teams.

I asked Claude to build analytics from scratch. It cost 47,000 tokens. The alternative cost 2 lines.

Ed Mills — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 18:39:41 +0000

I asked Claude to build analytics from scratch. It cost 47,000 tokens. The alternative cost 2 lines.

A real comparison: 47,000 tokens and three hours of back-and-forth versus 700 tokens and four minutes.

The Waste

I was building a SaaS dashboard and asked Claude to add analytics. What followed was an expensive lesson:

First prompt: Database schema with SQLite DDL for events, sessions, and page views (~15,000 tokens)
Second prompt: Event tracking middleware and utility functions (~18,000 tokens)
Third prompt: Dashboard with charts, graphs, and cohort analysis. Required follow-up fixes.

I had reinvented a wheel that hundreds of people had already reinvented, and done it worse than all of them. Final tally: roughly 47,000 tokens across three hours, producing code that wasn't production-ready without major additions like data retention policies and GDPR compliance.

The Discovery

I found IndieStack - a directory of indie tools with an MCP server integration. Setup was two commands:

pip install indiestack
claude mcp add indiestack

This gave Claude access to a curated index of tools before it started generating code from scratch.

The Result

Next project, when I asked for analytics, Claude checked IndieStack first and suggested Simple Analytics - privacy-first, cookie-free, single script tag integration.

Token usage: ~700 tokens. Four minutes.

The Math

47,000 tokens vs 700 tokens. Thats the difference between building custom infrastructure and using an existing solution.

Building analytics from scratch: 40,000-60,000 tokens typically
Using an existing indie tool: ~700 tokens

And the custom build needs ongoing maintenance. The integrated solution doesn't.

The Broader Point

Auth. Payments. Transactional email. PDF invoices. Uptime monitoring. Background job queues. Every feature category has mature indie tools available. The problem is AI assistants don't have a way to discover them - they default to building from scratch.

The fix: give it the tool. Let it search first.

Installation takes thirty seconds. Next time you ask for a feature, your AI checks existing tools before writing boilerplate.

I wish I had had it three hours earlier.

12 Self-Hosted Open Source Tools Every Developer Should Know About

Ed Mills — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 01:09:58 +0000

Self-hosting is having a moment. Between rising SaaS costs and growing privacy concerns, more developers are running their own tools. Here are 12 open-source, self-hosted tools across different categories that are actually worth setting up.

I found these while building IndieStack, a directory of indie-built software. All of these are free and built by solo developers or small teams.

Email & Newsletters

LetterSpace

Self-hosted open-source newsletter platform. Run your own Substack on your own server.

View on IndieStack

Monitoring

Ciao

HTTP health checks and URL monitoring. Dead simple, self-hosted. Set up uptime checks in minutes without paying for Pingdom or UptimeRobot.

View on IndieStack

Project Management

Tasks.md

A Markdown-based task management board. If you love Markdown and hate bloated project tools, this is for you. Kanban-style, runs anywhere.

View on IndieStack

Payments

Bitcart

Self-hosted payment processor for BTC, LTC, ETH, USDT and more. Accept crypto payments without any third-party service taking a cut.

View on IndieStack

Finance & Expenses

ExpenseOwl

Extremely simple, self-hosted expense tracker with a clean UI. No spreadsheets, no over-engineered apps. Just track what you spend.

View on IndieStack

Hisabi

Personal finance tracking with SMS transaction parsing. Auto-imports transactions from your bank SMS notifications. Clever and privacy-friendly.

View on IndieStack

Invoicing

Invoice Ninja

Free invoicing, expenses, and time-tracking for freelancers. Self-host the full app or use their hosted version. One of the most mature open-source invoicing tools out there.

View on IndieStack

File Sharing

Flare

Modern self-hosted file sharing platform with ShareX support. Upload files, get shareable links. Clean UI, fast, no tracking.

View on IndieStack

Customer Feedback

Fider

Open-source customer feedback platform. Let users submit and vote on feature requests. Self-host your own Canny or UserVoice.

View on IndieStack

Domain Management

Domain Locker

All-in-one tool for keeping track of your domain name portfolio. If you are a domain hoarder (no judgment), this organizes everything.

View on IndieStack

CRM

NextCRM

Open-source CRM with projects, invoicing, email and AI features. Built with Next.js. A solid Salesforce alternative for small teams.

View on IndieStack

Accounting

ERPSaaS

Laravel and Filament-powered accounting with full double-entry bookkeeping. If you need real accounting software you can self-host, this is it.

View on IndieStack

Why Self-Host These?

Free forever - no surprise pricing changes
Your data stays yours - no analytics company mining your customer data
Customizable - fork and modify to fit your workflow
Reliable - no vendor going bankrupt or getting acquired

All of these tools are cataloged on IndieStack alongside 100+ other indie-built alternatives. If you are tired of paying enterprise prices for things a solo dev built a better version of, check it out.

5 Open-Source CRM Tools You Can Self-Host (Salesforce Alternatives)

Ed Mills — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 01:08:15 +0000

If you are a solo developer or small team, paying 25-300 per user per month for Salesforce or HubSpot is brutal. The good news: there are solid open-source CRM alternatives you can self-host for free.

I have been cataloging indie-built software at IndieStack and found some genuinely useful CRM tools. Here are 5 worth checking out.

1. Atomic CRM

Stack: React + shadcn/ui + Supabase
Price: Free (open source)
Best for: Teams already using Supabase

A full-featured CRM with a modern UI built on React and Supabase. Contacts, deals, pipeline management - the core stuff you actually need without the 200 features you don't.

GitHub | View on IndieStack

2. NextCRM

Stack: Next.js + Prisma
Price: Free (open source)
Best for: Next.js developers who want CRM + project management

Goes beyond basic CRM - includes project management, invoicing, email integration, and even AI features. Self-hosted, so your customer data stays on your servers.

GitHub | View on IndieStack

3. Laravel CRM

Stack: Laravel (PHP)
Price: Free (open source)
Best for: Laravel shops that want CRM baked into their existing app

A CRM package that plugs directly into Laravel. Contacts, organizations, deals, activities - all as a composable package rather than a standalone app. Great if you are already running Laravel.

GitHub | View on IndieStack

4. Tillywork

Stack: Vue.js
Price: Free (open source)
Best for: Teams that need CRM + project management in one tool

Combines sprint management, project tracking, and sales pipelines. Think of it as a Notion-meets-CRM. Kanban boards, task management, and deal tracking all in one place.

GitHub | View on IndieStack

5. Crisp

Stack: SaaS (bootstrapped)
Price: Free tier available
Best for: Customer support teams that need multi-channel messaging

Not strictly open source, but Crisp is bootstrapped (no VC money) and has a generous free tier. Live chat, email, WhatsApp integration - an all-in-one customer messaging platform that is way cheaper than Intercom or Zendesk.

Website | View on IndieStack

Why Self-Host?

Data privacy: Your customer data, your servers
No per-seat pricing: Host for your whole team at the cost of a small VPS
Customizable: Fork it, extend it, make it yours
No vendor lock-in: Export your data anytime

Find More

I maintain IndieStack, a directory of 100+ indie-built software alternatives across categories like CRM, analytics, email marketing, hosting, and more. Every tool is built by solo developers or small teams.

Browse all CRM tools: indiestack.fly.dev

5 Indie Alternatives to Typeform in 2026

Ed Mills — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:59:14 +0000

5 Indie Alternatives to Typeform in 2026

Tired of Typeform's pricing or limitations? You're not alone. Here are indie-built alternatives — smaller teams, transparent pricing, and they actually listen to users.

1. Tally

Create beautiful forms as easily as typing a document — free forever

View on IndieStack

2. FormsLab

Form builder for anonymous surveys, polls, and collecting feedback

View on IndieStack

Browse all indie alternatives to Typeform and 100+ other tools at IndieStack.

IndieStack is a directory of indie-built software alternatives. Every tool is made by solo developers or small teams.

7 Indie Analytics Tools That Respect Your Users Privacy (2026)

Ed Mills — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:31:04 +0000

7 Indie Analytics Tools That Respect Your Users Privacy (2026)

Tired of Google Analytics tracking everything? These indie-built analytics tools give you the insights you need without compromising user privacy. No cookie banners required.

1. Simple Analytics

Privacy-friendly analytics without the complexity

View on IndieStack

2. Fathom Analytics

Stop feeding Google your visitors' data — get simple, private analytics

View on IndieStack

3. Typefully

Write, schedule, and grow on X, LinkedIn, Bluesky, and Threads

View on IndieStack

4. Super.so

Build websites with Notion — fast, no code

View on IndieStack

5. Buffer

Grow your audience on social media with ease

View on IndieStack

6. LetterSpace

Self-hosted open-source newsletter platform

View on IndieStack

7. Plausible Analytics

Privacy-friendly website analytics without cookies or consent banners

View on IndieStack

Browse all indie analytics tools and 100+ other categories at IndieStack.

IndieStack is a directory of indie-built software alternatives. Every tool is made by solo developers or small teams.

5 Indie Alternatives to Typeform in 2026

Ed Mills — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:26:51 +0000

5 Indie Alternatives to Typeform in 2026

Tired of Typeform's pricing or limitations? You're not alone. Here are indie-built alternatives — smaller teams, transparent pricing, and they actually listen to users.

1. Tally

Create beautiful forms as easily as typing a document — free forever

View on IndieStack

2. FormsLab

Form builder for anonymous surveys, polls, and collecting feedback

View on IndieStack

Browse all indie alternatives to Typeform and 100+ other tools at IndieStack.

IndieStack is a directory of indie-built software alternatives. Every tool is made by solo developers or small teams.

I built an MCP server in FastAPI + SQLite so Cursor stops writing boilerplate

Ed Mills — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 22:17:58 +0000

Built solo over a weekend. If you're evaluating FastAPI + SQLite for a side project, happy to answer questions about the architecture in the comments.