[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":156},["ShallowReactive",2],{"comparison-designmodo-postcards":3,"i-lucide:arrow-up-right":149,"i-lucide:arrow-right":154},{"id":4,"title":5,"bestFor":6,"body":13,"comparison":86,"competitor":11,"description":111,"extension":112,"faq":113,"heading":126,"meta":127,"navigation":128,"path":129,"reviewedAt":130,"seo":131,"sources":132,"stem":145,"summary":146,"verdict":147,"__hash__":148},"comparisons\u002Fcompare\u002Fdesignmodo-postcards.md","Designmodo Postcards alternative: free open-source email builder",[7,10],{"product":8,"useCase":9},"Card","You want a free visual builder you can inspect and host, with no limits or conditions on what you export — and you can manage storage and the handoff to your ESP.",{"product":11,"useCase":12},"Postcards","A marketing or design team wants a maintained online workspace with collaboration, AI assistance and one-click export integrations, and the subscription fits the budget.",{"type":14,"value":15,"toc":78},"minimark",[16,21,34,37,41,44,47,50,54,57,60,64,67],[17,18,20],"h2",{"id":19},"why-people-look-for-a-postcards-alternative","Why people look for a Postcards alternative",[22,23,24,25,29,30,33],"p",{},"Postcards is one of the best-looking hosted email builders — no point pretending otherwise. The friction is in the terms around it. On the free plan you get ",[26,27,28],"strong",{},"5 exports per month",", zero AI credits, no email-client preview, and templates licensed for ",[26,31,32],{},"personal, non-commercial use only",", with a Designmodo badge that the Terms explicitly forbid removing or hiding. Commercial use of gallery templates requires a paid plan ($16–$24 per month), and even then templates may not be resold, redistributed or built into other products.",[22,35,36],{},"There is also no way to run Postcards yourself: the FAQ states plainly that self-hosting is not supported. The builder lives in Designmodo's cloud, needs an internet connection, and your projects live inside its service.",[17,38,40],{"id":39},"what-card-gives-you-instead","What Card gives you instead",[22,42,43],{},"Card is a free, open-source (AGPL-3.0) email builder developed in the open since 2022. You compose emails from 78 drag-and-drop blocks — the same modular authoring model Postcards uses — and export as much as you like: responsive HTML for your sending platform, plus editable JSON so a design can be reopened and revised months later.",[22,45,46],{},"What you export is yours. There is no badge, no commercial-use tier and no template licence between you and your own newsletter — client work included. There is also no account: templates are stored in your browser's local storage, so your designs exist on your machine and in whatever backups you make of the exported JSON, not in a vendor's project list.",[22,48,49],{},"And because Card is a static Vue + TypeScript application, you can deploy it under your own domain. If policy says the editing workflow stays on your infrastructure, Card is the version of this product category that can actually comply.",[17,51,53],{"id":52},"what-postcards-still-does-better","What Postcards still does better",[22,55,56],{},"The subscription buys the layer around the canvas. Postcards offers real-time collaboration with comments and version history, AI-assisted generation and translation on paid plans, email-client previews, and one-click export into dozens of sending platforms. Card leaves all of that to you: no cloud workspace, no AI authoring, and the handoff to your ESP is a manual export with an owner and a QA step.",[22,58,59],{},"For a ten-person campaign team on deadlines, that layer can be worth far more than $24 a month. For a developer, a solo operator or a small team with its own review habits, it is often paying rent on features a file share and a checklist already cover.",[17,61,63],{"id":62},"who-should-switch-and-who-shouldnt","Who should switch — and who shouldn't",[22,65,66],{},"Switch to Card if the export caps bite, the badge and non-commercial terms constrain your work, or you need the editor on your own infrastructure with your data under your control. Stay on Postcards if its collaboration, AI tooling and integrations are what your team actually runs on.",[22,68,69,70,77],{},"The test costs nothing on either side — and on Card's side it doesn't even cost a signup. Open the ",[71,72,76],"a",{"href":73,"rel":74},"https:\u002F\u002Fcard.mysigmail.com\u002Fapp",[75],"nofollow","Card editor",", rebuild a real campaign with your assets and footer, export it, and send it through your ESP. Unlimited exports mean you can run that experiment as many times as it takes to be sure.",{"title":79,"searchDepth":80,"depth":80,"links":81},"",2,[82,83,84,85],{"id":19,"depth":80,"text":20},{"id":39,"depth":80,"text":40},{"id":52,"depth":80,"text":53},{"id":62,"depth":80,"text":63},[87,91,95,99,103,107],{"criterion":88,"card":89,"competitor":90},"Price","Free and open source (AGPL-3.0); optional commercial licence for closed-source embedding","Free plan, then Plus $16\u002Fmo or Pro $24\u002Fmo (as of Aug 3, 2026)",{"criterion":92,"card":93,"competitor":94},"Export limits","Unlimited exports of responsive HTML and editable JSON","5 exports\u002Fmo on the free plan; 20\u002Fmo on Plus; unlimited only on Pro",{"criterion":96,"card":97,"competitor":98},"Use of your emails","No restrictions and no badge — the HTML you export is yours","Free-plan templates are personal, non-commercial only, with a mandatory Designmodo badge; resale and redistribution are prohibited on all plans",{"criterion":100,"card":101,"competitor":102},"Self-hosting","Yes — a static Vue + TypeScript app on your infrastructure","Not supported; browser-based and requires an internet connection",{"criterion":104,"card":105,"competitor":106},"Account and data","No account; templates stay in your browser's local storage and your own backups","Hosted account; projects live in the Postcards service",{"criterion":108,"card":109,"competitor":110},"Collaboration and AI","No built-in cloud workspace or AI authoring","Real-time collaboration; AI features on paid plans (0 AI credits on the free plan)","Need a Postcards alternative without export caps, a mandatory badge or non-commercial template limits? Card is a free open-source email editor you can self-host.","md",[114,117,120,123],{"question":115,"answer":116},"Can I use emails built in Card commercially?","Yes, without restrictions. The HTML you export is yours — no badge, no non-commercial clause, no paid tier for client work. AGPL-3.0 applies to Card's source code, not to the emails you create with it.",{"question":118,"answer":119},"Can I self-host Postcards?","No — Designmodo's FAQ states self-hosting is not supported; Postcards runs only in its cloud. Card is a static open-source app you deploy on your own infrastructure.",{"question":121,"answer":122},"Does Card limit how many emails I can export?","No. Exports of both HTML and editable JSON are unlimited — there is no counter to upgrade away, unlike the 5 exports per month on Postcards' free plan.",{"question":124,"answer":125},"Does Card have AI features or real-time collaboration?","No. Card is deliberately a focused editor: no AI authoring and no cloud workspace. If those are must-haves for your team, Postcards' paid plans are the honest recommendation.","The open-source Postcards alternative",{},true,"\u002Fcompare\u002Fdesignmodo-postcards","2026-08-03",{"title":5,"description":111},[133,136,139,142],{"label":134,"url":135},"Postcards pricing","https:\u002F\u002Fdesignmodo.com\u002Fpostcards\u002Fpricing\u002F",{"label":137,"url":138},"Postcards FAQ","https:\u002F\u002Fdesignmodo.com\u002Fpostcards\u002Ffaq\u002F",{"label":140,"url":141},"Postcards integrations","https:\u002F\u002Fdesignmodo.com\u002Fpostcards\u002Fintegrations\u002F",{"label":143,"url":144},"Postcards Terms and Conditions","https:\u002F\u002Fdesignmodo.com\u002Fterms-and-conditions\u002F","compare\u002Fdesignmodo-postcards","Card is a free, open-source email builder: unlimited exports, no account, no branding on your emails, and it runs on your own infrastructure. Postcards is a polished hosted tool whose free plan caps exports at 5 per month and restricts templates to non-commercial use.","Pick Card for a free, self-hosted builder with unlimited, unrestricted exports. Pick Postcards when a maintained online workspace with AI features and ESP integrations is worth $16–$24 a month.","Gb-qfk6uLIXiwe4SIiR_W-_OjInGOB6axhbzk4pLtds",{"left":150,"top":150,"width":151,"height":151,"rotate":150,"vFlip":152,"hFlip":152,"body":153},0,24,false,"\u003Cpath fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\" stroke-width=\"2\" d=\"M7 7h10v10M7 17L17 7\"\u002F>",{"left":150,"top":150,"width":151,"height":151,"rotate":150,"vFlip":152,"hFlip":152,"body":155},"\u003Cpath fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\" stroke-width=\"2\" d=\"M5 12h14m-7-7l7 7l-7 7\"\u002F>",1786067482618]