[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":574},["ShallowReactive",2],{"project-36836596":3},{"id":4,"name":5,"line":6,"line_source":7,"title":8,"url":9,"domain":5,"maker":10,"posted_at":11,"year":12,"points":13,"comments":14,"rank_in_year":15,"shown_in_year":16,"top":17,"tier":18,"category":19,"subcategory":20,"format":21,"keywords":22,"reception":27,"sentiment":28,"stance_mix":29,"scored_comments":34,"aspects":35,"strip":47,"post_text":49,"what":50,"said":84,"maker_in_thread":243,"shape":252,"grid":255,"attempts":529,"same_week":538,"maker_shows":32,"maker_hidden":566,"reader_version":567,"card":568},"36836596","cc.dev","A MailChimp alternative that connects to your database","title","Show HN: I made a MailChimp alternative that connects to your database","https:\u002F\u002Fcc.dev","kashnote",1690128211,2023,302,101,145,3109,5,"legend","web_saas","email marketing platform","web_app",[23,24,25,26],"email marketing","aws ses","mailchimp alternative","sql audience","debated",-0.013,{"positive":30,"neutral":31,"mixed":32,"critical":33},17,22,3,25,67,{"idea":36,"privacy":39,"pricing":42,"design":43,"execution":45,"docs":46},{"positive":37,"critical":38},7,10,{"positive":40,"critical":41},2,11,{"positive":32,"critical":40},{"positive":32,"critical":44},0,{"positive":44,"critical":40},{"positive":44,"critical":44},[48,17,48,48,32,48,48,48,32,32,48,48,32,17,48,48,48,40,48,48,32,32,32,32,32,48,44,17,17,17,48,48,48,32,32,32,17,17,17,32],1,"Hi all! Excited to share cc.dev after months of work and refinement.\n\nThe idea for this product came from trying to do email marketing for my side project, CubeDesk, a site where Rubik's Cube enthusiasts can time themselves, race with one another, train algorithms — it's a fun niche!\n\nWith over 40k users, sending even a single campaign was becoming expensive with MailChimp. I knew AWS SES would be much cheaper, but it’s just an API with none of the other necessities you need for a robust email marketing platform.\n\nBeyond cost, I was also frustrated with having to make sure my database was alwa",{"problem":51,"audience":57,"pricing":63,"motivation":64,"time_to_build":63,"stack":68,"openness":81,"stage":82,"team_size":83},{"value":52,"source":53,"evidence":54},"MailChimp is expensive and requires syncing databases with its audience schema","maker",[55],{"id":56},"post",{"value":58,"source":53,"evidence":59},"Tech-savvy founders and solo operators with a user base who want cheaper, flexible email",[60],{"id":61,"by":10,"text":62},"36837469","The target market is someone who 1. is tech-savvy and runs an app\u002Fservice with a bunch of users 2. has tried existing emailing platforms and feel that they're too expensive 3.…",null,{"value":65,"source":53,"evidence":66},"Maker needed cheaper email for their own CubeDesk site with 40k users",[67],{"id":56},[69,73],{"value":70,"source":53,"evidence":71},"AWS SES",[72],{"id":56},{"value":74,"source":75,"evidence":76},"MJML","commenter",[77],{"id":78,"by":79,"text":80},"36837246","carlossouza","I think there are some good ideas here, but the target audience imho is not clear. Email marketing cheaper is a great attention grabber: kudos for the good copywriting. Step 1:…","unknown","beta","solo",{"praise":85,"objections":112,"requests":146,"questions":182,"alternatives":209},[86,101],{"value":87,"source":75,"evidence":88},"Cheaper than MailChimp; clear niche for engineers",[89,93,97],{"id":90,"by":91,"text":92},"36841799","lxe","Bravo. You found a market niche! Engineers who want to set up basic email marketing for their side project or startup already using ses for login\u002Fsignup and other user flows.…",{"id":94,"by":95,"text":96},"36845614","danpalmer","I really like this. I'm an engineer, and have had to build basic versions of this internally at a previous company, and we never managed the investment to make it work nicely.…",{"id":98,"by":99,"text":100},"36838361","addajones","great work! Useful option!! 250,000 emails at $44\u002Fmo (including SES fee). Currently paying $25 to send 250,000 emails with sendy.co for years. Also using Amazon SES. no monthly…",{"value":102,"source":75,"evidence":103},"Landing page is clean and well designed",[104,108],{"id":105,"by":106,"text":107},"36848499","bbx","Just wanted to say the landing page is excellent. I love the 1-2-3-4 steps with instructions and screenshots. It shows how easy it is to set up and avoids the classic marketing…",{"id":109,"by":110,"text":111},"36837107","nickstinemates","Homepage is beautiful. Product is clear. Very nice.",[113,128,139],{"value":114,"source":75,"evidence":115},"Exposing a database to a third-party service is a security risk",[116,120,124],{"id":117,"by":118,"text":119},"36836795","CableNinja","I see a lot of security concerns with this. Many, if not all databases are not public accessible, nor should they ever be. Asking people to open their database up to you, sketchy…",{"id":121,"by":122,"text":123},"36837190","sakopov","Major problem with this is that your customers should ideally never expose their databases for public access.",{"id":125,"by":126,"text":127},"36838577","zxcvbn4038","Having your database exposed on the public internet so a third party service like this can read it directly is a very bad idea IMO. I get what your going for but the end here is…",{"value":129,"source":75,"evidence":130},"Little advantage over existing SES setup and own codebase",[131,135],{"id":132,"by":133,"text":134},"36837364","tansan","This feels like a very small step up from just doing everything in my codebase. My SES is already setup. I have templating for emails already. I can query my DB using my ORM…",{"id":136,"by":137,"text":138},"36839229","sergiotapia","If I have SES and MJML and the SQL query - why not just run this on my app server? Why pay you to hit the SES API with my markup? I don't quite get it.",{"value":140,"source":75,"evidence":141},"Lacks double opt-in and unsubscribe handling",[142],{"id":143,"by":144,"text":145},"36838251","sandGorgon","the biggest challenge to fix is the double opt-in and opt-outs. CANSPAM and lots of other regulations make it tricky to not do this well. And if u start getting marked as spam,…",[147,159,166,174],{"value":148,"source":75,"evidence":149},"Self-hosted or open source option",[150,154,155],{"id":151,"by":152,"text":153},"36837916","xmprt","I, for the record, find this pretty interesting and am exactly in the target audience for this (down to the cubing part. Maybe I'll see you at a WCA comp sometime). I might check…",{"id":94,"by":95,"text":96},{"id":156,"by":157,"text":158},"36837923","addisonj","Congrats on the launch! Lots of really good stuff going on here, a few bits of feedback, ideas, etc, and also responding to some of the comments in other threads. * The quick…",{"value":160,"source":75,"evidence":161},"Support for other email backends and free sending via MailChannels",[162],{"id":163,"by":164,"text":165},"36836904","ttul","If you send through Cloudflare Workers using MailChannels, the sending is free with no cap.",{"value":167,"source":75,"evidence":168},"Free trial or cheaper small-volume plans",[169,173],{"id":170,"by":171,"text":172},"36842792","edmundsauto","Honestly, you might be in the small part of SaaS well positioned to offer free trials. Since it’s not your SES, why not let someone try it for a month or two then charge? During…",{"id":90,"by":91,"text":92},{"value":175,"source":75,"evidence":176},"Liquid template support and better template editor",[177,178],{"id":143,"by":144,"text":145},{"id":179,"by":180,"text":181},"36842840","RyanShook","The killer feature of Mailchimp for me is templates. Make the editor great and I would move over quickly.",[183,191,202],{"value":184,"source":75,"evidence":185},"How does the database connection work and does an agent run in the VPC",[186,190],{"id":187,"by":188,"text":189},"36840073","doylemark","How does this connect to the database? Does an agent have to run within your VPC?",{"id":156,"by":157,"text":158},{"value":192,"source":75,"evidence":193},"What tracking is provided, such as opens and clicks",[194,198],{"id":195,"by":196,"text":197},"36839360","kundi","What type of tracking does it provide? Open tracking and split-tests and stats would be essential for this to stand on a more solid group beyond hacking own scripts",{"id":199,"by":200,"text":201},"36837264","tln","This looks great! Sounds like you track events like opens, clicks SES features.. does that mean you need a specific table in my database? What data about my users would be stored…",{"value":203,"source":75,"evidence":204},"How is sender reputation managed",[205],{"id":206,"by":207,"text":208},"36837714","neom","How do you manage reputation?",[210,218,229,236],{"value":211,"source":75,"evidence":212},"Sendy",[213,217],{"id":214,"by":215,"text":216},"36840497","deepspace","Sendy (https:\u002F\u002Fsendy.co\u002F) ticks all those boxes, plus it is self-hosted, so I don't need to share my database with anyone.",{"id":98,"by":99,"text":100},{"value":219,"source":75,"evidence":220},"Listmonk",[221,225],{"id":222,"by":223,"text":224},"36840217","elliotkillick","This looks like an interesting take on email marketing. I use an open source solution called Listmonk (w\u002F Amazon SES) for my emailing needs. How does this project compare?",{"id":226,"by":227,"text":228},"36840991","tough","fwiw I've been looking to find a MailChimp or such alternative that's FOSS. I've both tried ListMonk and Bespoke but both lack on features I might need. Might just roll my own at…",{"value":230,"source":75,"evidence":231},"Mailcoach",[232],{"id":233,"by":234,"text":235},"36843233","Rias","Or Mailcoach (https:\u002F\u002Fmailcoach.app) self-hosted if you appreciate a more modern codebase",{"value":237,"source":75,"evidence":238},"Brevo or Mailjet",[239],{"id":240,"by":241,"text":242},"36863954","KomoD","> With over 40k users, sending even a single campaign was becoming expensive with MailChimp. You could always move to Brevo (formerly sendinblue) or Mailjet, it'd be cheap. If…",{"comments":38,"answered":17,"key":244},[245,246,249],{"id":61,"text":62},{"id":247,"text":248},"36839444","It’s listed on the Data page! No need to open the database up to the whole internet. Just whitelist one IP.",{"id":250,"text":251},"36836824","Very legitimate concern and one I've been thinking about a lot. Honestly, I think the best way to address this is to just go open source, which I'm totally open to. I think once…",{"commenters":253,"max_depth":37,"maker_replies":38,"first_comment_mins":30,"lifespan_hours":254},72,85,[256,258,260,262,266,270,273,276,279,280,283,284,287,289,293,297,301,305,308,311,313,317,320,323,324,328,331,334,337,339,341,344,346,348,350,353,354,356,357,360,362,365,367,369,373,376,379,382,385,388,391,394,396,398,401,404,407,410,411,414,416,417,419,421,423,427,430,432,433,437,440,443,447,449,452,455,460,464,466,471,474,475,477,479,481,484,486,490,492,494,497,499,501,503,507,512,517,522,525,527],[78,44,48,257,79,44],"project\u002Fcritical\u002Fidea",[61,44,44,259,10,48],"maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fidea",[151,44,32,261,152,44],"project\u002Fmixed\u002Fprivacy",[263,44,44,264,265,44],"36838896","commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone","imafish",[267,44,17,268,269,44],"36839214","project\u002Fpositive\u002Fidea","jacobsimon",[271,44,48,257,272,44],"36839747","dangus",[274,44,44,264,275,44],"36840164","jroesner",[277,44,44,278,272,44],"36842057","commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fidea",[214,44,48,257,215,44],[281,44,44,282,79,44],"36841743","commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fpricing",[233,44,48,257,234,44],[285,44,17,268,286,44],"36838118","jonathanbull",[288,44,44,264,79,44],"36839401",[290,44,48,291,292,44],"36838163","project\u002Fcritical\u002Fpricing","paulcole",[294,44,32,295,296,44],"36853978","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fdesign","tarwin",[298,48,44,299,300,44],"36841594","commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fprivacy","nlh",[302,48,48,303,304,44],"36841721","project\u002Fcritical\u002Fprivacy","trvz",[306,48,48,303,307,44],"36842252","Vanclief",[309,48,44,299,310,44],"36843071","billoneil",[312,48,44,299,300,44],"36850726",[314,48,32,315,316,44],"36842470","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fprivacy","DrBenCarson",[318,48,44,299,319,44],"36847794","5Qn8mNbc2FNCiVV",[321,48,44,299,322,44],"36843264","re-thc",[121,40,48,303,122,44],[325,40,17,326,327,44],"36838055","project\u002Fpositive\u002Fprivacy","xp84",[329,40,44,264,330,44],"36838134","TZubiri",[332,40,48,303,333,44],"36838358","failTide",[335,40,32,315,336,44],"36838785","8organicbits",[247,40,44,338,10,48],"maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fprivacy",[340,40,48,303,122,44],"36840225",[342,40,32,315,343,44],"36840638","scrose",[345,40,44,299,336,44],"36841817",[347,40,44,299,327,44],"36888958",[349,40,17,326,300,44],"36841564",[351,40,32,315,352,44],"36843269","lmm",[132,32,48,257,133,44],[117,355,48,303,118,44],4,[250,355,44,338,10,48],[358,355,48,359,118,44],"36836925","maker\u002Fcritical\u002Fprivacy",[361,355,44,338,10,48],"36837095",[363,355,48,364,118,44],"36837191","project\u002Fcritical\u002Fexecution",[366,355,44,264,200,44],"36837312",[368,355,48,257,118,44],"36837567",[370,355,32,371,372,44],"36839231","maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fdocs","Exuma",[374,355,32,315,375,44],"36838791","samstave",[377,355,48,303,378,44],"36837407","blopker",[380,355,32,315,381,44],"36836830","shusson",[383,355,48,364,384,44],"36837294","sosborn",[386,355,44,299,387,44],"36837366","iamacyborg",[389,355,48,303,390,44],"36836832","ivanvanderbyl",[392,355,48,303,393,44],"36837408","wohlgejm",[163,17,17,395,164,44],"project\u002Fpositive\u002Fpricing",[397,17,44,259,10,48],"36836967",[399,17,32,400,164,44],"36837111","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fexecution",[402,17,44,264,403,44],"36838014","zenorocha",[405,17,44,264,406,44],"36839341","c0brac0bra",[94,408,32,409,95,44],6,"project\u002Fmixed\u002Fpricing",[125,37,48,303,126,44],[170,412,32,413,171,44],8,"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fpricing",[98,415,17,395,99,44],9,[206,38,32,315,207,44],[418,38,44,315,10,48],"36837903",[420,38,48,257,207,44],"36838026",[422,38,44,264,330,44],"36838142",[424,38,44,425,426,44],"36838346","commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fperformance","primitivesuave",[428,38,44,425,429,44],"36843515","gouthamj",[431,38,44,264,95,44],"36844306",[90,41,17,268,91,44],[434,435,17,268,436,44],"36837062",12,"themanmaran",[105,438,17,439,106,44],13,"project\u002Fpositive\u002Fdesign",[441,442,17,268,387,44],"36837381",14,[444,445,32,259,446,44],"36837135",15,"sails",[448,445,44,278,387,44],"36837350",[226,450,32,451,227,44],16,"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fidea",[453,30,17,268,454,44],"36846581","jamesfisher",[456,457,44,458,459,44],"36843728",18,"other\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone","mythz",[461,462,48,257,463,44],"36838368",19,"vcryan",[240,465,48,291,241,44],20,[467,468,32,469,470,44],"36837201",21,"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone","constantly",[472,468,44,473,10,48],"36837729","maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[143,31,48,257,144,44],[199,476,32,315,200,44],23,[478,476,44,338,10,48],"36837623",[222,480,32,469,223,44],24,[482,33,32,451,483,44],"36838298","georyb",[195,485,32,451,196,44],26,[487,488,32,451,489,44],"36836779",27,"rcme",[491,488,44,259,10,48],"36836896",[136,493,48,257,137,44],28,[495,493,17,395,496,44],"36843628","tillcarlos",[109,498,17,439,110,44],29,[179,500,32,295,180,44],30,[187,502,32,315,188,44],31,[504,505,17,268,506,44],"36837167",32,"ibpasha1",[508,509,17,510,511,44],"36845144",33,"maker\u002Fpositive\u002Fdesign","ygouzerh",[513,514,17,515,516,44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