The problem
Newsletter tools usually want to hold your list and charge per contact or per seat. I wanted one where the organisation keeps its own list and sending account, pays the provider's own price, and can switch provider without migrating anything or losing track of who unsubscribed.
What I built
It keeps one record of who consented. Contacts are never pushed into a provider's audience, and providers only relay individual messages, so an unsubscribe has one home. Every campaign email carries a personal unsubscribe link, one-click headers and a postal address, or it's refused. There are four editors, including blocks for gig listings, video stills and ticket buttons. Colour contrast is checked and there's a dark mode. It imports whole Mailchimp exports, and an AI can draft and test a newsletter but only a person can send it.
How it turned out
It's in production at email.currawong.dev. Through Amazon SES, sending costs about $0.10 per 1,000 emails, billed to the organisation's own account, with no per-contact or per-seat charge.