Jul 13, 2025

Email Collector

1. 🧠 The Idea

Most email collection tools—like MailChimp or ConvertKit—require:

Embedding third-party JavaScript
Accepting branding or limited free tiers
Surrendering user data to centralized platforms

My app is a dead-simple REST API for collecting and retrieving email signups, built with privacy and developer control in mind.

2. 👥 Who It’s For

email_collector is designed for:

Indie hackers launching landing pages
Developers tired of heavy integrations
Privacy-conscious teams who want to own their data

No JavaScript. No trackers. Just POST to an endpoint and GET back email signups later.

3. 🔍 Research & Competitors

Existing tools:

Platform	Free-Tier Limits	Signup Requirements	Key Limitations / Developer Notes
Mailchimp	Up to 500 contacts, 2,500 emails/month, basic forms, templates, and CRM	Email, name, company & password	Mailchimp branding, limited automation, daily send cap (~500), forms with JS embeds
MailerLite	Up to 1,000 subs, 12,000 emails/mo, forms, automations, pop-ups, landing pages	Email, name, address	Logo in emails, limited A/B tests & templates, time-limited support
ConvertKit	Up to 10,000 subs, unlimited emails, forms & pages, 1 automation sequence	Email, name	Branded emails, limited automations, recommendation ads slot
Brevo (Sendinblue)	Unlimited contacts, 300 emails/day, forms, landing pages, automations, SMS	Email, org name	Email quota: 300/day (~9k/month), Brevo branding, some features limited on free plan
Klaviyo	Up to 250 profiles, 500 emails/mo, 150 SMS credits, forms & flows	Email, org info	Limited send volume, branded content, limited support window
Moosend	1 form, 1 landing page, 1 automation + trial features	Email & contact list	Very limited free features; devs should test paid plan
EmailOctopus	Up to 2,500 contacts, 10,000 emails/mo, 3 automations (5 steps each), 3 forms/pages	Email, name; no CC	Basic features only, branding link in emails, reporting only 30 days per campaign
Formspree	50 submissions/month, unlimited forms & projects, 1 team member, spam filtering	Email login; confirm email	Supports plain HTML forms, domain restriction; no storage beyond submissions
Getform	5 endpoints, 1,000 submissions/month, 1 GB file storage, API & webhooks	Email, password	Limited submissions & endpoints; branding on thank-you page, limited retention

What I wanted:

No dependencies
Generous campaign/email limits
Limited data collection
No branding on my website

4. ⚙️ How It Works

POST endpoint for collecting emails:

POST /api/collect
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "email": "user@example.com",
  "campaign": "launch"
}

GET endpoint to retrieve signups:

GET /api/emails?campaign=launch

This makes it easy to:

Drop a form into your site with a simple HTML form
Collect emails per campaign (e.g. “launch”, “waitlist”, “beta”)
Pull signups as a CSV or from the aforementioned GET endpoint

5. 🤖 Building It with an LLM-Powered Phoenix Workflow

While this app is relatively simple, I wanted to try something different: vibe coding with Cursor, an AI-first code editor.

The result was surprisingly productive:

The LLM scaffolded a basic Phoenix API with routing and plug-based validation
It helped with edge cases, like ensuring emails were valid before insertion
Even small touches—like timestamped logs or JSON responses—were quickly refined through iterative prompting

This made building the API feel like collaborating with an assistant, not just writing code solo.

6. Learnings

I used the Claude Sonnet 4.0 context window to vibe code the application. The following are brief issues I had while vibe coding:

Could not figure out how to refactor the flash message in a desirable manner
Generated css stylings in the HTML templates
Made all CSS tailwind specific
Made very weird decision with the Phoenix form helpers

7. Next Steps

Now I have an operational email collection app, I can easily collect emails on splash pages without the worries of using the current email collections providers. I plan on starting my next app using my email collections service, Eola Dog Walkers.

8. 🌐 Follow My Projects

This is my first of many experiments I’m building under a “20-app challenge.” I want to create and release 20 small tools to learn what developers want, what sticks, and what solves real problems.

iacut.one/software.html
https://collection.email or https://email-collection.com – I am unsure which domain will be best for SEO

9. 💬 Try It / Give Feedback

Check out the repo: 📦 github.com/iacutone/email_collector

If you use it on your landing page, I’d love to hear about it. PRs, stars, and suggestions are always welcome.

📬 email_collector: A Privacy-First Email Signup Backend for Developers