What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a pre-built newsletter system like phplist compared to creating a custom solution in PHP?

Using a pre-built newsletter system like phplist can save time and effort in setting up and managing email campaigns. It comes with built-in features such as subscriber management, email templates, and tracking capabilities. However, a custom solution in PHP allows for more flexibility and customization to fit specific needs, but it requires more development time and resources.

// Example PHP code snippet for sending a newsletter using PHPMailer

require 'PHPMailer/PHPMailer.php';
require 'PHPMailer/SMTP.php';

$mail = new PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer();
$mail->isSMTP();
$mail->Host = 'smtp.example.com';
$mail->SMTPAuth = true;
$mail->Username = 'your@example.com';
$mail->Password = 'yourpassword';
$mail->SMTPSecure = 'tls';
$mail->Port = 587;

$mail->setFrom('from@example.com', 'Your Name');
$mail->addAddress('recipient@example.com', 'Recipient Name');
$mail->Subject = 'Newsletter Subject';
$mail->isHTML(true);
$mail->Body = 'Newsletter content goes here';

if(!$mail->send()) {
    echo 'Message could not be sent.';
    echo 'Mailer Error: ' . $mail->ErrorInfo;
} else {
    echo 'Message has been sent';
}