Overview

Mautic covers email creation and testing, lead nurturing, scoring, forms and campaign automation. Its click-and-drag campaign builder supports complex journeys, and drag-and-drop tools create mobile-optimized emails and landing pages. That breadth makes it a credible fit for teams coordinating multiple marketing touchpoints rather than just sending newsletters.

The open-source product can run on a server or hosting chosen by the user, supporting data sovereignty and configurable privacy controls. Self-hosting is not a low-effort route: it requires CLI, web-server, database, PHP and cron-job knowledge. Mautic recommends a virtual private or dedicated server rather than cheap shared hosting, where resource and configuration limits can get in the way.

Key features

Campaigns and lead management

Mautic combines email automation and customized marketing touchpoints with lead-scoring points, triggers, groups and funnel stages. Multichannel data collection feeds contact profiles, while forms can be embedded in landing pages, websites, applications and popup modals. This gives teams a connected set of tools for capturing, segmenting and nurturing leads; it also means the team must be prepared to manage the campaign logic and its supporting infrastructure.

Channels, integrations and privacy

Email tools support personalization and A/B testing for marketing and transactional messages. Integrations include CRM and SMS options, webhooks, a plugin marketplace and a REST API for custom connections. Multiple sending domains can be authenticated within one installation. Those options suit stacks that need tailored connections, though the integration work may require technical ownership.

Privacy features are intended to support GDPR, CCPA and other requirements, including configurable tracking controls, IP anonymization and cleanup tasks. Self-hosting can give an organization more direct control over data, but it also makes infrastructure operation its responsibility. The Mautic Security Team handles vulnerabilities in the core and officially supported plugins, coordinates disclosures and issues CVEs in its namespace.

Pricing

Mautic offers a free download, a free trial and managed hosting through Dropsolid, its official hosting partner. Forty percent of managed-plan revenue goes to the community. The 14-day trial includes all Mautic features and requires no credit card.

Plan	Price	What it includes
Download (self-host)	0.00 USD per free	Free to download and use. Requires CLI, web-server configuration, database, PHP and cron-job knowledge; teams also need suitable hosting.
Mautic Trial	Free for 14 days	All Mautic features, with no credit card required. It is a time-limited way to evaluate the full product.
Mautic Essential	247.50 EUR per month, billed annually; €275/mo billed quarterly	Managed shared hosting, up to 50K contacts and 50K emails/month, up to 100 emails/minute, and email service included. A defined sending ceiling and shared infrastructure make this the entry managed option.
Mautic Professional	From €1237/mo	Managed dedicated hosting, from 50K contacts and extendable up to 3M, plus dynamic content, advanced workflows, a dedicated support manager and possible custom development. It suits organizations needing dedicated capacity and deeper workflows.
Mautic Enterprise	Custom pricing	For large-scale operations and deep integrations, with up to 6M emails a month and up to 4,000 emails/minute.

The 50,000-contact figure is the stated contact limit for Mautic; Essential also caps monthly sends at 50,000. Teams that need substantially more contacts or sending capacity should look at Professional or Enterprise rather than assume the entry managed tier will scale without a plan change. Managed hosting includes maintenance, updates and security patches, and has no restriction on the number of team members.

Platforms

Mautic is available as a web product, through an API, and as self-hosted software. Its platform choice is meaningful: self-hosting offers operational control but requires server expertise, while managed hosting shifts maintenance, updates and security patches to the hosting service.

Who it's for

Mautic fits freelancers, small and medium-sized businesses, enterprises and universities that need campaign automation and lead management, and that value open-source software or control over where it runs. The free self-hosted option is most compelling for teams with server expertise and capacity to maintain it. Teams seeking a managed setup can pay for hosting; Essential has explicit contact, send and throughput limits, while higher tiers target larger operations.

It is a weaker fit for organizations that want marketing automation without infrastructure responsibility or a managed-hosting budget.

Pros and cons

Pros: Open-source self-hosting gives technically equipped teams control over deployment and data.
Pros: Email, lead scoring, forms, journeys and integrations sit in one marketing automation suite, reducing the need to assemble those capabilities separately.
Pros: Managed plans include maintenance, updates and security patches, and do not limit team-member access.
Cons: Self-hosting calls for specific server and software skills, and cheap shared hosting is discouraged for resource and configuration reasons.
Cons: Managed hosting starts at 247.50 EUR per month billed annually, while Essential limits capacity to 50K contacts and 50K monthly emails.
Cons: Free troubleshooting is community-based; organizations wanting dedicated assistance may need partner support or a higher managed tier.

Alternatives

For a wider comparison of category options, see Marketing Automation Software. Teams focused on nurturing workflows can also browse Lead Nurturing Software, while nonprofit buyers can compare options in Nonprofit Marketing Software.

Manago AI (formerly SALESmanago) is a paid option with a free trial; consider it when you prefer a paid platform and do not require a free plan.
GetResponse is freemium and offers a free plan and trial; consider it if those entry options matter more than Mautic's open-source, self-hosting route.
Actito is a paid API and web platform; consider it if you want a paid service rather than Mautic's free self-hosted option.
EngageBay has a free web plan for up to 15 users and 250 contacts and companies; consider it when a small free tier and stated user cap match your needs.
Klaviyo has a free plan for up to 250 active profiles and 500 email sends/month; consider it if those smaller free-tier limits are sufficient.
Brevo Conversations offers a free forever plan with one user; consider it if a no-cost, time-unlimited entry point is the priority.
Adobe Marketo Engage is a paid alternative with tiered plans; consider it as another paid option for marketing automation.
ActiveCampaign is a paid option with a free trial; consider it if you want to evaluate a paid service before committing.

Verdict

Choose Mautic if your team needs a flexible marketing automation suite and can either run production-grade hosting itself or justify managed hosting for control, integrations and scale. Its strongest case is the combination of open-source deployment choice with email, journeys and lead management. Look elsewhere if you need a low-cost managed service without technical overhead: self-hosting takes operational skill, and the managed entry plan has material contact and email limits.

	Daxko Engage	Mautic
Free plan	No	Yes
Free trial	No	Yes
Paid from	—	€247.50/mo
Open source	No	No
Platforms	Web	api, self-hosted, Web
Email campaigns	Yes	—
Marketing automation	Yes	—
Analytics and reporting	Yes	—
Free plan	—	Yes

Daxko Engage vs Mautic

Daxko Engage

Mautic