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Marketing · head to head

Hootsuite vs Mautic

Hootsuite logo

Hootsuite

Marketing

Save time and grow on social media

From
$99/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Mautic logo

Mautic

Marketing

The main open source marketing automation platform, self-hosted and GPL licensed

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Mautic has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Hootsuite no free tier available; minimum cost is $99/user/year annually; Mautic mautic depends on reliably scheduled cron jobs to process segments and send campaigns, and a misconfigured or silently failing schedule stops sends without an obvious error, which is the most common way Mautic deployments fail in production.
  • They diverge on capability: Hootsuite covers Content scheduling, Mautic covers Visual campaign builder.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Hootsuite and Mautic actually diverge.

Attributes where Hootsuite and Mautic differ
AttributeHootsuiteMautic
Starting price$99/yearFree
Pricing modelUnknownOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebWeb, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker
Founded2008Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Marketing).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Hootsuite

  • Content scheduling
  • Social inbox
  • Content calendar
  • Analytics & reporting
  • Social listening
  • Team collaboration
  • Approval workflows
  • Bulk scheduling

Only in Mautic

  • Visual campaign builder
  • Contact management and segmentation
  • Landing pages and forms
  • Lead scoring
  • Dynamic web content
  • Email builder and A/B testing
  • Self-hosted data control
  • No feature gating

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Hootsuite

  • Social media schedulingnot Mautic
  • Community managementnot Mautic
  • Social advertisingnot Mautic
  • Analytics & reportingnot Mautic
  • Team collaborationnot Mautic

Mautic

  • A marketing agency running automation for many clients that cannot pass on per-contact SaaS pricing at scalenot Hootsuite
  • A European university or public body whose data protection position requires contact data to stay on infrastructure it controlsnot Hootsuite
  • A company with a list of several hundred thousand contacts where SaaS per-contact pricing has become the largest line in the marketing budgetnot Hootsuite
  • A team that needs to modify the automation logic itself, not just configure it, and wants source access to do sonot Hootsuite

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Hootsuite

  • No free tier available; minimum cost is $99/user/year annually
  • Monthly billing significantly more expensive than annual (20-30% premium)
  • Advanced data export via SFTP available only to Enterprise tier customers

Mautic

  • Mautic depends on reliably scheduled cron jobs to process segments and send campaigns, and a misconfigured or silently failing schedule stops sends without an obvious error, which is the most common way Mautic deployments fail in production.
  • Email sending is not included: you must arrange, pay for and warm up your own sending infrastructure through Amazon SES, SendGrid or similar, and deliverability problems become entirely your problem with no vendor to escalate to.
  • Acquia owns the commercial descendant, Campaign Studio, and is the largest contributor, so the loudest commercial interest in the ecosystem benefits from a hosted product rather than from the self-hosted one being easy.
  • Upgrades between major versions have historically been disruptive, requiring database migrations and plugin compatibility checks, so a neglected instance can become expensive to bring current.
  • The interface and the reporting are noticeably behind commercial platforms, so marketing teams that came from HubSpot or ActiveCampaign will find everyday tasks slower and will need training.

Pricing, plan by plan

Hootsuite

$99/year

No published plan breakdown. See the Hootsuite review.

Mautic

Free
  • Self-hosted communityFree
    • GPL licensed, no licence fee and no contact limits
    • All features included, no paid edition
    • You provide hosting, database, cron scheduling and email sending
  • Managed Mautic hosting$undefined/month
    • Third-party managed hosting listed by the project
    • Updates, backups and cron scheduling handled for you
    • Pricing varies by provider and is not set by the project

Which should you pick?

Choose Hootsuite if

  • You need content scheduling.
  • You also want social inbox.
Hootsuite review

Choose Mautic if

  • You need visual campaign builder.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker.
  • You also want contact management and segmentation.
Mautic review

Questions people ask

Is Hootsuite or Mautic better?
Neither clearly leads. Hootsuite starts at $99/year and Mautic at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Hootsuite or Mautic?
Mautic has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $99/year for Hootsuite and Free for Mautic.
Does Hootsuite or Mautic run on more platforms?
Hootsuite runs on Web. Mautic runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker.
Can I use Mautic for free?
Yes. Mautic has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Hootsuite starts at $99/year.
What is Hootsuite best used for?
Hootsuite is most often used for social media scheduling, community management, social advertising, analytics & reporting. Of those, social media scheduling and community management are not what Mautic is typically brought in for.
What can Hootsuite do that Mautic cannot?
Hootsuite covers Content scheduling, Social inbox, Content calendar, Analytics & reporting. Mautic covers Visual campaign builder, Contact management and segmentation, Landing pages and forms, Lead scoring.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Hootsuite: What is Hootsuite's pricing structure?

Hootsuite offers four annual plans: Standard at $99/user/year, Professional at $199/user/year, Advanced at $399/user/year, and Enterprise with custom pricing. Monthly billing is available at 20-30% higher cost.

Source
Mautic: Is Mautic free?

Yes, GPL licensed with no licence fee and no contact limits. You pay for hosting, email sending and the staff time to maintain it.

Hootsuite: Does Hootsuite offer a free tier?

No. Hootsuite does not offer a free tier or freemium plan. A 30-day trial is available, and skipping the trial provides 25% off annual plans.

Source
Mautic: Does Acquia own Mautic?

Acquia acquired the founding commercial entity in 2019 and sells Campaign Studio built on it, but the Mautic trademark sits with the Open Source Collective and the project is community governed.

Hootsuite: How many integrations does Hootsuite support?

Hootsuite advertises support for over 100 integrations, claiming more than any other social media management platform.

Source
Mautic: What breaks most often?

Cron scheduling. If segment rebuilding and campaign triggers are not running on schedule, campaigns quietly stop sending with no alert.

Hootsuite: Can users export their data from Hootsuite?

Yes. Hootsuite offers Advanced Analytics data export as CSV files to SFTP folders for Enterprise users, with daily exports and 90-day retention. Standard and Professional plans have more limited export capabilities.

Source
Mautic: Can it handle large contact lists?

Yes, but performance at several hundred thousand contacts depends on database tuning and queue configuration, which is work you must do yourself.

Hootsuite: Does Hootsuite offer API access?

Yes. Hootsuite provides a REST API for building custom applications and integrations, though API capabilities vary by plan level.

Source
Hootsuite: Does Hootsuite offer self-hosted or on-premise deployment?

No. Hootsuite is a cloud-based SaaS platform only. There is no self-hosted or on-premise deployment option available.

Source
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