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Marketing · head to head

Kissmetrics vs Mautic

Kissmetrics logo

Kissmetrics

Marketing

Customer analytics and behavioral data

From
Free
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

  • Each has a real cost: Kissmetrics overages are added automatically to the next invoice rather than blocked, so exceeding an event allowance bills without a decision point; 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: Kissmetrics covers Customer analytics, Mautic covers Visual campaign builder.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kissmetrics and Mautic actually diverge.

Attributes where Kissmetrics and Mautic differ
AttributeKissmetricsMautic
Pricing modelfreemiumOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWebWeb, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker
Founded2009Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Kissmetrics

  • Customer analytics
  • Behavioral tracking
  • Cohort analysis
  • Funnel analysis
  • Salesforce
  • GDPR
  • Cloud deployment
  • Web support

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.

Kissmetrics

  • Product analytics and user behavior trackingnot Mautic
  • Event-based analyticsnot Mautic
  • Data integration and reportingnot Mautic

Mautic

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

Where each one falls short

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

Kissmetrics

  • Overages are added automatically to the next invoice rather than blocked, so exceeding an event allowance bills without a decision point
  • The free plan allows 100,000 events a month
  • Per event rates fall with volume, from $0.20 per 1,000 events on Growth to $0.10 on Gold, so smaller customers pay double per event
  • The vendor states Growth, Silver and Gold are the identical product, so the paid tiers differ only in unit price and volume
  • Anything above 5 million events is custom priced

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

Kissmetrics

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 100,000 events/month
    • Autocapture tracking
    • AI chat
  • Growth$99/month
    • Starting at 500k events
    • $0.20 per 1k events
    • Populations
  • Silver$null/month
    • $0.15 per 1k events
    • All Growth features
  • Gold$null/month
    • $0.10 per 1k events (at 5M+ events)
    • All Growth features

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 Kissmetrics if

  • You need customer analytics.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want behavioral tracking.
Kissmetrics 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 Kissmetrics or Mautic better?
Neither clearly leads. Kissmetrics starts at Free and Mautic at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kissmetrics or Mautic?
Kissmetrics starts at Free and Mautic at Free.
Does Kissmetrics or Mautic run on more platforms?
Kissmetrics runs on Web. Mautic runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker.
Can I use Kissmetrics for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Kissmetrics best used for?
Kissmetrics is most often used for product analytics and user behavior tracking, event-based analytics, data integration and reporting. Of those, product analytics and user behavior tracking and event-based analytics are not what Mautic is typically brought in for.
What can Kissmetrics do that Mautic cannot?
Kissmetrics covers Customer analytics, Behavioral tracking, Cohort analysis, Funnel analysis. Mautic covers Visual campaign builder, Contact management and segmentation, Landing pages and forms, Lead scoring.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Kissmetrics: Does KISSmetrics have a free plan?

Yes, KISSmetrics offers a free plan with 100,000 events/month including autocapture tracking, dashboards, and core reports. No card required.

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.

Kissmetrics: What does KISSmetrics charge for paid plans?

Growth plan starts at $99/month for 500k events, charging $0.20 per additional 1k events. Silver and Gold tiers offer lower per-event rates at higher volumes.

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.

Kissmetrics: Does KISSmetrics offer annual discounts?

Yes, annual plans receive 20% off monthly rates. Overage charges are automatically added to the next invoice.

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.

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.

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