Marketing · head to head
Mautic vs Optimove
Mautic
Marketing
The main open source marketing automation platform, self-hosted and GPL licensed
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Optimove
Marketing
Retention marketing platform that forces control groups and reports uplift per customer
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Mautic has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: 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.; Optimove it requires a customer-level data feed with transactions before it does anything useful, and mapping that feed typically takes weeks of joint work rather than days.
- They diverge on capability: Mautic covers Visual campaign builder, Optimove covers Customer modelling.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Mautic and Optimove actually diverge.
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 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
Only in Optimove
- Customer modelling
- Mandatory control groups
- Optibot
- Multichannel orchestration
- Self-optimising campaigns
- Realtime triggers
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Mautic
- A marketing agency running automation for many clients that cannot pass on per-contact SaaS pricing at scalenot Optimove
- A European university or public body whose data protection position requires contact data to stay on infrastructure it controlsnot Optimove
- A company with a list of several hundred thousand contacts where SaaS per-contact pricing has become the largest line in the marketing budgetnot Optimove
- A team that needs to modify the automation logic itself, not just configure it, and wants source access to do sonot Optimove
Optimove
- An operator that has to prove incremental revenue from retention marketing to a finance committeenot Mautic
- Segmenting a customer base by predicted value and lifecycle stage rather than by campaign list membershipnot Mautic
- Running hundreds of small always-on campaigns where per-campaign uplift decides which survivenot Mautic
- Coordinating retention messaging with paid audience suppression so lapsed customers are not paid for twicenot Mautic
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
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.
Optimove
- It requires a customer-level data feed with transactions before it does anything useful, and mapping that feed typically takes weeks of joint work rather than days.
- Pricing is based on tracked customers, so an inflated database of accounts that will never return costs money exactly like an unpruned email list does.
- The modelling layer is largely opaque, so when a lifecycle stage assignment looks wrong there is limited ability to inspect why beyond vendor support.
- The interface is dense and built for daily operators, and occasional users typically never become independent in it.
- Email delivery is through bundled or third-party sending infrastructure rather than an in-house ESP, which adds a party to any deliverability investigation.
Pricing, plan by plan
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$undefined/month
- Third-party managed hosting listed by the project
- Updates, backups and cron scheduling handled for you
- Pricing varies by provider and is not set by the project
Optimove
On request- Optimove$undefined/year
- Priced by number of tracked customers
- Channel modules and Kumulos-derived mobile messaging licensed separately
- Annual contract including onboarding services
Which should you pick?
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.
Choose Optimove if
- You need customer modelling.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android, REST API.
- You also want mandatory control groups.
Questions people ask
- Is Mautic or Optimove better?
- Neither clearly leads. Mautic starts at Free and Optimove at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Mautic or Optimove?
- Mautic has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Mautic and On request for Optimove.
- Does Mautic or Optimove run on more platforms?
- Mautic runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker. Optimove runs on Web, iOS, Android, REST API.
- Can I use Mautic for free?
- Yes. Mautic has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Optimove starts at On request.
- What is Mautic best used for?
- Mautic is most often used for a marketing agency running automation for many clients that cannot pass on per-contact saas pricing at scale, a european university or public body whose data protection position requires contact data to stay on infrastructure it controls, a company with a list of several hundred thousand contacts where saas per-contact pricing has become the largest line in the marketing budget, a team that needs to modify the automation logic itself, not just configure it, and wants source access to do so. Of those, a marketing agency running automation for many clients that cannot pass on per-contact saas pricing at scale and a european university or public body whose data protection position requires contact data to stay on infrastructure it controls are not what Optimove is typically brought in for.
- What can Mautic do that Optimove cannot?
- Mautic covers Visual campaign builder, Contact management and segmentation, Landing pages and forms, Lead scoring. Optimove covers Customer modelling, Mandatory control groups, Optibot, Multichannel orchestration.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
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.
Optimove: Why does it insist on control groups?
Because uplift is the reported metric. Without a holdout the platform cannot attribute revenue, and the reporting that justifies the licence stops working.
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.
Optimove: Is it only for iGaming?
No, but that is where its density of customers and its default lifecycle models are strongest. Subscription retail and financial services are the other common verticals.
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.
Optimove: Can it send email itself?
It orchestrates and personalises, then sends through connected delivery infrastructure. Deliverability remains a shared responsibility with that provider.
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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