Marketing · head to head
Mautic vs Paperform
Mautic
Marketing
The main open source marketing automation platform, self-hosted and GPL licensed
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
The short version
- 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.; Paperform free plan limited to 30 submissions per month
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Mautic and Paperform actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).
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 Paperform
Nothing recorded that Mautic does not also cover.
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 Paperform
- A European university or public body whose data protection position requires contact data to stay on infrastructure it controlsnot Paperform
- A company with a list of several hundred thousand contacts where SaaS per-contact pricing has become the largest line in the marketing budgetnot Paperform
- A team that needs to modify the automation logic itself, not just configure it, and wants source access to do sonot Paperform
Paperform
- Creating multi-step application forms with conditional field displaynot Mautic
- Building payment collection forms for online invoicingnot Mautic
- Setting up appointment scheduling with calendar integrationnot Mautic
- Collecting customer signatures on contracts and agreementsnot 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.
Paperform
- Free plan limited to 30 submissions per month
- Additional submissions beyond plan limits incur overage fees
- Custom domains require additional $20 per month fee on Pro plan
Pricing, plan by plan
Mautic
Free- Self-hosted communityFree
- GPL licensed, no licence fee and no contact limits
- All features included, no paid edition
- You provide hosting, database, cron scheduling and email sending
- Managed Mautic hosting$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
Paperform
Free- FreeFree
- 1 user
- 30 submissions per month
- 5 payment submissions per month
- Essentials$24/month
- 1 user
- 1,200 submissions per year
- 240 payment submissions per year
- Pro$49/month
- 3 users
- 12,000 submissions per year
- 3,000 payment submissions per year
- Business$99/month
- 5 users plus $9 per additional user (up to 25)
- 120,000 submissions per year
- 30,000 payment submissions per year
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.
Questions people ask
- Is Mautic or Paperform better?
- Neither clearly leads. Mautic starts at Free and Paperform at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Mautic or Paperform?
- Mautic starts at Free and Paperform at Free.
- Does Mautic or Paperform run on more platforms?
- Mautic runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker. Paperform runs on Web.
- Can I use Mautic for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- 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 Paperform is typically brought in for.
- What can Mautic do that Paperform cannot?
- Mautic covers Visual campaign builder, Contact management and segmentation, Landing pages and forms, Lead scoring.
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.
Paperform: Is there a free version of Paperform?
Yes, Paperform offers a free plan with 1 user, 30 submissions per month, and 100 MB storage at no cost.
SourceMautic: 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.
Paperform: Does Paperform offer a free trial for paid plans?
Paperform offers a 7-day unrestricted trial for all paid plans without requiring a credit card.
SourceMautic: What breaks most often?
Cron scheduling. If segment rebuilding and campaign triggers are not running on schedule, campaigns quietly stop sending with no alert.
Paperform: What payment processing options does Paperform support?
All Paperform plans include payment processing via Stripe, Square, Braintree, or PayPal.
SourceMautic: 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.
Paperform: When does Paperform charge for custom domains?
Custom domains are available on the Pro and Business plans, with an additional $20 per month fee for this feature.
SourceRelated pages
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