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Marketing · head to head

Mautic vs Postmark

Mautic logo

Mautic

Marketing

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Postmark logo

Postmark

Marketing

No hidden fees, no guesswork. Just the features you need, at a price that makes sense

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

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.; Postmark free tier caps at 100 emails per month with no overages allowed
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Mautic and Postmark actually diverge.

Attributes where Mautic and Postmark differ
AttributeMauticPostmark
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeUnknown
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Linux, Self-hosted, DockerWeb

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 Postmark

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

Postmark

  • Sending password reset emails with industry-leading delivery speednot Mautic
  • Processing inbound email replies into JSON objects for applicationsnot Mautic
  • Tracking failed email deliveries and suppressing invalid addressesnot Mautic
  • Separating transactional emails from marketing emails with message streamsnot 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.

Postmark

  • Free tier caps at 100 emails per month with no overages allowed
  • Basic plan ($15/mo) includes 10,000 emails then charges $1.80 per 1,000 extra; Pro and Platform tiers have their own lower per-1,000 overage rates ($1.30 and $1.20), so cost scales per email beyond the included volume
  • Custom high-volume pricing above the published tiers requires contacting sales

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

Postmark

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Postmark review.

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.
Mautic review

Choose Postmark if

Nothing in the data separates Postmark from Mautic on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Postmark review

Questions people ask

Is Mautic or Postmark better?
Neither clearly leads. Mautic starts at Free and Postmark at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Mautic or Postmark?
Mautic has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Mautic and On request for Postmark.
Does Mautic or Postmark run on more platforms?
Mautic runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker. Postmark runs on Web.
Can I use Mautic for free?
Yes. Mautic has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Postmark 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 Postmark is typically brought in for.
What can Mautic do that Postmark 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.

Postmark: What is the cheapest paid plan for Postmark email sending?

Postmark Basic plan is $15/month for 10,000 emails, with overages at $1.80 per 1,000 additional emails. Free tier limited to 100/month. No annual billing discount available. Source: https://www.postmarkapp.com/pricing

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.

Postmark: How are Postmark email overages calculated?

Overages are calculated at month-end and billed with your next plan cost. Basic tier overages: $1.80 per 1,000; Pro: $1.30 per 1,000; Platform: $1.20 per 1,000. Unused monthly emails do not carry over. Source: https://www.postmarkapp.com/pricing

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.

Postmark: What payment methods does Postmark accept?

Postmark accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners Club, and JCB. No PayPal or purchase orders accepted. Bootstrapped startups can request a $75 account credit. Source: https://www.postmarkapp.com/pricing

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.

Postmark: Can I get a dedicated IP on Postmark without high volume?

No. Postmark dedicated IPs require minimum 300,000 emails per month and start at $50/month. Alternative: use Postmark's shared infrastructure included in all tiers. Source: https://www.postmarkapp.com/pricing

Source
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