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Marketing · head to head

Mautic vs Puppeteer

Mautic logo

Mautic

Marketing

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Puppeteer logo

Puppeteer

Testing

Node.js library for controlling Chrome and Firefox

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

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.; Puppeteer chrome and Firefox only, with no Safari or WebKit story
  • They diverge on capability: Mautic covers Visual campaign builder, Puppeteer covers DevTools Protocol.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Mautic and Puppeteer actually diverge.

Attributes where Mautic and Puppeteer differ
AttributeMauticPuppeteer
PlatformsWeb, Linux, Self-hosted, DockerLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryMarketingTesting

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (Open source, no licence fee), 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 Puppeteer

  • DevTools Protocol
  • Headless by default
  • PDF and screenshots
  • Network interception

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

Puppeteer

  • Generating PDFs or screenshots of rendered pages on a servernot Mautic
  • Scraping sites that require JavaScript executionnot Mautic
  • Automating browser tasks where a full test framework is unnecessarynot 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.

Puppeteer

  • Chrome and Firefox only, with no Safari or WebKit story
  • Not a test framework: assertions, retries and reporting need Jest or similar bolted on
  • Bundles a Chromium download, which makes installs large and awkward in constrained CI images

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

Puppeteer

Free
  • PuppeteerFree
    • Full functionality
    • Unlimited tests
    • Community support

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 Puppeteer if

  • You need devtools protocol.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want headless by default.
Puppeteer review

Questions people ask

Is Mautic or Puppeteer better?
Neither clearly leads. Mautic starts at Free and Puppeteer at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Mautic or Puppeteer?
Mautic starts at Free and Puppeteer at Free.
Does Mautic or Puppeteer run on more platforms?
Mautic runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker. Puppeteer runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
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 Puppeteer is typically brought in for.
What can Mautic do that Puppeteer cannot?
Mautic covers Visual campaign builder, Contact management and segmentation, Landing pages and forms, Lead scoring. Puppeteer covers DevTools Protocol, Headless by default, PDF and screenshots, Network interception.

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.

Puppeteer: Is Puppeteer free?

Yes, open source from the Chrome team.

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.

Puppeteer: Puppeteer or Playwright?

Playwright came from the same original team, adds WebKit and Firefox support, automatic waiting and a test runner. Puppeteer stays a focused Chrome automation library, which is simpler if automation rather than testing is the goal.

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.

Puppeteer: Can Puppeteer generate PDFs?

Yes, and it is one of the most common uses — rendering a page and printing it to PDF server-side.

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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