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Marketing · head to head

Mautic vs Qualtrics CoreXM

Mautic logo

Mautic

Marketing

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

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Qualtrics CoreXM logo

Qualtrics CoreXM

Surveys

Enterprise survey and market research platform, priced by seat and response volume through negotiated contracts

From
On request
Free plan
No
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.; Qualtrics CoreXM there is no public pricing for any deployment beyond a small individual self-service plan, so budgeting requires a sales conversation before a shortlist can even be built.
  • They diverge on capability: Mautic covers Visual campaign builder, Qualtrics CoreXM covers Advanced survey logic.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Mautic and Qualtrics CoreXM actually diverge.

Attributes where Mautic and Qualtrics CoreXM differ
AttributeMauticQualtrics CoreXM
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Linux, Self-hosted, DockerWeb, iOS, Android
CategoryMarketingSurveys

Identical on both: 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 Qualtrics CoreXM

  • Advanced survey logic
  • Statistical analysis tools
  • Text analytics
  • Dashboards and reporting
  • Panel integration
  • API and platform integrations

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

Qualtrics CoreXM

  • A market research team running quantitative studies that need built-in statistical significance testingnot Mautic
  • A product team wanting text analytics on open-ended customer feedback at scalenot Mautic
  • An enterprise consolidating multiple survey tools into one platform with a single data warehouse integrationnot Mautic
  • A researcher who needs access to third-party respondent panels alongside the survey buildernot 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.

Qualtrics CoreXM

  • There is no public pricing for any deployment beyond a small individual self-service plan, so budgeting requires a sales conversation before a shortlist can even be built.
  • Typical small enterprise contracts run 25,000 to 50,000 US dollars a year, which puts it far outside the budget of small businesses that Typeform, Jotform or SurveyMonkey serve well.
  • The interface and logic builder have a steep learning curve compared with lighter tools, so new users need training before building complex surveys confidently.
  • It is easy to confuse with Qualtrics EmployeeXM in the same product family; buyers evaluating employee engagement specifically should look at EmployeeXM, not CoreXM.
  • Multi-year contracts with per-module add-ons mean the effective cost tends to grow year over year as teams add capabilities piecemeal.

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

Qualtrics CoreXM

On request
  • CoreXM$undefined/year
    • Self-service entry plan around 35 USD a month for small individual use
    • Typical small enterprise contracts between 25,000 and 50,000 USD a year
    • Priced by seats, response volume and modules selected

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 Qualtrics CoreXM if

  • You need advanced survey logic.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want statistical analysis tools.
Qualtrics CoreXM review

Questions people ask

Is Mautic or Qualtrics CoreXM better?
Neither clearly leads. Mautic starts at Free and Qualtrics CoreXM at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Mautic or Qualtrics CoreXM?
Mautic has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Mautic and On request for Qualtrics CoreXM.
Does Mautic or Qualtrics CoreXM run on more platforms?
Mautic runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker. Qualtrics CoreXM runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Mautic for free?
Yes. Mautic has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Qualtrics CoreXM 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 Qualtrics CoreXM is typically brought in for.
What can Mautic do that Qualtrics CoreXM cannot?
Mautic covers Visual campaign builder, Contact management and segmentation, Landing pages and forms, Lead scoring. Qualtrics CoreXM covers Advanced survey logic, Statistical analysis tools, Text analytics, Dashboards and reporting.

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.

Qualtrics CoreXM: How is CoreXM different from Qualtrics EmployeeXM?

CoreXM is the general-purpose survey and market research engine; EmployeeXM is a separate, HR-focused product built specifically for employee engagement programmes.

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.

Qualtrics CoreXM: Is there a published price list?

No, only a small self-service plan around 35 USD a month is public; organisational deployments are negotiated and typically run into five or six figures annually.

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.

Qualtrics CoreXM: Does CoreXM include text analytics?

Yes, automated theme and sentiment extraction on open-ended responses is included as a core capability.

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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