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Marketing · head to head

Mautic vs Salsa CRM

Mautic logo

Mautic

Marketing

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Salsa CRM logo

Salsa CRM

Nonprofits

Integrated CRM and email marketing for nonprofits

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.; Salsa CRM no longer sold as Salsa. salsalabs.com redirects to Bonterra, which absorbed it alongside EveryAction
  • They diverge on capability: Mautic covers Visual campaign builder, Salsa CRM covers Contact management.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Mautic and Salsa CRM actually diverge.

Attributes where Mautic and Salsa CRM differ
AttributeMauticSalsa CRM
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feesubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Linux, Self-hosted, DockerWeb, Mobile-responsive
CategoryMarketingNonprofits
FoundedUnknown2000

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 Salsa CRM

  • Contact management
  • Email marketing
  • Fundraising tools
  • Advocacy campaigns
  • Analytics
  • Stripe
  • PayPal
  • Salesforce

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

Salsa CRM

  • Business operationsnot Mautic
  • Productivitynot Mautic
  • Automationnot 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.

Salsa CRM

  • No longer sold as Salsa. salsalabs.com redirects to Bonterra, which absorbed it alongside EveryAction
  • Pricing is not published

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

Salsa CRM

On request
  • Essential$85/month
    • Contact management
    • Email marketing
  • Advanced$200/month
    • Fundraising tools
    • Advocacy campaigns
    • Reporting

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 Salsa CRM if

  • You need contact management.
  • You work on Web, Mobile-responsive.
  • You also want email marketing.
Salsa CRM review

Questions people ask

Is Mautic or Salsa CRM better?
Neither clearly leads. Mautic starts at Free and Salsa CRM at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Mautic or Salsa CRM?
Mautic has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Mautic and On request for Salsa CRM.
Does Mautic or Salsa CRM run on more platforms?
Mautic runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker. Salsa CRM runs on Web, Mobile-responsive.
Can I use Mautic for free?
Yes. Mautic has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Salsa CRM 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 Salsa CRM is typically brought in for.
What can Mautic do that Salsa CRM cannot?
Mautic covers Visual campaign builder, Contact management and segmentation, Landing pages and forms, Lead scoring. Salsa CRM covers Contact management, Email marketing, Fundraising tools, Advocacy campaigns.

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.

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.

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.

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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