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Marketing · head to head

Mautic vs Sendy

Mautic logo

Mautic

Marketing

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Sendy logo

Sendy

Email Marketing

Self-hosted newsletter app bought once for $69 that sends through your own Amazon SES account

From
$69/one-time
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.; Sendy free updates run only to the next major version, so the one-time purchase is really one purchase per major release and the long-term cost is not zero.
  • They diverge on capability: Mautic covers Visual campaign builder, Sendy covers One-time licence.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Mautic and Sendy actually diverge.

Attributes where Mautic and Sendy differ
AttributeMauticSendy
Starting priceFree$69/one-time
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeOne-time purchase
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Linux, Self-hosted, DockerWeb, Linux
CategoryMarketingEmail Marketing

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 Sendy

  • One-time licence
  • Amazon SES delivery
  • Multiple brands
  • Autoresponders
  • Segmentation
  • Bounce and complaint handling
  • Reporting
  • Client access

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

Sendy

  • A publisher with a large list sending frequently, where a hosted platform bills by subscriber count month after monthnot Mautic
  • An agency managing newsletters for several clients who each get their own brand and login under one licencenot Mautic
  • A business that must keep subscriber data on its own infrastructure for privacy or contractual reasonsnot Mautic
  • A developer wiring signups from a custom application into a mailing list without paying platform API feesnot 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.

Sendy

  • Free updates run only to the next major version, so the one-time purchase is really one purchase per major release and the long-term cost is not zero.
  • Deliverability becomes entirely your problem: SES gives you a raw sending pipe and no warm-up guidance, reputation dashboards or deliverability consultants when a campaign starts landing in spam.
  • Amazon SES requires production access approval and will suspend accounts on high bounce or complaint rates, which can take a list offline mid-campaign with little warning.
  • The template editor and design tooling are basic next to Mailchimp or Klaviyo, so anything visually ambitious means hand-written HTML email.
  • You own the server: PHP upgrades, database backups and patching are yours, and an unmaintained Sendy install holding a subscriber list is a data breach waiting to happen.

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

Sendy

$69/one-time
  • Sendy licence$69/one-time
    • One-time purchase, no subscription
    • Free updates only up to the next major version
    • Unlimited lists, subscribers and campaigns
  • AI Assistant bundle$39/one-time
    • Optional add-on, listed at a discount from $49
    • AI writing assistance inside the campaign editor
  • Installation service$79/one-time
    • Optional one-off setup by the vendor
    • For buyers who do not want to configure hosting and SES themselves

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 Sendy if

  • You need one-time licence.
  • You work on Web, Linux.
  • You also want amazon ses delivery.
Sendy review

Questions people ask

Is Mautic or Sendy better?
Neither clearly leads. Mautic starts at Free and Sendy at $69/one-time, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Mautic or Sendy?
Mautic has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Mautic and $69/one-time for Sendy.
Does Mautic or Sendy run on more platforms?
Mautic runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker. Sendy runs on Web, Linux.
Can I use Mautic for free?
Yes. Mautic has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Sendy starts at $69/one-time.
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 Sendy is typically brought in for.
What can Mautic do that Sendy cannot?
Mautic covers Visual campaign builder, Contact management and segmentation, Landing pages and forms, Lead scoring. Sendy covers One-time licence, Amazon SES delivery, Multiple brands, Autoresponders.

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.

Sendy: What does it actually cost to send?

The licence is $69 once. Delivery is Amazon SES at roughly $1 per 10,000 emails, plus your own hosting, so a 50,000-contact weekly newsletter costs a few dollars a month to send.

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.

Sendy: Are updates free forever?

No. Updates are free up to the next major version, for example within 7.x. Moving from 7.x to 8.x is a paid upgrade.

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.

Sendy: Do I need to know how to set up a server?

Standard PHP and MySQL hosting is enough and the vendor compares it to installing WordPress, but the SES side needs AWS configuration. An $79 installation service is offered if you would rather not.

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.

Sendy: What happens if Amazon suspends my SES account?

Your sending stops until you resolve it with AWS. There is no alternative delivery route built in, and this is the single biggest operational risk of the model.

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