Marketing · head to head
Mautic vs Tally
Mautic
Marketing
The main open source marketing automation platform, self-hosted and GPL licensed
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Tally
Surveys
Form builder with unlimited forms and responses on the free plan, edited like a text document
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
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.; Tally built-in analysis is limited to basic summaries, so any real analysis means exporting responses to a spreadsheet or database.
- They diverge on capability: Mautic covers Visual campaign builder, Tally covers Document-style editor.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Mautic and Tally actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), 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 Tally
- Document-style editor
- Unlimited free responses
- Conditional logic and calculations
- Payment collection
- Notion and Airtable sync
- Custom domains
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 Tally
- A European university or public body whose data protection position requires contact data to stay on infrastructure it controlsnot Tally
- A company with a list of several hundred thousand contacts where SaaS per-contact pricing has become the largest line in the marketing budgetnot Tally
- A team that needs to modify the automation logic itself, not just configure it, and wants source access to do sonot Tally
Tally
- A startup collecting waitlist or beta signups that will grow well past a free response cap elsewherenot Mautic
- A small team that wants form submissions landing directly in Notion or Airtablenot Mautic
- A charity or community group running a public consultation with no software budgetnot Mautic
- A quick internal request or intake form that needs to exist within the hournot 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.
Tally
- Built-in analysis is limited to basic summaries, so any real analysis means exporting responses to a spreadsheet or database.
- There is no offline data collection, which rules it out for field research or events without reliable connectivity.
- The company is very small and bootstrapped, so support is email and documentation with no account management, and some procurement processes will reject that.
- Advanced research features such as quotas, randomisation and panel integration are absent, so it is a form builder rather than a research instrument.
- Design control is deliberately narrow, so brands that need pixel-level form styling will find the theming options constraining even on the paid tier.
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
Tally
Free- FreeFree
- Unlimited forms, questions and responses
- Conditional logic, calculations and file uploads
- Integrations including Notion, Google Sheets and webhooks
- Tally Pro$29/month
- Remove Tally branding
- Custom domains and form redirects
- Team workspaces and collaboration
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.
Choose Tally if
- You need document-style editor.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want unlimited free responses.
Questions people ask
- Is Mautic or Tally better?
- Neither clearly leads. Mautic starts at Free and Tally at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Mautic or Tally?
- Mautic starts at Free and Tally at Free.
- Does Mautic or Tally run on more platforms?
- Mautic runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker. Tally runs on Web.
- 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 Tally is typically brought in for.
- What can Mautic do that Tally cannot?
- Mautic covers Visual campaign builder, Contact management and segmentation, Landing pages and forms, Lead scoring. Tally covers Document-style editor, Unlimited free responses, Conditional logic and calculations, Payment collection.
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.
Tally: Is the free plan really unlimited?
Yes for forms, questions and responses. The paid tier sells branding removal, custom domains and team features rather than volume.
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.
Tally: Is Tally suitable for research surveys?
Only simple ones. It has logic and calculations but no quotas, randomisation or panel management.
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.
Tally: Is it GDPR compliant?
Tally is a European company operating under GDPR, and buyers with strict requirements should request the data processing agreement before rollout.
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.
Related pages
Other head to heads
- Mautic vs Umami
- Mautic vs Countly
- Mautic vs Matomo
- Mautic vs Zoho Marketing Automation
- Mautic vs Bloomreach
- Mautic vs WebEngage
- Mautic vs Plausible
- Mautic vs Netcore Cloud
- Mautic vs Freshpaint
- Mautic vs Swydo
- Mautic vs Wrike
- Mautic vs Iterable
- Mautic vs Instapage
- Mautic vs Invoca
- Mautic vs June
- Mautic vs Kissmetrics
- Mautic vs Leadpages
- Mautic vs Lucky Orange
- Mautic vs Fillout
- Mautic vs Google Forms
- Mautic vs Paperform
- Mautic vs Jotform
- Mautic vs Cognito Forms
- Mautic vs Microsoft Forms
- Mautic vs Formstack
- Mautic vs SurveyLegend
- Mautic vs Alchemer
- Mautic vs LimeSurvey
- Mautic vs SurveyCTO
- Mautic vs Zonka Feedback
- Mautic vs Sogolytics
- Mautic vs Wufoo
- Mautic vs Zoho Survey
- Tally vs Umami
- Tally vs Countly
- Tally vs Matomo
- Tally vs Zoho Marketing Automation
- Tally vs Bloomreach
- Tally vs WebEngage
- Tally vs Plausible
- Tally vs Netcore Cloud
- Tally vs Freshpaint
- Tally vs Swydo
- Tally vs Wrike
- Tally vs Iterable
- Tally vs Instapage
- Tally vs Invoca
- Tally vs June
- Tally vs Kissmetrics
- Tally vs Leadpages
- Tally vs Lucky Orange
- Tally vs Fillout
- Tally vs Google Forms
- Tally vs Paperform
- Tally vs Jotform
- Tally vs Cognito Forms
- Tally vs Microsoft Forms
- Tally vs Formstack
- Tally vs SurveyLegend
- Tally vs Alchemer
- Tally vs LimeSurvey
- Tally vs SurveyCTO
- Tally vs Zonka Feedback
- Tally vs Sogolytics
- Tally vs Wufoo
- Tally vs Zoho Survey