Softwr

Marketing · head to head

Mautic vs Triple Whale

Mautic logo

Mautic

Marketing

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Triple Whale logo

Triple Whale

Marketing

The operating system for e-commerce

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.; Triple Whale shopify-first focus limits functionality for multi-platform ecommerce operations beyond Shopify ecosystem
  • They diverge on capability: Mautic covers Visual campaign builder, Triple Whale covers First-party attribution.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Mautic and Triple Whale actually diverge.

Attributes where Mautic and Triple Whale differ
AttributeMauticTriple Whale
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeUnknown
PlatformsWeb, Linux, Self-hosted, DockerWeb
FoundedUnknown2021

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Marketing).

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 Triple Whale

  • First-party attribution
  • Real-time dashboard
  • Creative analytics
  • Sonar AI assistant
  • Pixel tracking
  • Profit tracking
  • Cohort analysis
  • Benchmarking

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

Triple Whale

  • Marketing analyticsnot Mautic
  • Attribution trackingnot Mautic
  • Profit optimizationnot Mautic
  • Creative testingnot 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.

Triple Whale

  • Shopify-first focus limits functionality for multi-platform ecommerce operations beyond Shopify ecosystem
  • Creative analytics and advanced features sold as add-ons beyond base plan pricing
  • GMV-based pricing for larger brands creates unpredictable costs at scale

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

Triple Whale

Free
  • Founders DashboardFree
    • Basic analytics
    • Dashboard access
  • Starter$179/month
    • Multi-touch attribution
    • Sonar Send
    • Analytics dashboard
  • Advanced$259/month
    • All Starter features
    • Advanced analytics
    • Add-ons available

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 Triple Whale if

  • You need first-party attribution.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want real-time dashboard.

Questions people ask

Is Mautic or Triple Whale better?
Neither clearly leads. Mautic starts at Free and Triple Whale at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Mautic or Triple Whale?
Mautic starts at Free and Triple Whale at Free.
Does Mautic or Triple Whale run on more platforms?
Mautic runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker. Triple Whale 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 Triple Whale is typically brought in for.
What can Mautic do that Triple Whale cannot?
Mautic covers Visual campaign builder, Contact management and segmentation, Landing pages and forms, Lead scoring. Triple Whale covers First-party attribution, Real-time dashboard, Creative analytics, Sonar AI assistant.

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.

Triple Whale: What is Triple Whale's pricing structure?

Triple Whale offers a free Founders Dashboard, Starter plan at $179/month, Advanced plan at $259/month, and Custom plans starting at $539/month. Brands above $5M GMV use GMV-based pricing, with brands at $10M-$15M GMV paying approximately $1,849/month.

Source
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.

Triple Whale: Does Triple Whale integrate with Shopify?

Yes. Triple Whale is a Shopify-focused analytics platform that natively integrates with Shopify stores and connects to Meta, Google, and TikTok for multi-touch attribution.

Source
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.

Triple Whale: What AI features does Triple Whale offer?

Triple Whale includes Moby Actions for automated operations like pausing underperforming ad sets and sending segments to Klaviyo, plus Compass with MMM, incrementality testing, and AI agent suite capabilities.

Source
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.

Triple Whale: Is there a free plan?

Yes. Triple Whale offers a free Founders Dashboard for basic analytics access, but advanced features and full attribution require paid plans.

Source
Share

Related pages

Other head to heads