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Marketing · head to head

Mautic vs Zoho Survey

Mautic logo

Mautic

Marketing

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

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Zoho Survey logo

Zoho Survey

Surveys

Survey tool with a choice of data centre region, bundled into the wider Zoho suite

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

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.; Zoho Survey the data centre region is set when the Zoho account is created and changing it later requires a vendor-assisted migration, so a hasty signup can lock an organisation into the wrong jurisdiction.
  • They diverge on capability: Mautic covers Visual campaign builder, Zoho Survey covers Regional data centres.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Mautic and Zoho Survey actually diverge.

Attributes where Mautic and Zoho Survey differ
AttributeMauticZoho Survey
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeFree tier, then per user per month
PlatformsWeb, Linux, Self-hosted, DockerWeb, iOS, Android
CategoryMarketingSurveys

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 Zoho Survey

  • Regional data centres
  • Zoho CRM integration
  • Logic and piping
  • Offline collection
  • Multilingual surveys
  • Report sharing

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

Zoho Survey

  • An organisation already running Zoho CRM that wants survey responses on the customer record without integration worknot Mautic
  • A buyer whose procurement requires European, Indian, Australian or Canadian data residencynot Mautic
  • A support team measuring satisfaction after tickets close in Zoho Desknot Mautic
  • A field team collecting responses offline and syncing when connectivity returnsnot 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.

Zoho Survey

  • The data centre region is set when the Zoho account is created and changing it later requires a vendor-assisted migration, so a hasty signup can lock an organisation into the wrong jurisdiction.
  • The free tier caps both questions and responses per survey tightly, so it functions as an evaluation rather than a plan any team can run on.
  • Reporting and statistical analysis are thin compared with research-grade tools, and advanced methods such as conjoint or maximum difference scaling are absent.
  • Integrations outside the Zoho suite are shallow, so organisations on Salesforce, HubSpot or Microsoft stacks lose most of the value that makes the product attractive.
  • Interface conventions and quality vary across Zoho applications, so users moving between Survey, CRM and Analytics face inconsistent behaviour and separate learning curves.

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

Zoho Survey

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Unlimited surveys with a cap on questions and responses per survey
    • Basic reporting and link or email distribution
    • Zoho branding on surveys
  • Paid tiers$undefined/year
    • Priced per user with higher response allowances at each tier
    • Skip logic, piping, white labelling and offline collection unlocked by tier
    • Included for organisations licensing the Zoho One suite

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 Zoho Survey if

  • You need regional data centres.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want zoho crm integration.
Zoho Survey review

Questions people ask

Is Mautic or Zoho Survey better?
Neither clearly leads. Mautic starts at Free and Zoho Survey at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Mautic or Zoho Survey?
Mautic starts at Free and Zoho Survey at Free.
Does Mautic or Zoho Survey run on more platforms?
Mautic runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker. Zoho Survey runs on Web, iOS, Android.
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 Zoho Survey is typically brought in for.
What can Mautic do that Zoho Survey cannot?
Mautic covers Visual campaign builder, Contact management and segmentation, Landing pages and forms, Lead scoring. Zoho Survey covers Regional data centres, Zoho CRM integration, Logic and piping, Offline 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.

Zoho Survey: Can I choose where my survey data is stored?

Yes, at account creation across several regions including Europe, India, Australia and Canada. Changing it afterwards requires a migration request to Zoho.

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.

Zoho Survey: Is it included in Zoho One?

Yes. If your organisation licences Zoho One, Survey is part of the suite, which usually removes the case for a separate survey subscription.

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.

Zoho Survey: Is it good enough for market research?

For basic questionnaires yes. For quota-managed or statistically demanding studies, a research-grade platform is a better fit.

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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