Listmonk vs Mautic: which one should you self-host?

Listmonk and Mautic show up in the same search because both are free, open source, and run on your own server. Past that they solve different problems. Listmonk sends newsletters and manages lists, and it does almost nothing else. Mautic is a marketing automation suite with campaign graphs, lead scoring, and landing pages, and it needs someone to look after it. Picking between them is less about features and more about how much software you want to operate.

Quick answer

Pick Listmonk if you send a newsletter, want a single binary and a Postgres database, and do not need welcome series or triggered emails. Pick Mautic if you need multi-step automation, lead scoring, or landing pages, and you have someone who can run a PHP stack with MySQL, cron, and a queue. If you want sequences without running Mautic, Broadcast is a $250 one-time license that sits between the two: automations built in, one Docker image, support included.

Conflict of interest

We make Broadcast, a paid self-hosted alternative to both. We have run Listmonk and Mautic ourselves and this page tries to be fair to each. If something reads as unfair, tell us and we will fix it.

At a glance

Listmonk Mautic
What it is Newsletter and mailing list manager Marketing automation suite
Language Go PHP
License AGPL, free GPL, free
Runs as One binary plus Postgres Web server, PHP-FPM, MySQL, cron, Redis or a queue
Automation None built in Campaign builder with branching, lead scoring
Landing pages No Yes
Signup forms Basic embeddable form Full form builder
Setup time Under an hour Often days of tuning
Upgrades Routine Major versions have historically needed care
Best for Developers who send a newsletter Marketing teams with an ops person

What each one is for

Listmonk is a broadcast tool. You import a list, write a campaign, and send it through your SMTP relay or Amazon SES. It is written in Go, ships as a single binary, and uses Postgres. The maintainer releases steadily and the API is clean. That is the whole product, on purpose. There are no drip sequences, no triggered emails, and no branching. If you need a welcome series, you write it against the API and run it from cron.

Mautic is closer to ActiveCampaign than to a newsletter tool. It started in 2014, was sponsored by Acquia for years, and is now run by a community foundation. The campaign builder is a graph: a contact enters, waits, gets scored, branches on what they clicked, and moves to the next step. It has landing pages, dynamic content, and CRM plugins. It is the most capable open-source automation platform there is. It is also the heaviest thing on this page to run.

Setup and operations

This is the axis that decides most Listmonk vs Mautic questions.

Listmonk needs a server, a Postgres database, and one config file. Most people have it sending within an hour. Upgrades mean replacing the binary and running a migration.

Mautic needs a web server, PHP-FPM, MySQL, a cron schedule for its segment and campaign jobs, and a queue for sending. It works when all of those are tuned together. First-time installs commonly take days to get reliable, and deliverability problems on Mautic usually trace back to how the queue was wired rather than to the relay. Major version upgrades have a history of needing a maintenance window and a rollback plan.

If nobody on your team wants to own a PHP stack, that alone answers the question.

Automation

Listmonk has none. That is not a gap the project is rushing to fill. It is a list manager and it sends to lists.

Mautic has the deepest automation builder in open source. Multi-step campaigns, conditional branches on opens and clicks, lead scoring that moves contacts between segments, and triggers from form submissions or API events. If your program is built on journeys rather than broadcasts, Mautic is the only free option that does this properly.

The middle case is the common one: you want a welcome series and a couple of triggered emails, and you do not want a suite. Neither tool is a great fit for that. Listmonk makes you build it. Mautic makes you run a lot of software for three sequences.

Sending and deliverability

Both send through a relay you supply. Amazon SES, Postmark, Mailgun, SendGrid, or any SMTP server. Deliverability is mostly the relay’s job, so put a good relay behind either one and inbox placement will be about the same.

Listmonk is very fast. It can push high volume from a small server without complaint.

Mautic’s sending depends on the queue configuration. Set up well, it is fine. Set up poorly, sends stall or duplicate, and the fix is in the ops layer rather than the product.

Cost

Both are free to license. The real cost is your server and your time.

Who should pick what

Choose Listmonk if: - You send a newsletter and that is the whole job. - You are comfortable in a terminal and want the smallest possible footprint. - You would rather write a cron job than learn a campaign builder.

Choose Mautic if: - You need multi-step campaigns, lead scoring, or landing pages. - Someone on the team can own PHP, MySQL, and a queue. - You are replacing ActiveCampaign or HubSpot and need the same shape of tool.

Consider Broadcast if: - You want welcome series and triggered sequences without running Mautic. - You want a single Docker image, an installer, and someone to email when a send goes wrong. - A one-time $250 license is easier to justify than the engineering hours to extend Listmonk. Details on Broadcast vs Listmonk and Broadcast vs Mautic.

Frequently asked

Is Listmonk or Mautic easier to set up?

Listmonk, by a wide margin. It is one binary and a Postgres database. Mautic needs a full PHP stack plus cron and a queue, and usually takes days to tune.

Does Listmonk have automation like Mautic?

No. Listmonk has no drip sequences, triggered emails, or branching. You can build those against its API but you maintain the code. Mautic has a full campaign builder.

Can Mautic do everything Listmonk does?

Yes, Mautic can send broadcasts to lists. It is a lot of software to run for that one job. If broadcasts are all you need, Listmonk is the better fit.

Which is faster at sending?

Listmonk. It is built in Go around a small footprint and sustains high throughput on modest hardware. Mautic’s speed depends on how its queue is configured.

Can I move from Listmonk to Mautic, or the other way?

Contacts move as CSV in either direction. Mautic campaigns do not transfer to Listmonk because Listmonk has nowhere to put them. Moving to Broadcast works the same way: CSV import with tags and custom fields intact.

Is there a middle option between Listmonk and Mautic?

Keila is a free open-source newsletter tool with a more polished UI than Listmonk, though automations are still on its roadmap. Broadcast is a paid one-time license with sequences and support included. See Listmonk alternatives and Mautic alternatives.

Sequences without the suite

Broadcast is self-hosted like Listmonk and Mautic, with drip sequences and conditional branching built in. One Docker image, your own ESP, a $250 one-time license, and email support when you need it.

How Broadcast works Try the live demo

Still deciding?

Comparisons cover the tradeoffs. How To covers whether Broadcast does the specific thing you need, organized by what you are trying to accomplish rather than by feature name. If the answer is no, it says no.

Browse How To Segment subscribers Branch a sequence Bring an existing list