Sendy vs Mautic: a thin SES wrapper or a full automation suite?

Sendy and Mautic are both PHP applications you host yourself, and that is the only thing they have in common. Sendy is a small bulk sender bolted to Amazon SES for about $69. Mautic is a free marketing automation suite with campaign graphs and lead scoring that needs someone to run it. If all you do is send a newsletter and the occasional welcome series, buy Sendy. If your program is built on journeys and someone owns the servers, run Mautic.

Quick answer

Pick Sendy if you are on Amazon SES, you send broadcasts and a signup autoresponder, and you want to be done in an afternoon. Pick Mautic if you need branching campaigns, lead scoring, or landing pages, and you have an ops person for PHP-FPM, MySQL, cron, and a queue. If you want sequences with branching but not a suite to operate, Broadcast is a $250 one-time license that sits in between.

Conflict of interest

We make Broadcast, a paid self-hosted alternative to both. We have run Sendy 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

Sendy Mautic
What it is Bulk sender built on Amazon SES Marketing automation suite
Language PHP on a LAMP stack PHP
License About $69 one-time, per installation GPL, free
Runs as Web server, PHP, MySQL Web server, PHP-FPM, MySQL, cron, Redis or a queue
Relay Amazon SES only Any SMTP relay or SES
Automation Timed autoresponders, no branching Campaign graphs with branching, lead scoring
Landing pages No Yes
Setup time An afternoon Often days of tuning
Upgrades Routine Major versions have historically needed care
Best for Small senders already on SES Marketing teams with an ops person

What each one is for

Sendy exists to make Amazon SES usable for marketing email. It handles bounce and complaint feedback from SES, which is the fiddly part of doing this yourself. It has autoresponders, meaning a timed series that fires after signup. It has been stable for about a decade and the interface looks it. It costs about $69 and the license is per installation.

Mautic is closer to ActiveCampaign than to a newsletter tool. It started in 2014, was sponsored by Acquia for years, and is now community-led under a foundation. Its campaign builder is a graph: a contact enters, waits, gets scored, branches on what they clicked, and moves on. It has landing pages, dynamic content, CRM integrations, and a large plugin ecosystem. It is the most capable open-source automation platform there is, and the heaviest to operate.

Setup and operations

Sendy is a PHP app, a MySQL database, and your SES credentials. Most people have it sending the same day. Upgrades are routine.

Mautic needs a web server, PHP-FPM, MySQL, a cron schedule for its segment and campaign jobs, and Redis or a queue for sending. It works when all of those are tuned together. First installs commonly take days to get reliable. 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 wants to own that, the comparison is over before you reach the feature list.

Automation

Sendy has autoresponders. A timed series after signup, the same for everyone on the list. No conditional branching, no behaviour triggers. For a welcome series that is often enough.

Mautic has the deepest automation 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 you are replacing HubSpot or ActiveCampaign, this is the free tool that has the same shape.

The gap between them has no middle. You either get a straight-line autoresponder or you get a full campaign graph and the stack that comes with it.

Sending and relay

Sendy is Amazon SES only. That is the design, not a setting. Switching relay means switching platforms. In exchange, the SES integration is tight around bounces and complaints.

Mautic sends through any SMTP relay or SES, and its speed depends on the queue. Configured well it is fine. Configured poorly, sends stall or duplicate, and the fix is in the ops layer rather than the product.

Deliverability is mostly the relay’s job. Put a good relay behind either and inbox placement will be about the same.

Cost

Who should pick what

Choose Sendy if: - You are on Amazon SES and plan to stay there. - Broadcasts and a signup autoresponder cover what you send. - You want it working today and one installation covers your business.

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

Consider Broadcast if: - You want conditional branching without running a suite. - You want a choice of relay: SES, Postmark, SendGrid, Resend, Mailgun, or plain SMTP. - A one-time $250 license with support beats either per-install fees or unpaid ops hours. Details on Broadcast vs Sendy and Broadcast vs Mautic.

Frequently asked

Is Sendy or Mautic easier to set up?

Sendy, by a wide margin. It is a PHP app and a MySQL database and it sends the same day. Mautic adds PHP-FPM, cron, and a queue, and first installs commonly take days to tune.

Is Mautic free and Sendy paid?

Yes. Mautic is GPL and free to license. Sendy is about $69 one-time per installation. Mautic’s cost is the server and the ops time instead.

Does Sendy have automation like Mautic?

Not close. Sendy has timed autoresponders after signup, the same sequence for everyone. Mautic has campaign graphs with conditional branching and lead scoring.

Can Mautic use Amazon SES like Sendy does?

Yes, and it can use any other SMTP relay too. Sendy is SES only, so switching relay means switching platforms.

Which is better for an agency running many clients?

Neither is comfortable. Sendy charges per installation, so twenty clients means twenty licenses. Mautic is free but multiplies the ops work per instance. Broadcast’s Extended License covers up to 25 servers for $1,000, which is the case both of these handle badly.

Can I move from Sendy to Mautic?

Contacts move as CSV. Sendy autoresponders do not transfer, so you rebuild them as Mautic campaigns. Moving to Broadcast works the same way: CSV import with tags and custom fields intact.

Branching without the suite

Broadcast is self-hosted like Sendy and Mautic, with drip sequences and conditional branching built in and any ESP you like behind them. One Docker image, 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