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How we rank & score
Head-to-head · CRM

EspoCRM vs Mautic

Both are alternatives to HubSpot. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.

Also searched as Mautic vs EspoCRM — same comparison, one verdict.

The short answer

EspoCRM and Mautic are closely matched on ownership (90 vs 86) — this one comes down to pricing and to which trade-offs below you can live with.

90

EspoCRM

TOP PICK

Mature open-source CRM with the workflow depth teams actually leave HubSpot for.

OPEN SOURCEGPL-3.0SELF-HOSTLOCAL-FIRST

A long-established self-hostable CRM covering contacts, deals, activities, a customer portal, email integration and — critically — a workflow and BPM engine. It is the option closest to feature parity with a paid HubSpot Hub, which is what makes it the pick rather than the newest one.

86

Mautic

Open-source marketing automation — the Marketing Hub half, not the CRM half.

OPEN SOURCEGPL-3.0SELF-HOSTLOCAL-FIRST

Campaign builders, drip sequences, lead scoring, landing pages and segmentation, self-hosted. Pair it with a CRM rather than treating it as one: it replaces what Marketing Hub does, which is usually the expensive half of a HubSpot bill.

Side by side

6 points of comparison, every one read from a verified field. Green marks the side that wins a row outright. A dash means we do not hold that fact — never that it is zero.

 EspoCRMMautic
Sovereignty ScoreOur transparent 0–100 composite for data ownership and exit cost.9086
Open sourceYesYes
Self-hostableYesYes
Local-first dataYesYes
LicenseGPL-3.0GPL-3.0
PricingFree / self-host (GPL core); paid Advanced Pack and cloud hosting optionalFree / self-host (you pay your server and an SMTP sender)
The verdict

EspoCRM is Macrostack's recommended HubSpot alternative, so it's our pick here.

EspoCRM

Strengths

  • +Workflow and BPM engine in the core — the feature that usually forces the HubSpot tier upgrade
  • +Mature and stable, with a long release history rather than a promising roadmap
  • +Runs on ordinary PHP and MySQL hosting, so it needs no specialist infrastructure

Trade-offs

  • The interface is functional rather than pleasant, and it shows its age next to HubSpot
  • Marketing automation is thinner — pair it with Mautic if that half matters
  • Some capabilities sit in paid extension packs rather than the free core

Mautic

Strengths

  • +Directly replaces the contact-metered part of the bill, which is where HubSpot costs escalate
  • +Campaign and lead-scoring depth that genuinely competes with paid marketing tools
  • +Integrates with EspoCRM and most open CRMs rather than demanding to be the system of record

Trade-offs

  • You inherit email deliverability — sending reputation, SPF, DKIM, DMARC and bounce handling
  • Setup and upgrades are more involved than a CRM alone
  • Not a CRM: run it alongside one, never instead of one

Which one fits you

The trade-offs above, turned into a decision. Find the line that describes your team.

Choose EspoCRM

if a lower exit cost matters more to you than any single feature, and workflow and BPM engine in the core — the feature that usually forces the HubSpot tier upgrade.

Choose Mautic

if directly replaces the contact-metered part of the bill, which is where HubSpot costs escalate.

Neither, yet

if both carry a real cost you should weigh first — the interface is functional rather than pleasant, and it shows its age next to HubSpot, and you inherit email deliverability — sending reputation, SPF, DKIM, DMARC and bounce handling. If either of those is a dealbreaker for your team, the shortlist is wrong rather than the choice.

EspoCRM vs Mautic — common questions

Is EspoCRM a better fit than Mautic for crm?

It depends on what you are optimising for, and the honest split is this: EspoCRM scores 90 to Mautic's 86 on data ownership and exit cost, so it is the safer choice if you care about being able to leave. Mautic earns its place on a different axis — directly replaces the contact-metered part of the bill, which is where HubSpot costs escalate. Neither is a wrong answer for every team; the table above is the actual comparison.

What happens if we want to switch later?

EspoCRM keeps its data local or in open formats, so leaving is an export rather than a negotiation. Mautic is still self-hostable, so the files stay on your server either way — but it is not local-first by design, so check what its export produces before you rely on it.

Can I self-host EspoCRM or Mautic?

Both can be self-hosted. The difference is what it costs you in time rather than whether it is possible — see the setup and maintenance rows above.

Are EspoCRM and Mautic both alternatives to HubSpot?

Yes — both appear in our HubSpot comparison, which is why they are worth putting side by side. People usually arrive here already having decided to move off HubSpot and now choosing between the two replacements, which is a narrower and much easier question.

See all 5 HubSpot alternatives →

More crm comparisons

Related alternative guides

Facts verified 2026-09-01. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.

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