Mautic vs phpList
Both are alternatives to Mailchimp. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as phpList vs Mautic — same comparison, one verdict.
Mautic and phpList are closely matched on ownership (84 vs 82) — this one comes down to pricing and to which trade-offs below you can live with.
Mautic
Full open-source marketing automation platform.
Mautic is a mature open-source marketing-automation platform (PHP/Symfony) that goes well beyond newsletters, offering contact management, segmentation, visual campaign/journey builders, landing pages, forms, lead scoring, and multi-channel messaging. It is the closest open-source counterpart to Mailchimp's higher tiers for teams that need automation depth, and it sends through your chosen SMTP or transactional provider. It rewards organizations willing to run and maintain a more substantial application in exchange for owning their data and automation stack.
phpList
Long-standing open-source newsletter manager for large lists.
phpList is one of the longest-running open-source newsletter applications (PHP/MySQL), built specifically for sending campaigns to large subscriber lists. It supports list management, segmentation, templates, bounce handling, and detailed sending controls, and works with any SMTP provider. It suits organizations and nonprofits that want a proven, no-frills self-hosted newsletter system and don't mind an interface that feels more utilitarian than modern SaaS tools; a paid hosted version is also available from the phpList team.
Side by side
10 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.
| Mautic | phpList | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty ScoreOur transparent 0–100 composite for data ownership and exit cost. | 84 | 82 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first data | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Pricing | Free / self-host; optional paid managed hosting from third parties | Free / self-host; optional paid hosted plans from phpList |
| RAM to run it wellThe figure that actually matters, not the vendor's minimum. | 4 GB for a list in the low tens of thousands, 8 GB beyond that. One 4 GB server ran out of memory updating segments at about 50,000 contacts on Mautic 5. | 1–2 GB on a VPS for phpList with MySQL. A long-time phpList forum helper called a 2 GB VPS fine for slower sending, with more RAM needed as the database grows. |
| Realistic running costWhat the box costs each month if you run it yourself. | $12–48/mo on a 4–8 GB VPS, plus an email service: Amazon SES is $0.10 per 1,000 emails | $6–12/mo on a 1–2 GB VPS, plus an SMTP relay: Amazon SES is $0.10 per 1,000 emails |
| Setup timeHonest first-install estimate, not the marketing quickstart. | Half a day with Docker Compose; a weekend to get cron, the worker and the sending domain (SPF/DKIM) right | 1–2 hours on a LAMP host; longer to set up the bounce mailbox and SPF/DKIM for your relay |
| Ongoing maintenanceThe part nobody budgets for. | Watch the cron jobs and the email worker, prune tracking data, and plan major upgrades. Mautic 7 (January 2026) raised the minimum to PHP 8.2 and MySQL 8.4 or MariaDB 10.11, and removed in-browser updates. | Two cron jobs (the queue every 5 minutes, bounces daily), a dedicated bounce mailbox set in config.php, send-rate settings matched to your relay's limits, and upgrades by replacing files and running the database upgrade. |
Mautic edges it on the Sovereignty Score, but the right pick depends on the trade-offs below.
Weighing both against staying on Mailchimp? Is Mailchimp free? What it actually costs →
Mautic
Strengths
- +Closest open-source match to full marketing automation and customer journeys
- +Landing pages, forms, lead scoring, and multi-channel campaigns built in
- +Large, established community and plugin ecosystem
- +Self-hosted, so contacts and automation logic stay on your infrastructure
Trade-offs
- −Heavier PHP/Symfony stack with more moving parts to install and maintain
- −Steeper learning curve than a simple newsletter tool
- −Deliverability and an external sending provider are still your responsibility
- −Ongoing upkeep (updates, cron, queues) is more demanding than a single-binary app
phpList
Strengths
- +Mature, battle-tested project focused squarely on sending to large lists
- +Solid bounce handling and fine-grained sending/throttling controls
- +Runs on a common PHP/MySQL stack that most shared hosts support
- +Self-hosted with full ownership of subscriber data
Trade-offs
- −Interface and workflows feel dated compared with modern tools
- −Limited built-in automation and visual journey building
- −You manage deliverability, an SMTP path, and PHP/MySQL upkeep yourself
- −Smaller active contributor base than the largest projects in this space
Which one fits you
The trade-offs above, turned into a decision. Find the line that describes your team.
Choose Mautic
if a lower exit cost matters more to you than any single feature, and closest open-source match to full marketing automation and customer journeys.
Choose phpList
if mature, battle-tested project focused squarely on sending to large lists.
Neither, yet
if both carry a real cost you should weigh first — heavier PHP/Symfony stack with more moving parts to install and maintain, and interface and workflows feel dated compared with modern tools. If either of those is a dealbreaker for your team, the shortlist is wrong rather than the choice.
What it takes to run these yourself
Real requirements and honest running costs, not the vendor quickstart.
Self-hosting Mautic
4 GB for a list in the low tens of thousands, 8 GB beyond that. One 4 GB server ran out of memory updating segments at about 50,000 contacts on Mautic 5. RAM · Half a day with Docker Compose; a weekend to get cron, the worker and the sending domain (SPF/DKIM) right
$12–48/mo on a 4–8 GB VPS, plus an email service: Amazon SES is $0.10 per 1,000 emails
Self-hosting phpList
1–2 GB on a VPS for phpList with MySQL. A long-time phpList forum helper called a 2 GB VPS fine for slower sending, with more RAM needed as the database grows. RAM · 1–2 hours on a LAMP host; longer to set up the bounce mailbox and SPF/DKIM for your relay
$6–12/mo on a 1–2 GB VPS, plus an SMTP relay: Amazon SES is $0.10 per 1,000 emails
Mautic vs phpList — common questions
Is Mautic a better fit than phpList for email marketing & newsletters?
It depends on what you are optimising for, and the honest split is this: Mautic scores 84 to phpList's 82 on data ownership and exit cost, so it is the safer choice if you care about being able to leave. phpList earns its place on a different axis — mature, battle-tested project focused squarely on sending to large lists. Neither is a wrong answer for every team; the table above is the actual comparison.
What happens if we want to switch later?
Mautic keeps its data local or in open formats, so leaving is an export rather than a negotiation. phpList 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 Mautic or phpList?
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 Mautic and phpList both alternatives to Mailchimp?
Yes — both appear in our Mailchimp comparison, which is why they are worth putting side by side. People usually arrive here already having decided to move off Mailchimp and now choosing between the two replacements, which is a narrower and much easier question.
More Mailchimp head-to-heads
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Facts verified 2026-07-07. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.