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AcelleMail vs Mautic

AcelleMail vs Mautic — self-hosted email marketing, two architectures

Side-by-side comparison of AcelleMail (one-time $74 license, plugin SDK, multi-tenant SaaS layer) and Mautic (GPLv3, marketing-automation platform). Pricing, system requirements, sending drivers, automation, integrations, and a step-by-step migration guide.

At a glance AcelleMail Mautic
License model Commercial license — $74 Regular / $199 Extended on CodeCanyon. Full PHP source included; modifications stay private. GPLv3 (free software, per the LICENSE.txt file in the github.com/mautic/mautic repository).
Hosting Self-hosted on Linux + PHP 8.1+ + MySQL/MariaDB. ~512 MB RAM minimum. Self-hosted on PHP + MySQL/MariaDB, OR the paid "Mautic Hosting" managed service (mautic.org lists a 14-day free trial).
Stack PHP 8.1+ (Laravel-based), MySQL ≥ 5.7 / MariaDB ≥ 10.3, optional Redis cache. PHP 7.2+ (Mautic 3.0) up to PHP 8.4 (Mautic 7.0), MySQL ≥ 5.7 or MariaDB ≥ 10.2; required PHP extensions xml, mysql, imap, zip, intl, curl, gd, mbstring, bcmath; npm required from Mautic 5.0 onwards (per mautic.org/mautic-requirements).
Sending integrations 8 built-in drivers — Amazon SES, SendGrid, SparkPost, Mailgun, Elastic Email, Blastengine, Gmail relay, generic SMTP — plus plugin SDK for additional vendors. Mailer transports include SMTP, Amazon SES, Sendgrid, Mailgun, and others via Symfony Mailer / Mautic's transport configuration. Additional providers via community plugins.
Automation builder Visual workflow builder (Automation2) with trigger / wait / condition / send / segment-update nodes. Included on every license. Visual campaign builder with action / decision / condition / source nodes; one of Mautic's primary product surfaces.
Multi-tenancy / SaaS Extended License ($199) ships a multi-tenant layer — customer accounts, plans, 6 payment gateways, dunning, white-label. Single-instance install. Multi-tenant deployments require running multiple instances; not bundled in core.
Plugin SDK 4-pattern Hook system (REGISTRY, EVENT, FILTER, BEHAVIOR). Plugins live under storage/app/plugins/. See Plugin SDK. Symfony bundle-based plugin system; community plugins distributed via Mautic's extension docs and third-party marketplaces.
Feature parity

Feature-by-feature comparison

Roughly 30 attributes grouped into 7 categories, drawn from AcelleMail v4.2 and Mailchimp’s public feature documentation. Every ✓ can be verified against the cited source.

Email creation

Feature AcelleMail Mautic Notes
Drag-and-drop email builder ✓ ✓ Both ship visual block editors with mobile preview.
100+ pre-built templates ✓ ◐ AcelleMail bundles a starter template gallery. Mautic ships a default template library; additional themes via community marketplaces.
Full HTML editor ✓ ✓ Both let you edit raw HTML/CSS for emails.
Spintax / dynamic content ✓ ✓ AcelleMail includes spintax + per-subscriber merge fields. Mautic supports dynamic content blocks based on contact attributes.
A/B testing ✓ ✓ Both support subject-line and content split tests.
Multi-language campaigns ✓ ✓ Both support contact language attributes and translated email variants.

Lists & segmentation

Feature AcelleMail Mautic Notes
Unlimited contacts ✓ ✓ Both tools impose no software-side cap. Mautic's homepage advertises "Unlimited contacts" verbatim.
Multiple segments / lists ✓ ✓ Both support unlimited lists and dynamic segments.
Advanced segmentation (any-condition) ✓ ✓ Both provide visual segment builders over contact fields, behavior, tags, and date logic.
Tags ✓ ✓ Both support tag-style contact labeling.
Embeddable signup forms ✓ ✓ Both generate embeddable signup forms.
Double opt-in ✓ ✓ Both include double opt-in flows.
Bulk import (CSV) ✓ ✓ Both support CSV mass import. AcelleMail also supports XLSX and direct DB seed.

Automation

Feature AcelleMail Mautic Notes
Trigger-based workflows ✓ ✓ Both ship trigger-event automation models.
Visual multi-step campaign builder ✓ ✓ Both ship visual multi-step builders. Mautic's campaign builder is one of its primary product surfaces; AcelleMail uses Automation2 for the same role.
Lead scoring ✗ ✓ Mautic includes contact point scoring as a core feature. AcelleMail does not include lead scoring in core; comparable behavior can be implemented via plugin or external scoring service.
Landing pages ✗ ✓ Mautic's homepage advertises a "page builder (drag-and-drop)" for landing pages. AcelleMail focuses on email + signup forms; landing pages are typically built on a separate CMS.
RSS-to-email ✓ ◐ AcelleMail can pull RSS feeds into scheduled campaigns. Mautic supports RSS-driven content via its segment + campaign engine.
Behavioral triggers (clicks/opens/page views) ◐ ✓ AcelleMail triggers on engagement events (open, click). Mautic triggers on email events plus tracked page views via its on-page tracking script.

Deliverability

Feature AcelleMail Mautic Notes
SPF / DKIM / DMARC tooling ✓ ◐ AcelleMail surfaces SPF/DKIM/DMARC record generation in the sending-server config. Mautic relies on the configured mail transport for DKIM signing.
Custom sending domain (return path) ✓ ◐ AcelleMail supports custom return-path on every license. Mautic inherits return-path from the configured Symfony Mailer transport.
Multiple sending services ✓ ✓ Both support multiple transports. AcelleMail ships 8 native drivers; Mautic uses Symfony Mailer transports (SMTP, SES, SendGrid, Mailgun) plus community plugins.
IP warmup configuration ✓ ◐ AcelleMail supports daily/hourly send caps per sending server. Mautic supports email throttling at the campaign level.
Click maps + spam scoring ✓ ◐ AcelleMail provides click heatmaps and SpamAssassin-style scoring on each campaign. Mautic provides email reports + click counts; SpamAssassin scoring is not in core.
Bounce / complaint webhook ingestion ✓ ✓ Both ingest bounce events. AcelleMail has webhook handlers for SES/SendGrid/Mailgun (see app/SendingServers/Webhooks/). Mautic ingests bounces via its monitored mailbox feature plus webhook plugins for major transports.

Integrations

Feature AcelleMail Mautic Notes
REST API ✓ ✓ AcelleMail's REST API is documented at /api. Mautic ships an extensive REST API documented at developer.mautic.org.
Webhooks ✓ ✓ Both emit outbound event webhooks for the standard subscriber/campaign events.
WordPress / WooCommerce sync ✓ ◐ AcelleMail provides an official WordPress / WooCommerce plugin. Mautic integrations with WordPress are available via community plugins.
Zapier / Make / n8n ✓ ✓ Both are reachable from Zapier / Make / n8n via REST API; Mautic has first-party listings on multiple automation platforms.
CRM integrations (Salesforce/HubSpot) ◐ ✓ Mautic ships native plugins for several CRM platforms via its Symfony bundle architecture. AcelleMail integrates with CRMs via REST API or webhooks.
Custom plugin SDK ✓ ✓ AcelleMail ships a four-pattern Hook system (REGISTRY, EVENT, FILTER, BEHAVIOR) — see Plugin SDK. Mautic uses a Symfony bundle-based plugin system.

SaaS / multi-tenancy

Feature AcelleMail Mautic Notes
Multi-tenant workspaces ✓ ✗ AcelleMail Extended ($199) ships a reseller layer with customer accounts, plans, and billing. Mautic is delivered as a single-tenant install; multi-tenant operation typically requires running multiple instances.
Subscription plans + payment gateways ✓ ✗ AcelleMail bundles 6 payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, Razorpay, Paystack, Offline) for resellers. Mautic does not include billing or subscription primitives in core.
White-label / remove vendor branding ✓ ◐ AcelleMail Extended removes branding for reseller use. Mautic's "Mautic" trademark is held by the Mautic project of the Open Source Collective; the admin UI is brandable via theme overrides.
Reseller billing / dunning ✓ ✗ AcelleMail's Cashier package covers subscriptions, prorated upgrades, and dunning. Mautic does not provide subscription billing in core.

Operations

Feature AcelleMail Mautic Notes
PHP version supported ✓ ✓ AcelleMail requires PHP 8.1+. Mautic supports PHP 7.2+ (Mautic 3.0) up to PHP 8.4 (Mautic 7.0) per mautic.org/mautic-requirements.
Database — relational ✓ ✓ Both run on MySQL/MariaDB. Mautic minimum is MySQL 5.7 / MariaDB 10.2; AcelleMail recommends MySQL 5.7+ / MariaDB 10.3+.
Cron / background workers ✓ ✓ Both rely on system cron entries to run scheduled jobs and campaign workers.
Required PHP extensions ◐ ◐ AcelleMail requires the standard Laravel set (mbstring, openssl, pdo, tokenizer, xml, ctype, json, bcmath). Mautic requires xml, mysql, imap, zip, intl, curl, gd, mbstring, bcmath plus npm from 5.0 onwards.
Localization (UI translations) ✓ ✓ AcelleMail ships 18 locales out of the box. Mautic supports an extensive translation layer maintained by its community.

Cost & ownership

Feature AcelleMail Mautic Notes
License cost ◐ ✓ AcelleMail Regular is $74 one-time; Extended is $199 (commercial, includes lifetime point/minor updates + 6 months support). Mautic Community is GPLv3 — free of license fee.
Managed hosting from the project ✗ ✓ AcelleMail does not offer first-party hosting. mautic.org lists a paid "Mautic Hosting" managed service with a 14-day free trial.
Lifetime updates ✓ ✓ AcelleMail license includes lifetime point + minor releases. Mautic Community releases publicly on GitHub; users pull updates.
Data export ownership ✓ ✓ Both run on a database you control — full SQL access, CSV export, and REST API.
Source code visibility ✓ ✓ AcelleMail ships full unencrypted PHP source under a CodeCanyon Regular/Extended license. Mautic Community source is on GitHub under GPLv3.
Total cost of ownership

3-year cost across three real scenarios

Both AcelleMail and Mautic are self-hosted PHP applications, so running cost is dominated by VPS + sending service rather than license. AcelleMail figures use the verifiable $74 license + small VPS + Amazon SES at $0.10 per 1,000 emails. Mautic Community figures use the same VPS / sending budget without a license cost. Mautic Hosting (the paid managed service) is priced separately at mautic.org and is not included in these numbers.

Small business — 1,000 contacts, 4× sends/month

Mautic — Mautic Community (GPLv3) + small VPS + SMTP $5–10/mo VPS + $0.40/mo SES (4,000 sends × $0.0001)
$0 license + $180–360 VPS + $14 SES = $194–374 total
AcelleMail — AcelleMail Regular License + small VPS + SES $5/mo VPS + $0.40/mo SES (4,000 sends × $0.0001)
$74 license + $180 VPS + $14 SES = $268 total

Running costs are similar. Mautic's required PHP extensions (imap, intl, gd, etc.) and npm dependency from Mautic 5.0+ may push toward a slightly larger VPS at this volume.

Growing newsletter — 10,000 contacts, 80,000 sends/month

Mautic — Mautic Community + $10–20 VPS + SES $10–20/mo VPS + $8/mo SES (80,000 × $0.0001)
$0 license + $360–720 VPS + $288 SES = $648–1,008 total
AcelleMail — AcelleMail Regular License + $10 VPS + SES $10/mo VPS + $8/mo SES (80,000 × $0.0001)
$74 license + $360 VPS + $288 SES = $722 total

Operating cost is comparable. The $74 license is the main software-side delta; choice between the two is feature breadth (Mautic ships lead scoring + landing pages; AcelleMail ships multi-tenant SaaS layer in Extended).

Agency / SaaS — 50,000 contacts, 400,000 sends/month, 50 client tenants

Mautic — Mautic Community + $20+ VPS + SES, 50 instances OR custom multi-tenant build Single instance: $20+ VPS + $40 SES = $60+. Multi-tenant requires either separate Mautic instances (50 × $5–10 VPS + ops overhead) or a custom routing layer.
50 instances ≈ $0 license + $9,000+ VPS + $1,440 SES = $10,440+ total (plus ops time per tenant).
AcelleMail — AcelleMail Extended License ($199) + $20 VPS + SES (multi-tenant on a single instance) $20/mo VPS + $40/mo SES (400,000 × $0.0001) — covers all 50 tenants on one install.
$199 license + $720 VPS + $1,440 SES = $2,359 total

AcelleMail Extended ships a multi-tenant SaaS layer (customer accounts, plans, 6 payment gateways, dunning) in core. Mautic Community is single-tenant; multi-tenant deployments typically run multiple instances.

Migration playbook

Mautic → AcelleMail in seven steps

Most teams cut over inside a week. The technical setup is half a day; the time-consuming step is rebuilding multi-step automations and templates.

  1. 1. Export from Mautic

    Mautic's admin UI exports contacts via Contacts → Export as CSV (filtered by segment). The full data set including custom fields and tags is reachable via Mautic's REST API at GET /api/contacts. Email content can be retrieved per-asset via GET /api/emails. Campaign / segment definitions can be inspected via the API for migration planning.

  2. 2. Get AcelleMail

    Buy the Regular License — $74 on CodeCanyon. Download the ZIP, upload to your server, run the web installer (5 minutes — sets DB, admin user, cron). PHP 8.1+, MySQL ≥ 5.7 or MariaDB ≥ 10.3, ~512 MB RAM minimum. The installation guide walks through cPanel, DigitalOcean, AWS, and Docker.

  3. 3. Configure your sending service

    In Sending Servers → Add, pick Amazon SES (recommended — cheapest), SendGrid, Mailgun, SparkPost, Postmark, Elastic Email, or any SMTP. Paste your API key. AcelleMail handles SPF/DKIM record generation and DKIM signing. Run the test-send to confirm. The 8 built-in drivers live in app/SendingServers/Drivers/Vendors/; additional vendors via the plugin SDK.

  4. 4. Import contacts + custom fields

    In Lists → Create List, recreate the custom-field schema from your Mautic install (Mautic custom fields map to AcelleMail subscriber custom fields one-to-one). Use Import → Upload CSV and map columns. Tags map directly. Preserve consent timestamps as a custom date field. For lists over 100k, use the chunked import or seed via the REST API.

  5. 5. Recreate emails, segments, and campaigns

    For email content, paste your Mautic HTML into AcelleMail's template editor. Token syntax differs: Mautic uses {contactfield=firstname}; AcelleMail uses {{ subscriber.first_name }} Twig-style. For segments, AcelleMail's segment builder supports the same condition primitives (field equality, behavior, dates, tags). For campaigns, rebuild Mautic campaign-builder flows in AcelleMail Automation2 — the node primitives (action, decision, condition, source) map across.

  6. 6. Move tracking, lead scoring, and CRM hooks

    Mautic's on-page tracking script and lead scoring are not directly equivalent in AcelleMail's core. If lead scoring is critical, options are: (a) keep Mautic running for tracking + scoring while AcelleMail handles email send, syncing contact state via REST API; or (b) rebuild scoring as a custom plugin on AcelleMail using the Hook system. CRM integrations move via API: AcelleMail emits webhooks for the standard subscriber events that your CRM can consume.

  7. 7. Test deliverability + cut over

    Send a test campaign to GlockApps or Mail-Tester (free). Aim for 9.5/10. Send your next live campaign from AcelleMail in parallel for one cycle, watch open/click rates against your prior baseline, then turn off the Mautic install. Most teams cut over inside a week for email-only migrations; plan 2–3 weeks if lead scoring + tracking are being rebuilt.
Operational fit

When self-hosting isn’t the right fit

Self-hosted email marketing is a tradeoff: lower cost and full ownership in exchange for operational responsibility. A managed SaaS may be the better choice for any of the situations below.

  • You need full marketing-automation breadth (lead scoring, landing pages, on-page tracking)

    Mautic ships lead scoring, landing pages, and an on-page tracking script as core features. AcelleMail focuses on email + automation flows; landing pages and lead scoring are not in core. If those features are central to your stack, Mautic's default feature set covers them without additional plugins.

  • You don't want to operate a server

    AcelleMail is self-hosted; that means a $5–20/mo VPS, a domain, DNS records (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), occasional PHP / DB upgrades. Teams without infrastructure capacity may prefer Mautic Hosting (the project's paid managed service, with a 14-day free trial listed on mautic.org) or a managed AcelleMail-as-a-service offering from a third party.

  • Your project requires GPL software

    Some organizations have a software policy that requires copyleft licenses. Mautic Community is GPLv3 and satisfies that requirement; AcelleMail is distributed under a CodeCanyon Regular/Extended commercial license that does not impose GPL-style copyleft.

  • Brand recognition matters for client-facing work

    Mautic is a well-known name in the open-source marketing-automation space; some agency / freelance client conversations are easier with that vendor name on the project plan. AcelleMail Extended's white-label mode answers most of this for resellers, but the brand value of established names is real for some buyers.

Cost by use-case

Three buyer situations

Cost figures pair the verified entry-tier prices with calculator-quoted ranges where applicable. Compare the numbers; the right pick depends on your team’s capacity for the operational tradeoffs above.

  • SaaS team — product newsletter + transactional

    Situation: 8,000 trial signups + 2,000 paid customers, weekly product newsletter, 4-step onboarding drip, billing notifications.

    Mautic cost: Mautic Community + $10/mo VPS + $2/mo SES + ops time for cron/queue tuning. Onboarding drip is built as a Mautic campaign with email + decision + delay nodes.

    AcelleMail cost: $74 once + $10/mo DigitalOcean droplet + ~$2/mo SES. Onboarding drip is a single visual workflow in Automation2; transactional sends share the same REST API.

  • Marketing agency — 50 client lists

    Situation: Email service for 50 small-business clients, average 2,000 subscribers each, monthly newsletter + occasional promo.

    Mautic cost: Mautic Community: 50 instances (~$10/mo each VPS) ≈ $500/mo + ops time per tenant, OR a custom routing layer on a single instance. SaaS billing primitives are not included.

    AcelleMail cost: $199 Extended License once + $40/mo VPS + ~$30/mo SES total across all clients on one install. Built-in SaaS layer: per-client login, plans, dunning, 6 payment gateways.

  • Mid-market with full marketing automation

    Situation: 50,000 contacts, weekly campaigns, lead scoring driving SDR alerts, on-page tracking, CRM sync to Salesforce.

    Mautic cost: Mautic Community + $20–40/mo VPS + ~$40/mo SES + ops time. Lead scoring + on-page tracking + CRM sync are core Mautic features.

    AcelleMail cost: $74 license + $20/mo VPS + ~$40/mo SES + plugin development cost or external scoring service. AcelleMail covers the email + automation portion; lead scoring + tracking would be added externally or via custom plugin.

Frequently asked

Common questions

Can I migrate from Mautic to AcelleMail without losing contact data?
Yes. Mautic's admin UI exports contacts as CSV via Contacts → Export; the REST API at GET /api/contacts returns paginated JSON for full programmatic export. AcelleMail's import accepts CSV with custom-field mapping and supports XLSX or direct DB seed for very large lists. Tags and custom fields map to AcelleMail subscriber custom fields one-to-one. Plan a half-day for an email-only migration; 2–3 weeks if lead scoring and on-page tracking are being rebuilt.
How does AcelleMail's automation compare to Mautic's campaign builder?
Both ship visual multi-step builders. Mautic's campaign builder is one of its primary product surfaces, with action / decision / condition / source nodes. AcelleMail's Automation2 covers trigger / wait / condition / send / tag-update / segment-move nodes. The primitives map across; the difference is that Mautic also bundles lead scoring + landing pages + on-page tracking as part of the same product, while AcelleMail focuses on email + automation flows and leaves landing pages / on-page tracking to other tools or plugins.
Why does AcelleMail charge $74 when Mautic Community is GPLv3 and free?
AcelleMail Regular License ($74 one-time) is a commercial license that includes lifetime point + minor updates, 6 months of support, and the right to use modifications privately without copyleft obligations. Mautic Community under GPLv3 is free of license fee but its copyleft applies to derivative deployments offered as a service to others. The $74 covers a different bundle: visual automation builder, plugin SDK, 8 sending-driver integrations, multi-language UI, and the Extended path to a multi-tenant SaaS layer ($199).
What sending services does AcelleMail support vs Mautic?
AcelleMail ships 8 native drivers (SES, SendGrid, SparkPost, Mailgun, Elastic Email, Blastengine, Gmail, generic SMTP) with API-level integration including bounce-webhook handlers — see app/SendingServers/Drivers/Vendors/ in the AcelleMail source. Mautic uses Symfony Mailer transports plus its built-in transport configuration; SMTP, SES, SendGrid, and Mailgun are supported, with additional providers via community plugins.
Can I run multiple client accounts under one AcelleMail install?
Yes — that's the AcelleMail Extended License ($199). It bundles a multi-tenant layer: customer accounts, subscription plans, 6 payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, Razorpay, Paystack, Offline), prorated upgrades, dunning, and white-label branding. Mautic Community is delivered as a single-tenant install; multi-tenant operation typically requires running multiple Mautic instances.
What stack does AcelleMail need vs what does Mautic Community need?
AcelleMail: PHP 8.1+, MySQL ≥ 5.7 or MariaDB ≥ 10.3, ~512 MB RAM minimum, 1 GB recommended for lists up to ~50K. Mautic per mautic.org/mautic-requirements: PHP 7.2+ (Mautic 3.0) up to PHP 8.4 (Mautic 7.0), MySQL ≥ 5.7 or MariaDB ≥ 10.2, PHP extensions xml/mysql/imap/zip/intl/curl/gd/mbstring/bcmath, npm required from Mautic 5.0 onwards. Both run under PHP-FPM behind nginx or Apache and require a system cron entry.
Does AcelleMail include lead scoring like Mautic?
No — lead scoring is not in AcelleMail core. Mautic ships contact point scoring as a primary product surface. If lead scoring is central to your stack, options when moving to AcelleMail are: (a) keep Mautic running for scoring while AcelleMail handles email send, syncing contact state via REST API; or (b) implement scoring as a custom plugin using AcelleMail's four-pattern Hook system. See the Plugin SDK documentation for the registration patterns.
What about deliverability — does AcelleMail include SPF/DKIM tooling that Mautic does not?
AcelleMail surfaces SPF/DKIM/DMARC record values directly in the sending-server config UI and signs DKIM at the application layer when configured to. Mautic relies on the configured Symfony Mailer transport (e.g. SES, SendGrid, Mailgun) for DKIM signing — the underlying provider sets up authentication. Both approaches work; the difference is whether the DKIM records are managed inside the application UI (AcelleMail) or at the transport configuration level (Mautic). The full SPF/DKIM/DMARC tooling overview for AcelleMail is on Security & GDPR.
Which tool is the right choice for a single-instance email + automation stack without lead scoring or landing pages?
Both work. Mautic's feature set is broader (covers lead scoring + landing pages + on-page tracking even if you don't use them on day one). AcelleMail focuses on email + automation flows with bundled multi-tenant primitives via Extended. Teams that expect to grow into multi-tenant SaaS or that want a leaner install often pick AcelleMail; teams that expect to grow into the full marketing-automation feature set often pick Mautic.
Get started

Try AcelleMail before you migrate.

AcelleMail Regular License is $74, one-time. Includes lifetime updates, 6 months of support, full PHP source code, and unlimited subscribers. Try the live demo before you buy.

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Mautic is the trademark of its respective owner. This page is an objective product comparison authored by AcelleMail; we are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Mautic. All facts cited are sourced from publicly available documentation linked above; please report any inaccuracy to contact@acellemail.com and we will correct it.

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