HubSpot vs Mautic – Best Open Source Alternative (2025)

Choosing the right marketing automation platform can make or break your marketing efforts. We’ve all been there – drowning in options, trying to figure out which tool will actually help grow the business without breaking the bank.

HubSpot has become the go-to name everyone throws around. It’s polished, integrated, and promises to solve all your marketing problems in one neat package. But here’s the thing – convenience comes with a price tag that can get pretty steep, pretty fast.

Then there’s Mautic, the open-source alternative that’s been quietly gaining ground. It’s not as flashy, but it gives you something HubSpot can’t: complete data ownership and costs that don’t spiral out of control as you grow.

Let’s explore both platforms and figure out which one makes sense for your specific situation. No fluff, just honest insights from someone who’s seen both sides of the fence.

HubSpot – The full picture

What you’re really paying for

HubSpot’s pricing structure looks simple on the surface, but it can get complicated quickly. Here’s what the numbers actually look like:

2025 Pricing reality check¹:

• Starter: 15€/month (1,000 contacts) – sounds reasonable
• Professional: 880€/month (2,000 contacts) – that escalated quickly
• Enterprise: 3,530€/month (10,000 contacts) – now we’re talking serious money

But here’s the hidden truth: the average HubSpot customer doesn’t just pay the subscription. Once you factor in onboarding, setup, and ongoing implementation, most businesses end up spending 15,000€ – 45,000€ per year². In many cases, implementation alone adds another 1–1.5x the cost of your annual subscription.

What you get for your money

Pros	Cons
User experience: HubSpot nailed the interface. It’s clean, intuitive, and easy to learn.	Vendor lock-in: Once you’re in, getting your data out is like trying to cancel a gym membership.
Everything under one roof: CRM, marketing, sales, and service work seamlessly together.	Limited customization: You’re stuck with HubSpot’s roadmap.
Extensive integration marketplace covering most popular tools.	Pricing escalation: Contact limits hit hard as your business grows.
Support that actually helps: documentation, training, and real humans available.	Data location: Most data is stored on US servers, which may raise GDPR concerns.
Smart reporting: attribution modeling and custom dashboards.	Learning curve for advanced features: while the basics are simple, mastering advanced tools often requires extra training or certifications.

Real performance numbers

Studies show that 76% of marketing leaders report increased conversion rates after implementing HubSpot, with customers seeing an average 134% increase in website traffic³. That’s impressive, but remember, correlation doesn’t always equal causation.

Mautic – The open source reality

What “free” actually means

Mautic is free in the same way that a puppy is free – the initial cost is zero, but you’ll be paying for food, training, and vet bills for years. But unlike the puppy analogy, Mautic can actually save you serious money in the long run.

The technical truth

Why developers love it:

• Complete control: You host it, you own it, you modify it however you want.
• No artificial limits: Want to add a 1,000,000 contacts? Go ahead, the software won’t charge you extra.
• Customization freedom: Open source means you can literally change anything that doesn’t work for your business.
• Privacy by design: Keep your data wherever you want: EU servers, your own infrastructure, whatever works best for you.
• Active community: Global network of developers constantly improving the platform daily.

The reality check:

• Technical skills required: Someone on your team needs to know their way around servers and databases.
• Maintenance overhead: Updates, security patches, backups – it’s all on you.
• Support isn’t free: While the community is helpful, professional support comes through paid partners or freelancers.

True cost of ownership

Let’s be honest about what Mautic actually costs:

Cost Type	Item	Estimated Range
Direct Costs	Software	0€ (free)
	Hosting	50€ – 500€ / month
	Maintenance	500€ – 2,000€ / month (if outsourced)
Hidden Costs	Initial setup	2,000€ – 10,000€
	Team training	1,000€ – 3,000€
	Custom development / Plugins	Variable (can balloon)

Head-to-head: HubSpot vs Mautic

Marketing Features Breakdown

Feature	HubSpot	Mautic
Email Marketing	Advanced with AI optimization	Complete with extensive customization
Lead Scoring	Automatic scoring algorithms	Highly configurable scoring rules
Segmentation	Smart lists with predictive features	Dynamic segmentation with custom fields
A/B Testing	Built-in with statistical significance	Extensible testing framework
Social Media	Integrated publishing and monitoring	Available through plugins and integrations
Landing Pages	Drag-and-drop builder	Drag-and-drop builder and templates
Marketing Attribution	Multi-touch attribution models	Configurable attribution tracking
Behavioral Tracking	Automatic visitor tracking	Granular tracking with custom events

Integration Capabilities

HubSpot’s approach: Their marketplace has tons of pre-built integrations. Most popular tools have native connections, and their API is well-documented. The downside? If it’s not in their ecosystem, you’re probably out of luck.

Mautic’s flexibility: The API is completely open, and you can build custom integrations for literally anything. The plugin system lets you extend functionality in ways HubSpot never intended. The trade-off? You’ll need development resources to make it happen.

When each platform makes sense

HubSpot is your best bet when…

• You’re a fast-growing startup that needs results yesterday.
• Your team is small, your budget is decent (think +50,000€ annually for marketing)
• You’d rather focus on marketing strategy than server maintenance.

Perfect scenario: A B2B SaaS company with 5-10 employees, predictable growth, and venture funding. They need to integrate sales and marketing quickly, and technical overhead is the last thing they want to worry about.

Mautic makes more sense when…

• You’ve got technical resources (or budget for good consultants).
• You’re dealing with large contact lists (+30,000-40,000).
• You have specific compliance requirements that demand data sovereignty.

Perfect scenario: A European eCom company with +30,000 contacts, custom ERP integrations, and strict GDPR requirements. They need everything hosted on EU servers and want the flexibility to build custom workflows that match their unique business processes.

GDPR and Privacy Reality

This is where things get interesting, especially if you’re operating in Europe.

HubSpot’s approach: HubSpot offers EU-based hosting and GDPR compliance tools⁴. However, as a US company, they remain subject to US legislation (like the CLOUD Act), which could potentially grant third parties access to data. Customers also have limited visibility into how HubSpot processes or leverages their data internally, especially for analytics and AI features.

Mautic’s advantage: With Mautic, you host your own database, decide where it resides, and control who has access. Nothing is processed outside your infrastructure unless you explicitly allow it. This makes compliance audits and custom consent management far easier and more transparent.

Real ROI analysis

Let’s run the numbers for a company with 10,000 contacts over 3 years:

Year	HubSpot	Mautic
1	45,000€ (subscription + setup + training)	25,000€ (setup + hosting + consulting)
2	40,000€ (subscription + additional features)	15,000€ (hosting + maintenance)
3	50,000€ (higher tier due to growth)	18,000€ (hosting + additional development)
Total	135,000€	58,000€

Potential savings: 77,000€ over 3 years

Of course, these are only estimates. Real-world implementation, consulting, and maintenance costs depend heavily on your chosen service provider and the complexity of your setup.

The migration question

Getting off HubSpot: It’s painful. Data export is limited, you’ll lose most of your automations and workflows, and re-implementing everything elsewhere typically takes months and costs significant money.

Moving away from Mautic: Since you control everything, migration is much cleaner. You have full database access, can export workflows, and typically complete migrations in 1-2 months.

Community and Support

HubSpot’s ecosystem: Professional support, structured training through HubSpot Academy, and a massive network of certified partners. When something breaks, you have someone to call.

Mautic’s community: Active open-source community, regular Mautic events, and growing network of specialized agencies. Support quality varies, but the community is genuinely helpful and passionate about the platform.

Making the decision

Choose HubSpot if…	Choose Mautic if…
Your marketing budget exceeds 30,000€ annually You have a small team (under 10 people) without technical resources You need results in 30-60 days, not 3-6 months Predictable, linear growth is more important than cost optimization You prefer paying premium for convenience	You have technical resources or budget for consultants Data sovereignty and privacy compliance are non-negotiable You’re dealing with large contact lists (+40,000) You need custom integrations and workflows Long-term cost control matters more than short-term convenience

Conclusion

Here’s the bottom line: HubSpot and Mautic represent different philosophies, not just different feature sets.

HubSpot is betting that you’ll pay premium prices for convenience and integration. For many businesses, especially smaller ones with limited technical resources, that bet pays off. The platform works, the support is solid, and you can focus on marketing instead of server administration.

Mautic is betting that you value control and cost-effectiveness over convenience. If you have the technical chops (or can afford to hire them), the long-term savings and flexibility can be substantial.

Neither choice is wrong – they’re just different. The key is being honest about your resources, priorities, and long-term goals. Don’t choose Mautic just because it’s cheaper if you don’t have the technical resources to make it work. Don’t choose HubSpot just because it’s popular if the costs will strain your budget as you grow.

Most importantly, whatever you choose, make sure you can actually execute on it. The best marketing automation platform is the one your team will actually use effectively.

Note:
Although at Crafting.email we work primarily with Mautic on a daily basis, this analysis is not biased. It is based on publicly available data, industry research, and clients feedback.