Overview
Mautic and Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) both aim to make marketing automation accessible, but through different approaches. Mautic is open-source software you host yourself. Brevo is affordable SaaS with email, SMS, and CRM built in. See our detailed Brevo comparison for more alternatives.
The Multi-Channel Question
Brevo includes email, SMS, WhatsApp, and chat in one platform. Mautic focuses on email and marketing automation, requiring plugins for other channels. If you need multi-channel marketing from day one, Brevo delivers without extra setup.
Cost Comparison
Brevo's Starter plan is $25/month for 20,000 emails with unlimited contacts. Mautic is "free" but requires hosting ($30-100+/month), email delivery service, and technical maintenance. For small businesses without technical staff, Brevo is often cheaper in total cost.
Automation Capabilities
Mautic has more sophisticated automation features, including advanced lead scoring and complex campaign logic. Brevo's automation is good for standard workflows but simpler. If you need enterprise-level marketing automation, Mautic has more depth.
Setup and Maintenance
Brevo takes minutes to set up. You verify your domain and start sending. Mautic requires server provisioning, PHP configuration, database setup, and email infrastructure. This is a significant difference in time-to-value.
For SaaS Companies
Neither platform has native Stripe integration. Brevo connects via Zapier; Mautic requires custom development. Sequenzy was built specifically for SaaS companies with Stripe integration and subscription-aware automation. Check our pricing page for comparison.
Infrastructure Ownership and Control
Mautic's biggest selling point is that it's free, open source, and self-hosted, so your contact data and sending infrastructure never leave servers you control, provided you're comfortable with Symfony and PHP administration. Brevo trades that control for convenience: a $25-a-month plan gets you 20,000 emails plus native SMS, WhatsApp, and chat without touching a server. The decision mostly comes down to whether data ownership or setup speed matters more to your team.
Deliverability and Sender Reputation
Brevo includes send-time optimization and transactional email on every plan, features aimed at getting messages delivered reliably without extra configuration. Mautic can match much of that through advanced lead scoring and workflow automation, but you're responsible for SPF, DKIM, and DMARC setup and any deliverability tuning yourself. Both can land in the inbox reliably, but Mautic asks more of your technical team to get there.
Migration Path and Switching Costs
Switching from Mautic to Brevo trades a self-hosted Symfony install for a hosted dashboard with SMS and WhatsApp built in, but you may lose the granular lead-scoring workflows Mautic's automation offers unless Brevo's simpler builder covers your needs. Moving the other way means taking on server maintenance you didn't have before. Either way, plan to rebuild automations and templates by hand and update your domain's authentication records once you pick a new sender.
Use-case matchups
| Situation | Best first look | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Technical team that wants open-source automation and infrastructure control | Mautic | Mautic fits teams that can maintain hosting, email sending, and custom automation. |
| Team that wants managed email, SMS, WhatsApp, CRM, and transactional email | Brevo | Brevo is the easier fit when multi-channel managed infrastructure matters more than source-code control. |
| SaaS team that needs Stripe lifecycle and transactional email | Sequenzy | Sequenzy is simpler when the requirement is email automation rather than multi-channel campaigns or self-hosting. |
Pricing reality
Mautic's $0+ self-hosted price excludes hosting, email sending, maintenance, and deliverability work; Mautic Cloud is noted from $500/month. Brevo is listed at $25/month for the Starter plan with 20k emails/month, with higher plans for more features. Sequenzy is listed at $49/month for 60k emails (unlimited subscribers).
Review signals
The review snippets include Mautic feedback from G2 and Trustpilot, and Brevo feedback from Capterra and G2. Mautic's signal is value for technical teams. Brevo's signal is practical value and managed multi-channel coverage, which should be validated against volume limits and needed features.
Best Fit by Automation Ownership
Best open-source marketing automation platform for technical teams
Mautic fits teams that want self-hosted control, deep customization, and open-source marketing automation they can adapt to their own processes. It is strongest when technical ownership is an advantage, not a burden.
Best hosted multi-channel platform for small businesses
Brevo is the better fit when marketers need campaigns, transactional email, SMS, WhatsApp, CRM basics, and deliverability support without maintaining infrastructure. It works better when speed and affordability matter more than source-level control.
Best SaaS lifecycle platform for product-led revenue journeys
Sequenzy fits SaaS teams that need lifecycle email tied to product usage, trials, subscriptions, invoices, and failed payments. It is more focused when revenue events should drive email and the team does not want to self-host.
Migration checklist
| Workstream | Moving toward Mautic | Moving toward Brevo | Simplifying to Sequenzy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure | Prepare hosting, database, queues or cron jobs, email transport, backups, and updates. | Map contacts, lists, SMS consent, transactional streams, forms, and CRM fields. | Map subscribers, tags, Stripe events, and transactional triggers. |
| Deliverability | Own authentication, bounce processing, warmup, suppression handling, and monitoring. | Validate sender authentication, volume limits, transactional setup, and managed deliverability. | Validate sender authentication and lifecycle/transactional paths. |
| Automation rebuild | Rebuild campaigns, lead scoring, landing pages, and dynamic content. | Rebuild email, SMS, WhatsApp, transactional, and CRM workflows. | Rebuild email lifecycle and transactional messages. |
Decision checklist
- Is open-source control more important than managed multi-channel convenience?
- Do you have the technical owner for Mautic maintenance and deliverability?
- Are Brevo's email-volume limits and channel features a better fit?
- Would focused SaaS email automation be enough without SMS or WhatsApp?

