MauticvsCustomer.io

Mautic vs Customer.io

Self-hosted control vs behavioral messaging power

TL;DR

Mautic is open-source and self-hosted, offering unlimited contacts and complete control but requiring significant technical skills. Customer.io is a powerful SaaS behavioral messaging platform with multi-channel support, advanced triggers, and enterprise features. Choose Mautic if you have developers and want data ownership. Choose Customer.io if you want powerful behavioral automation without managing infrastructure.

Key Differences

The main things that set these tools apart

Hosting Model
Mautic wins

Mautic is self-hosted, meaning your data stays on your servers. Customer.io is fully managed SaaS. For companies with strict data requirements, Mautic offers more control.

Multi-Channel Support
Customer.io wins

Customer.io supports email, push, in-app, and SMS from one platform. Mautic requires plugins and integrations for channels beyond email. For multi-channel messaging, Customer.io is more complete.

Developer Experience
Customer.io wins

Customer.io is built for product and engineering teams with excellent APIs, SDKs, and documentation. Mautic has good APIs but requires more custom development. Customer.io is easier to integrate.

Cost at Scale
Mautic wins

Customer.io starts at $100/month and scales to $1,000+. Mautic self-hosted requires hosting and email services but no per-contact fees. At very large scale, Mautic can be cheaper.

Pricing Comparison

At 5,000 contacts

Mautic
$0+/month

Self-hosted is free. Cloud from $500/mo. Add hosting and sending costs.

Visit Mautic
Customer.io
$100/month

Essentials plan. 1M emails included. Premium from $1,000/mo.

Visit Customer.io
Sequenzy

The SaaS alternative

$29/month

5k contacts, unlimited emails, Stripe integration included.

Feature Comparison

Side-by-side feature breakdown

Feature
Mautic
Customer.io
Sequenzy
Behavioral Messaging
Email Marketing
Push Notifications
Via plugins
Built-in
In-App Messages
Built-in
SMS
Via plugins
Add-on
Webhooks
Automation & Triggers
Visual Workflow Builder
Advanced
Advanced
Good
Event-Based Triggers
With setup
Native, any event
Events + Stripe
Segmentation
Good
Advanced
Good
Lead Scoring
Conditional Logic
Advanced
Advanced branching
Good
Developer Experience
API Quality
Good
Excellent
Good
SDK Support
Limited
Multiple SDKs
Growing
Data Import/Export
Custom
Easy
Easy
Developer Documentation
Community
Excellent
Good
Technical & Control
Self-Hosted Option
Open Source
Data Ownership
Complete
Their servers
Their servers
Setup Complexity
High
Medium
Low

Best For

When to choose each tool

Choose Mautic if you...
  • Organizations with strict data sovereignty requirements
  • Companies with dedicated DevOps resources
  • Large contact lists where per-profile pricing hurts
  • Teams wanting complete customization control
  • Enterprises needing on-premise deployment
Choose Customer.io if you...
  • Product and engineering teams wanting behavioral messaging
  • Companies needing multi-channel automation
  • SaaS businesses with complex event tracking needs
  • Teams wanting excellent developer experience
  • Organizations requiring enterprise compliance features
Choose Sequenzy if you...
  • SaaS companies needing Stripe integration
  • Teams wanting simplicity with payment triggers
  • Founders seeking affordable behavioral automation

When to Consider Sequenzy Instead

Native Stripe Integration

Neither Mautic nor Customer.io offers native Stripe integration. Sequenzy triggers automations from subscription events, trial endings, and payment failures.

Simpler Than Both

Customer.io has a learning curve. Mautic requires technical expertise. Sequenzy offers SaaS-focused automation without the complexity of either.

Better Value for Most SaaS

Customer.io is $100/month minimum. Sequenzy is $29/month at 5,000 contacts with similar SaaS-relevant features.

Try Sequenzy Free

Overview

Mautic and Customer.io both offer sophisticated marketing automation, but they serve different needs. Mautic is self-hosted open-source software. Customer.io is polished SaaS designed for product and engineering teams. See our detailed Customer.io comparison for more alternatives.

The Deployment Question

Mautic runs on your servers. You control the data, the infrastructure, and the customization. Customer.io is fully managed SaaS. You get started faster but trade control for convenience. For companies with data sovereignty requirements, Mautic is the choice.

Multi-Channel Capabilities

Customer.io supports email, push notifications, in-app messages, and SMS natively. Mautic focuses on email with other channels via plugins. If you need true multi-channel behavioral messaging, Customer.io is more complete out of the box.

Developer Experience

Customer.io was built for product and engineering teams. The APIs are clean, documentation is excellent, and SDKs exist for multiple platforms. Mautic has good APIs but requires more custom development. For developer productivity, Customer.io wins.

Automation Power

Both platforms offer sophisticated behavioral automation. Customer.io excels at event-based triggers from product usage. Mautic has lead scoring and advanced features Customer.io lacks. Different strengths for different needs.

For SaaS Companies

Customer.io is popular with SaaS companies but lacks native Stripe integration. Mautic requires custom development for subscription events. Sequenzy was built specifically for SaaS with native Stripe integration and subscription-aware automation. Check our pricing page.

Frequently Asked Questions

For email automation, they are comparable. Customer.io has better multi-channel support (push, in-app, SMS) and a superior developer experience. Mautic offers more control and customization.

No, but Customer.io has a startup program offering one free year for companies with under $10M raised. Mautic self-hosted is free but requires infrastructure.

Customer.io. It is built for developers with excellent documentation, multiple SDKs, and clean API design. Mautic's API is good but requires more custom work.

With plugins and integrations, yes. Customer.io has push notifications built in. For native multi-channel support, Customer.io is more complete.

For companies needing behavioral messaging, multi-channel support, and excellent developer tools, often yes. If you only need email and have technical resources, Mautic offers more value.

Customer.io was built around event tracking. Any event can trigger any action easily. Mautic can track events but requires more configuration.

Export your people and events from Customer.io. Set up Mautic on your server with proper configuration. Import contacts and map attributes. Rebuild campaigns in Mautic's workflow builder. Note that Customer.io's push and in-app features will need separate solutions.

Export contacts from Mautic. Create a Customer.io account and import profiles. Map attributes and set up event tracking via Customer.io's SDK. Rebuild workflows in Customer.io's campaign builder. You will gain access to push, in-app, and better developer tools.

Not sure which to pick?

If you're a SaaS founder who needs Stripe integration and unified email, try Sequenzy free. No credit card required.

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Sequenzy - Complete Pricing Guide

Pricing Model

Sequenzy uses subscriber-based pricing. You only pay for subscribers active in sequences (automations). Inactive subscribers are free to store.

All Pricing Tiers

  • 0-100 subscribers: Free (Free annually) - 2k emails/month
  • 101-1,000 subscribers: $19/month ($205/year annually) - 15k emails/month
  • 1,001-5,000 subscribers: $29/month ($313/year annually) - 60k emails/month
  • 5,001-10,000 subscribers: $49/month ($529/year annually) - 120k emails/month
  • 10,001-25,000 subscribers: $99/month ($1069/year annually) - 300k emails/month
  • 25,001-50,000 subscribers: $199/month ($2149/year annually) - 600k emails/month
  • 50,001-100,000 subscribers: $349/month ($3769/year annually) - 1.2M emails/month
  • 100,000+ subscribers: Custom pricing (Custom annually) - Unlimited emails/month

Yearly billing: All plans offer a 10% discount when billed annually.

Free Plan Features (0-100 subscribers)

  • Visual automation builder
  • Transactional email API
  • Reply tracking & team inbox
  • Goal tracking & revenue attribution
  • Dynamic segments
  • Payment integrations
  • Full REST API access
  • Custom sending domain

Paid Plan Features (1,000 - 100,000 subscribers)

  • Visual automation builder
  • Transactional email API
  • Reply tracking & team inbox
  • Goal tracking & revenue attribution
  • Dynamic segments
  • Payment integrations (Stripe, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy)
  • Full REST API access
  • Custom sending domain

Enterprise Plan Features (100,000+ subscribers)

  • Visual automation builder
  • Transactional email API
  • Reply tracking & team inbox
  • Goal tracking & revenue attribution
  • Dynamic segments
  • Payment integrations
  • Full REST API access
  • Custom sending domain

Important Pricing Notes

  • You only pay for subscribers who are active in automations/sequences
  • Storing inactive subscribers is free
  • No hidden fees - all features included in the price
  • No credit card required for free tier

Contact

  • Pricing Page: https://sequenzy.com/pricing
  • Sales: hello@sequenzy.com