Mautic
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy it only if you have technical staff to host, patch, and secure it . the free license is real, but the ops burden is yours.
Comparison
Mautic vs listmonk
Mautic and listmonk both land on Depends.
listmonk
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy it if you can run a server: it is genuinely free, fast, and handles millions of subscribers.
| Compare | Mautic | listmonk |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | Technical teams with dev/sysadmin resources | Technical teams comfortable self-hosting |
| Who it's not for | Non-technical teams . hosting, SMTP, and security patching are all on you | Non-technical teams . no server, no product |
| Privacy | Multiple public CVEs (SQL injection, RCE, XSS, path traversal) in 2024-2026; an active security team ships patches . but patching is your job when self-hosting.⁹ | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.13 |
| Support quality | Only community forums documented; no support ratings. | No support evidence in sources reviewed |
| Public sentiment | Users consistently praise Mautic's value and feature depth; complaints center on the maintenance burden and weak CRM.² | Users praise listmonk as fast, intuitive, and dramatically cheaper than Mailchimp, with self-hosting as the main hurdle.14 |
| Biggest gotcha | Self-hosting makes security your job; 2024-26 CVEs (SQLi, RCE, XSS) demand prompt patching.⁸ | You own IP reputation; poor setup means spam folders, not the vendor14 |
Pick Mautic when
- Technical teams with dev/sysadmin resources
- Medium-sized businesses
- Budget-conscious senders avoiding per-contact fees
- Privacy-focused orgs wanting self-hosted data control
When Mautic is not a fit
- Non-technical teams . hosting, SMTP, and security patching are all on you
- Anyone wanting plug-and-play SaaS with a vendor to call
- Teams needing a strong built-in CRM; Mautic's CRM is its weak spot
- Orgs that can't tolerate unpatched CVE risk on their own servers
Pick listmonk when
- Technical teams comfortable self-hosting
- High-volume one-way newsletters
- Cost-sensitive Mailchimp escapees
- Product launch waitlists
When listmonk is not a fit
- Non-technical teams . no server, no product
- Anyone needing vendor SLAs or support hand-holding
- Two-way email conversations; lists are one-way
- Teams unwilling to own deliverability and patching
Sources
official
- Mautic (open source) Reviews . TrustRadiustrustradius.comreview
review
- Groundhogg vs. Mauticgroundhogg.ioreview
official
- 2026 Fundraiser . Mautic funding gapmautic.orgnews
- CVE-2026-9558: Mautic Theme Engine SSTI RCEsentinelone.comsecurity
- CVE-2026-4776: Mautic API SQL Injectionsentinelone.comsecurity
- Is Mautic really worth it? . crafting.emailcrafting.emailreview
- knadh/listmonk on GitHubgithub.comofficial
- listmonk official sitelistmonk.appofficial
- Listmonk security pagelistmonk.appsecurity
- ListMonk - Hacker News discussionnews.ycombinator.comnews
- Listmonk on Product Huntproducthunt.comreview
review