Chatmail vs Mautic

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted mail servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureChatmailMautic
CategoryMail ServersMail Servers
LicenseMPL-2.0GPL-3.0
LanguagePythonPHP
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM512 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 476★ 10,305
First released20232014
ReplacesWhatsAppHubSpot, Marketo, Mailchimp

Why pick each one

Choose Chatmail if…

  • Released under the MPL-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in Python
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Chatmail details

Choose Mautic if…

  • Full marketing automation suite
  • Large community
Mautic details

Frequently asked questions

Is Chatmail or Mautic better?

Neither is universally better. Mautic has the larger community, while Chatmail is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Chatmail and Mautic free and open-source?

Yes. Chatmail is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Mautic under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Chatmail and Mautic with Docker?

Chatmail: yes. Mautic: yes.

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