Keila vs Mautic
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted mail servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Keila | Mautic |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 93 · Excellent |
| Category | Mail Servers | Mail Servers |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Elixir | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,219 | ★ 10,550 |
| First released | 2021 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Mailchimp, Sendinblue | HubSpot, Marketo, Mailchimp |
What are Keila and Mautic?
Keila
Keila is a self-hosted newsletter and email marketing tool built with Elixir. It offers a friendly interface for managing contacts, designing campaigns, and tracking performance.
- Friendly newsletter editor
- Contact segmentation
- Campaign analytics
- Works with external SMTP or API senders
Mautic
Mautic is a powerful marketing automation platform that includes email campaigns, contact management, landing pages, and lead scoring. It is the leading open-source alternative to commercial marketing suites.
- Email and campaign automation
- Landing pages and forms
- Contact scoring and segmentation
- Extensive plugin ecosystem
Keila vs Mautic: key differences
Keila is written in Elixir, while Mautic is built with PHP. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Keila versus GPL-3.0 for Mautic. Keila is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Mautic. Mautic is the more established project (first released 2014), while Keila arrived in 2021. Mautic has the considerably larger community, at 10,550 GitHub stars versus 2,219.
Why pick each one
Choose Keila if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.2k GitHub stars)
Watch out for
- Smaller community
- Newsletter-only scope
Choose Mautic if…
- Full marketing automation suite
- Large community
Watch out for
- Heavy and complex
- Steep learning curve
Frequently asked questions
Is Keila or Mautic better?
Neither is universally better. Mautic has the larger community, while Keila is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Keila and Mautic free and open-source?
Yes. Keila is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Mautic under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Keila and Mautic with Docker?
Keila: yes. Mautic: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Keila or Mautic?
Keila has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Mautic. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.