Mautic
I have written about this tool before, as we actively use it, and it has been an incredible asset to my team. I believe it’s worth discussing further, especially since many small businesses spend significant amounts on proprietary SaaS tools when, in reality, all they need is to get involved in a community that offers support and collaboration.
This is an open-source marketing automation platform, it by gives you the option to fully own and control your marketing stack, right down to the server level. This is a big deal for businesses that should be concerned about entrusting sensitive customer data to third-party providers, especially with growing concerns about data leaks, compliance, and vendor lock-in.
The open-source (it is released under the GPL v3) nature means that all of its source code is publicly available, and anyone can inspect, modify, or even extend the platform to suit their own needs. This is fundamentally different from closed-source SaaS platforms, where you’re limited to whatever features the vendor decides to offer and are often stuck with artificial limits on contacts, emails, or automations unless you pay more. With Mautic, the only real limitation is the capacity of your own server, and you’re free from contracts, SLAs, or sudden changes in terms of service that can happen with SaaS vendors. For companies in industries like finance, government, or healthcare where data sovereignty and compliance are non-negotiable this level of control is what I am talking about.
Lets talk about Features
The core of Mautic is the automation engine. The platform lets you design complex, multi-step marketing campaigns using a visual drag-and-drop campaign builder. You can automate email sequences, lead nurturing, scoring, and even trigger actions based on user behavior, such as visiting a specific page, submitting a form, or reaching a certain score threshold. This level of automation isn’t just about saving time; it’s about delivering the right message to the right person at the right moment, without manual intervention. Mautic’s automation features now include improved workflow rules, blueprints to guide structured processes, macros for multi-step actions, and assignment rules to distribute leads automatically—features that bring it closer to what you’d expect from a full CRM system.