Marketing automation is where Indian businesses quietly overspend. HubSpot is superb and priced for it; Brevo is affordable until your contact list and send volume grow; and both bill in ways that punish success. Mautic is the open-source alternative — campaigns, segmentation, lead scoring and email at flat infrastructure cost, self-hosted on infrastructure you own.
The marketing-automation decision is really about how you want to pay and who holds your contact data. HubSpot and Brevo are hosted SaaS that charge by contacts, sends or seats. Mautic is software you run yourself, so the cost is your server, not your list size. For growing Indian businesses, that difference compounds.
Quick answer
Choose HubSpot if you want an all-in-one, polished marketing-and-CRM platform and can fund premium per-seat/contact pricing. Choose Brevo for affordable, easy email and SMS/WhatsApp at small-to-mid scale. Choose Mautic if you want full marketing automation — campaigns, segmentation, lead scoring, email — without contact-based fees, self-hosted with your data on your infrastructure and deep ERPNext integration. Mith Tech deploys and runs self-hosted Mautic for Indian businesses from Bengaluru.
Mautic vs HubSpot vs Brevo — what matters to you?
Toggle the criteria that matter to your business — the best fit updates live.
What each platform is
HubSpot
HubSpot is the all-in-one inbound marketing, sales and CRM platform — excellent UX, deep features (campaigns, landing pages, automation, reporting, CRM) and a huge ecosystem. It is the premium choice. Pricing scales by marketing-contacts, seats and tier, and the powerful features sit in higher tiers, so serious use gets expensive quickly.
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)
Brevo is an affordable, approachable marketing platform strong on transactional and marketing email, SMS and WhatsApp, with automation and a light CRM. Its pricing is primarily based on email send volume rather than contact count, which suits businesses with large lists but moderate sending. It is a great mid-market starting point.
Mautic
Mautic is the leading open-source marketing automation platform — campaign builder, contact segmentation, lead scoring, dynamic content, landing pages and email — that you self-host. The community edition is free; you pay for the server and an email-sending service (such as Amazon SES) for deliverability. See the Mautic product page for how we deploy it.
Pricing: contact/send-based SaaS vs own-and-host
This is the decision-changing dimension.
HubSpot charges by marketing-contacts and seats across tiers — costs climb as your audience and team grow, and advanced automation lives in higher tiers.
Brevo charges mainly by monthly email volume, which is friendlier for large lists but still a recurring cost that rises with sending.
Mautic (self-hosted) has no licence, no per-contact and no per-seat fee. Your costs are a server (a few thousand rupees a month) plus an email delivery service billed per email sent (SES is inexpensive). Your list can grow to hundreds of thousands of contacts without the software cost changing.
| Dimension | Mautic (self-hosted) | HubSpot | Brevo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost model | Server + email-sending (SES) | Per contact + seats + tier | Mainly per email volume |
| Cost as contacts grow | Flat | Rises | Mostly flat (volume-based) |
| Data ownership | Your infrastructure | Vendor cloud | Vendor cloud |
| Customisation | Full (open source) | Within product | Within product |
| Best for | Ownership + scale, no per-contact fee | Premium all-in-one | Affordable email at mid scale |
This mirrors the open-source pattern we cover in n8n vs Zapier vs Make — rent access versus own the system.
Data ownership and deliverability
With HubSpot or Brevo, your contact data sits in the vendor's cloud. With self-hosted Mautic, contacts live on infrastructure you control — important for privacy-sensitive lists and aligned with India's data-protection direction. The trade-off is that you own deliverability too: with Mautic you configure a sending service (SES or similar), set up SPF/DKIM/DMARC, and warm up sending. Hosted platforms handle deliverability for you; with Mautic it is a setup task — one we handle as part of an implementation.
Email, WhatsApp and channels
All three centre on email. For WhatsApp and SMS, Brevo has native channels; HubSpot integrates via add-ons/partners; Mautic adds WhatsApp through integrations — and pairs naturally with n8n for orchestration (see n8n + WhatsApp automation). If multichannel including WhatsApp out of the box is the priority and scale is moderate, Brevo is convenient; if you want WhatsApp wired to your own systems and data, Mautic + n8n is more flexible.
Integration with ERPNext and your data
Marketing is only as good as the data behind it. Mautic integrates with ERPNext, Frappe CRM and n8n, so segments and campaigns run off real customer and order data — purchase history, lifecycle stage, region — and campaign responses flow back. HubSpot has its own strong CRM and a large integration marketplace; Brevo offers a lighter CRM and connectors. If your source of truth is ERPNext, Mautic keeps marketing in the same owned stack — see marketing automation solutions.
Where each one wins
Pick HubSpot if you want a premium, all-in-one marketing + sales + CRM platform with the best UX and can fund the pricing.
Pick Brevo if you want affordable, easy email (and native SMS/WhatsApp) at small-to-mid scale with minimal setup.
Pick Mautic if you want full marketing automation without per-contact fees, your data on your infrastructure, and deep integration with ERPNext and n8n.
When Mautic is the right call
- Your contact list and send volume are growing and SaaS fees are climbing.
- You want contact data on your own infrastructure.
- You run ERPNext or other open-source systems and want marketing in the same stack.
- You need custom automation logic beyond a product's built-in options.
- You have (or want us to provide) the capability to manage deliverability.
It is less suitable if you need zero-setup turnkey marketing with managed deliverability today and have no appetite for infrastructure — there, Brevo or HubSpot win on day one.
How Mith Tech sets this up
We deploy self-hosted Mautic on your cloud, configure email sending and deliverability (SES, SPF/DKIM/DMARC, warm-up), build your segments, campaigns and lead scoring, and integrate with ERPNext, Frappe CRM and n8n. See the Mautic product page, ERPNext implementation in Bangalore, or book a 30-minute audit.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mautic a good alternative to HubSpot?
Yes, for businesses that want full marketing automation without per-contact pricing and prefer to own their data. Mautic provides campaigns, segmentation, lead scoring, dynamic content and email, self-hosted on your infrastructure. HubSpot remains stronger on polished all-in-one UX and built-in CRM, which its premium pricing reflects.
Is Mautic really free?
The Mautic community edition is free and open source. Self-hosted, you pay only for the server it runs on and an email-sending service (such as Amazon SES) billed per email — there is no per-contact or per-seat licence fee. That is why the software cost stays flat as your list grows.
Mautic vs Brevo — which is cheaper at scale?
It depends on volume. Brevo's pricing is mainly send-volume based and stays reasonable for large lists with moderate sending. Self-hosted Mautic's software cost is flat (server + SES per email), so it is usually cheaper at high contact counts and high volume, at the cost of managing your own deliverability. For a small list with little setup appetite, Brevo is the easier start.
Does Mautic integrate with ERPNext?
Yes. Mautic integrates with ERPNext, Frappe CRM and n8n, so campaigns and segments run off real customer and order data and responses flow back into your systems. Because Mautic is open source, these integrations are flexible rather than limited to a marketplace connector.
Does Mautic handle email deliverability?
Mautic sends through an email service you configure (Amazon SES is common and inexpensive), and you set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC and warm up sending. Unlike hosted platforms that manage deliverability for you, with Mautic it is a setup responsibility — one Mith Tech handles as part of an implementation.
Can I migrate from HubSpot or Brevo to Mautic?
Yes. Contacts, segments and campaign assets can be exported and imported into Mautic, then automations rebuilt. The effort depends on how many workflows and assets you have. Contact Mith Tech for a migration assessment.