Self-hosting Mautic means running the open-source marketing automation platform on your own server, then wiring up a database, an SMTP sender, staggered cron jobs and a messenger worker so segments, campaigns and emails actually fire. Done right, you own your contact data end to end and pay only for hosting and email sending.
Short answer
Provision a Linux server with a supported PHP 8 version, MySQL or MariaDB and a web server. Download the current Mautic 7.x release, run the browser installer, connect an external SMTP service, and set up three staggered cron jobs plus a messenger worker for email. Add SPF, DKIM and DMARC records, then schedule database and file backups.
I lead open-source deployments at MithTech, a team of Frappe specialists in Bengaluru. Mautic is the marketing-automation tool we use when a client wants contact and campaign infrastructure without a per-contact subscription. This guide is the setup our team follows, in order, with the parts that trip people up called out.
Honest take: Mautic gives you a lot for no licence fee, but deliverability and cron are where self-hosters lose weeks. Spend your attention there, not on the install.
What is Mautic and why self-host it?
Mautic is an open-source marketing automation platform for email campaigns, contact segmentation, landing pages and lead scoring. It is licensed under GPL-3.0, so there is no licence fee; you run it on infrastructure you control, and contact data never sits on a vendor's servers. Self-hosting removes per-contact fees and gives you full database access.
For organisations that run their own lead and revenue infrastructure, that ownership matters. The contact list is a business asset, and keeping it on your own server avoids the per-contact billing hosted platforms use. The trade-off: you also own patching, uptime and deliverability. The managed-versus-self-hosted reasoning is in our open-source HubSpot alternative piece.
Which Mautic version should I install in 2026?
Install the current 7.x release. Mautic publishes its branch dates on mautic.org/releases; as listed there on 12 October 2026:
| Branch | Status | Free security support until |
|---|---|---|
| 7.x | Current line (7.3 is the planned LTS of the series) | Per minor release; check the releases page |
| 6.0 LTS | Security support ended; paid Extended LTS only | 30 September 2026 |
| 5.2 LTS | Security support ended; paid Extended LTS only | 30 June 2026 |
Mautic's policy is a minor release every three months and a major every two years, with the .3 release of each series as its LTS. Supported PHP and database versions move with each release (7.2 lists PHP 8.2 to 8.5), and the installer refuses to continue on a stack that is too old, so check the requirements page before you download.
Skimmable summary: install 7.x for a fresh setup; 5.2 and 6.0 are out of free security support, so existing installs on them should plan the move.
How do I install self-hosted Mautic step by step?
Prepare the server first (operating system, PHP extensions, database, web server), place the Mautic files in your web root, then walk through Mautic's browser installer at your domain.
Provision the server
Use a current Linux distribution with a few gigabytes of RAM for production. Install a supported PHP 8 version with the extensions Mautic lists (including mbstring, curl, intl, imap and zip), plus Apache or Nginx.
Create the database
Set up MySQL or MariaDB, create an empty database and a dedicated user with full privileges on it. Keep the credentials; the installer asks for them.
Download and place Mautic
Download the current release from mautic.org, extract it into your web root, and set ownership and permissions so the web server can write to the cache, logs and media directories.
Point your domain and enable HTTPS
Configure the virtual host to serve Mautic, then issue a TLS certificate. Never run a tool with logins and contact data over plain HTTP.
Run the web installer
Open your domain in a browser. Mautic checks requirements, takes the database details, creates the admin user and asks for basic email settings. Fix any red requirement flags before continuing.
Lock down and verify
Confirm the installer's directories are secured, log in as admin, and set the site URL in the configuration. You now have a running instance, but nothing automates until cron is live.
How do I configure email sending in Mautic?
Connect an external SMTP service rather than the server's local mail. In Mautic's configuration under Email Settings, choose your transport, enter the SMTP host, port, encryption and credentials from your delivery provider, then send a test. An external relay brings authentication and sending reputation that a bare server does not have.
A change that arrived in Mautic 5 and carries on in 6 and 7: outbound email goes through a Symfony Messenger queue. You can send immediately or queue, but for any real volume you queue messages and let a background worker dispatch them. That keeps campaign sends off the web request and makes throughput predictable.
What cron jobs does self-hosted Mautic need?
Mautic automates nothing without cron. Three jobs are required (segment updates, campaign updates and campaign triggers), and Mautic's documentation says to stagger them so they never start in the same minute. Since Mautic 5 you also run a messenger worker to actually send the queued email.
The core commands (run as the web-server user, with the path adjusted to your install):
| Job | Console command | Suggested minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Segment update | mautic:segments:update | 0, 15, 30, 45 |
| Campaign update | mautic:campaigns:update | 5, 20, 35, 50 |
| Campaign trigger | mautic:campaigns:trigger | 10, 25, 40, 55 |
| Email queue worker | messenger:consume email | Continuous, or a short interval |
Give the messenger consumer a bound (--time-limit, --memory-limit or --limit) so it exits cleanly instead of running forever. Tune --batch-limit on the segment and campaign jobs to your server's resources. Optional jobs, such as IP-lookup database downloads and contact imports, round things out.
How do I improve Mautic email deliverability?
Deliverability lives mostly outside Mautic, in your sending domain's DNS and reputation. Publish an SPF record that authorises your SMTP provider, turn on DKIM signing at the provider, and add a DMARC policy. Warm the sending domain gradually and keep lists clean: Mautic sends whatever you tell it to, and inbox placement is the sender's job.
- SPF: authorise your SMTP relay's servers to send for your domain.
- DKIM: turn on signing at the provider and publish the public key in DNS.
- DMARC: start with a monitoring policy, then tighten it once alignment is confirmed.
- Separate sending domain or subdomain: keep marketing mail apart from transactional and staff email.
- List hygiene: honour unsubscribes, prune hard bounces, and do not buy lists.
Mautic's bounce handling and Do-Not-Contact features help, but they work on top of authenticated DNS, not instead of it.
How should I back up a self-hosted Mautic instance?
Back up two things on a schedule: the MySQL or MariaDB database and the Mautic file tree, especially the media, config and any custom theme directories. Automate a nightly database dump plus a file archive, keep copies off the server, and test a restore now and then.
A simple, reliable pattern: a nightly mysqldump to a compressed file, a tar of the Mautic directory, and a sync of both to separate object storage or another host. Keep several dated copies so you can roll back past a bad change, not just to last night. If you would rather not run this yourself, our managed hosting service takes on the operations.
Frequently asked questions
+Is Mautic really free to self-host?
There is no licence fee: Mautic is open source under GPL-3.0. Your spend is infrastructure (server hosting and an email-sending service) plus any time or help you bring in to set it up and maintain it. There is no per-contact fee.
+Do I need coding skills to self-host Mautic?
You need to be comfortable with a Linux command line, DNS records and cron more than with programming. The install is largely guided, but preparing the server, configuring SMTP and troubleshooting cron need sysadmin confidence. Teams without that in-house often get help for the initial setup and hardening, then run day-to-day campaigns themselves.
+Why are my Mautic campaigns not sending?
Usually cron. If the segment, campaign and messenger jobs are not running, contacts never enter campaigns and queued email never leaves. Check that every cron job runs as the right user, that the messenger consumer has a limit flag, and that your SMTP credentials pass Mautic's test send.
+Can I run Mautic on shared hosting?
Generally not well. Mautic needs specific PHP extensions, writable directories, real cron access and a background worker for email, all things shared hosting often restricts. A small VPS gives you the control Mautic assumes. Managed Mautic hosting is a middle path if you want the platform without the server work.
+What is the difference between Mautic LTS and other releases?
The current line gets new features and active development. LTS branches get only bug and security fixes for a longer window, which suits teams that prize stability. Mautic's policy makes the .3 release of each series the LTS (7.3 for the 7 series); check mautic.org/releases for its dates. The older LTS branches, 5.2 and 6.0, are now past free security support.
+Does Mautic integrate with ERPNext?
They are separate open-source tools, but both have REST APIs, so you can sync contacts, leads and campaign activity between them through an integration layer such as n8n. That gives you marketing automation in Mautic feeding one source of business truth in ERPNext, a common ask from teams standardising on open source across the revenue stack.
We install, harden and connect Mautic to your stack, including ERPNext, so you get marketing automation you fully own. See our Frappe and ERPNext work or get in touch.
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Manoj · Published on 20 July 2026
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