Your Email Platform Shouldn’t Own Your Data. You Should.
We build self-hosted email automation on Mautic — the open-source platform that gives you direct database access, zero per-contact fees, and complete data sovereignty. Your contacts. Your server. Your rules.
The Hidden Cost of Renting Your Marketing Infrastructure
Klaviyo, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign — they all have the same business model: charge you more as your list grows, hold your data hostage, and limit what you can do with it.
Klaviyo charges $720/mo for 50K contacts — whether you email them or not. As of Feb 2025, you pay for every active profile in your list, even dormant ones. Your costs scale with your success. Theirs don’t.
Your contact history, behavioral data, automation logic, and campaign performance are trapped inside someone else’s platform. Want to leave? Good luck exporting years of engagement data and rebuilding flows from scratch.
You can’t query your own contact data with SQL. You can’t join it with your product database. You can’t build custom reports or feed it into your data warehouse. You see what the dashboard shows you — nothing more.
Self-Hosted Mautic vs. Klaviyo
Same automation capabilities. Fundamentally different architecture.
| Capability | Self-Hosted Mautic | Klaviyo |
|---|---|---|
| Data hosting | Your server, your jurisdiction | Klaviyo’s US-based cloud (no other option) |
| Database access | Direct SQL — query, join, export anything | API only, rate-limited, filtered |
| Pricing at 50K contacts | ~$50/mo hosting (unlimited contacts) | $720/mo (active profiles) |
| Pricing at 100K contacts | ~$50/mo hosting (still unlimited) | $1,380/mo+ (custom enterprise pricing) |
| Custom integrations | Webhooks to anything, no middleware needed | Zapier/middleware required for custom flows |
| Source code | Fully open, modify anything | Proprietary, black box |
| GDPR/CCPA compliance | Data never leaves your infrastructure | Data shared with sub-processors, US-only storage |
| Vendor risk | Open source — can’t be discontinued or repriced | Pricing changed Feb 2025 — existing customers hit with 25% increases |
| Multi-brand / multi-tenant | Run multiple brands on one instance | Separate account (and bill) per brand |
| E-commerce templates | Requires custom build | Pre-built Shopify/WooCommerce flows |
What You Can Do When You Own the Database
These aren’t theoretical. These are real capabilities we build for clients — things that are impossible or prohibitively expensive on SaaS platforms.
Skip the drag-and-drop segment builder. Write SQL queries against your contact database to build segments based on any combination of fields, behavioral data, or joined external data. Segments update automatically on cron.
-- Segment: High-value leads who went cold
SELECT l.id FROM leads l
JOIN lead_points_change_log p ON l.id = p.lead_id
WHERE l.points >= 50
AND l.last_active < DATE_SUB(NOW(), INTERVAL 30 DAY)
AND l.stage = 'qualified'
Your app fires a webhook when a user completes onboarding, makes a purchase, or hits a usage threshold. Mautic receives it directly and triggers the right campaign — no Zapier, no Make, no monthly middleware fee.
// Your app sends directly to Mautic
POST /mautic/api/contacts/{id}/events
{
"event": "trial_expired",
"properties": {
"plan": "pro",
"usage_pct": 87,
"features_used": ["reports", "api"]
}
}
Because Mautic’s data lives in MySQL/MariaDB, you can join contact engagement with your product data, billing system, or analytics warehouse. Build segments like “users who opened 3+ emails AND upgraded in the last 90 days” with a single query.
-- Join Mautic data with your billing system
SELECT l.email, l.points, b.mrr, b.plan
FROM leads l
JOIN your_app.billing b ON l.email = b.email
WHERE b.mrr > 100
AND l.last_active > DATE_SUB(NOW(), INTERVAL 7 DAY)
Mautic’s built-in point system is just the start. With database access, you can build weighted scoring models that factor in recency, frequency, monetary value, and custom behavioral signals — then push scores back into Mautic for campaign triggers.
Mautic’s tracking runs on your domain. Unlike Klaviyo’s tracking pixel (which ad blockers kill), Mautic’s first-party cookies and server-side page tracking survive browser restrictions. You see actual visitor behavior, not the 60% that makes it past ad blockers.
Run email automation for multiple brands, products, or business units on the same Mautic instance. Separate sending domains, distinct campaign logic, shared contact intelligence — without paying for separate platform accounts.
When a customer asks “where is my data?” the answer is your server, in your jurisdiction, under your control. No sub-processors. No data sharing with third parties. No hoping Klaviyo’s DPA covers your compliance requirements. You implement your own data governance policies.
Query email stats, campaign performance, and contact lifecycle data directly. Pipe it into Metabase, Grafana, or any BI tool. Build dashboards that combine email engagement with revenue attribution, product usage, and ad spend — because the data is in a database you control, not an API you’re renting.
The Math Gets Obvious Fast
Mautic hosting costs stay flat. Klaviyo’s pricing scales with your list — and they changed the rules in 2025 to charge for all active profiles, even ones you don’t email.
Mautic costs include VPS hosting + AWS SES for sending ($0.10 per 1,000 emails). Klaviyo pricing from their public plans as of 2026. Your setup cost with us pays for itself within months.
How We Implement
From zero to fully operational email automation in 3-4 weeks.
We map your current email stack, data flows, and automation requirements. Then design the Mautic architecture — hosting, sending infrastructure, integrations, and migration plan.
We provision the server, install and harden Mautic, configure sending infrastructure (AWS SES), and migrate your contacts, segments, and automation flows.
We build your automation campaigns, connect integrations, warm your sending domain, and hand you a fully operational system with documentation and training.
Pricing
One-time setup, then it’s yours. No per-contact fees. No monthly platform costs to us.
Fresh Mautic installation on your infrastructure. Best for businesses starting email automation or replacing a basic tool.
- Server provisioning and Mautic installation
- AWS SES or SMTP configuration with SPF/DKIM/DMARC
- Custom fields and contact properties setup
- Up to 3 automation campaigns built
- Form and landing page integration
- Training session + documentation
Migrate from Klaviyo, Mailchimp, or ActiveCampaign to self-hosted Mautic. We rebuild everything and handle the cutover.
- Everything in Mautic Setup
- Full contact and history migration
- Automation flow recreation (unlimited campaigns)
- Template migration and design adaptation
- Webhook and API integrations
- Domain warmup plan and deliverability monitoring
- 30-day parallel running period
We manage your Mautic instance, build campaigns, monitor deliverability, and keep the system running.
- Server maintenance and Mautic updates
- New campaign and automation builds
- Deliverability monitoring and reputation management
- Segment creation and list hygiene
- Monthly performance reporting
- Priority support
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about self-hosted email automation.
Stop Paying Rent on Your Own Contact List.
Get a free automation audit. We’ll map your current email stack, estimate your annual Klaviyo/Mailchimp spend over the next 3 years, and show you exactly what a self-hosted migration looks like.