Managed Mautic vs tiered ESP pricing

Most public comparisons of Mautic cost stop at "software is free" and "hosting runs £X/month". This calculator adds the delivery layer that every Mautic instance needs — the SMTP vendor, the per-thousand send rates, the tier jumps once you exceed plan allowances. Those line items are what the ESP's contact-based pricing is actually covering for you, bundled into tier jumps. Seeing them separately makes the trade-off honest: flat infrastructure plus pay-per-send against per-subscriber subscription fees that climb as your list grows.

The break-even point is the subscriber count where the two curves cross. Below it, the ESP is cheaper; above it, managed Mautic wins. But the gap widens differently at each tier boundary, so the exact number depends on your sending frequency and which delivery vendor you pair with Mautic. All those inputs stay on screen while you adjust them, so the result comes from your actual numbers rather than an average case someone else assumed.

Once you're past the crossover and you own the infrastructure, the supporting layers become your responsibility. The IP warm-up playbook covers how to build reputation safely on new sending infrastructure, the preflight checklist verifies authentication before a campaign goes live, and the DMARC report reading checklist shows what the reports tell you about who is actually sending as you. All free. If you would rather hand the delivery layer to someone who runs it as part of the managed service, the discussion starts with your current numbers.