Hello friends!

Today we will talk about a tool that helps millions of people automate marketing and significantly simplifies the work of marketers. This tool is called Mautic, and today you will learn what it is, what advantages it has, who needs it, and, of course, how to install it.

What is Mautic?

Mautic is a free, open-source marketing automation platform that helps companies manage and automate their marketing campaigns, customer journeys, and communications.
It is widely used for email marketing, lead generation, campaign tracking, and customer segmentation.

What are the advantages of Mautic?

Mautic has many advantages, but here we will highlight the most commonly mentioned by users:

Marketing automation – creating email sequences, contact segmentation, and triggered scenarios.
Personalization – targeting based on user behavior and interests.
Multichannel – email, SMS, push notifications, social media.
Open source – flexible customization and no licensing restrictions.
Analytics and reports – campaign tracking, ROI, user behavior analysis.
Integrations – CRM, CMS, websites, and other services via API.
Cost-effective – does not require expensive subscriptions if self-hosted.

Who needs Mautic?

This tool is used by many, from hired marketers to large companies.
It is a universal solution for anyone who wants to automate email, set up targeting, and generally dive deeper into marketing.
Whether you are a freelance marketer or work in a company, Mautic will help you improve your workflow.

How to install Mautic on Linux

System update and preparation


sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common

sudo apt update — updates the list of packages and repositories.
sudo apt upgrade -y — updates all installed packages to the latest versions automatically.
Installs necessary packages for working with external repositories:
- apt-transport-https — support for downloading packages via HTTPS
- ca-certificates — security certificates for HTTPS
- curl — utility to download data from URLs
- software-properties-common — allows adding external repositories and managing PPAs

Adding Docker GPG key and repository


curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/docker.gpg

Downloads Docker’s GPG key and saves it for package verification.


echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list /dev/null

Adds the official Docker repository for installing the latest Docker CE versions.

Installing Docker and Docker Compose


sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y docker-ce docker-compose
sudo systemctl enable docker
sudo systemctl start docker

docker-ce — Docker Community Edition
docker-compose — tool for running multi-container applications
systemctl enable docker — enables Docker to start at boot
systemctl start docker — starts the Docker service

Setting up the Mautic project with Docker


mkdir ~/mautic-docker
cd ~/mautic-docker
nano docker-compose.yml

Creates a folder for the Mautic Docker project
Opens docker-compose.yml for editing


version: '3.3'

services:
  mautic:
    image: mautic/mautic:latest
    container_name: mautic
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "8081:80"
    environment:
      - MAUTIC_DB_HOST=db
      - MAUTIC_DB_USER=mautic
      - MAUTIC_DB_PASSWORD=mauticpass
      - MAUTIC_DB_NAME=mauticdb
    volumes:
      - mautic_data:/var/www/html

  db:
    image: mysql:5.7
    container_name: mautic-db
    restart: always
    environment:
      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=rootpass
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=mauticdb
      - MYSQL_USER=mautic
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=mauticpass
    volumes:
      - db_data:/var/lib/mysql

volumes:
  mautic_data:
  db_data:

Creates two containers:
- Mautic — marketing automation platform
- MySQL — database for Mautic
Volumes — store container data on the host system


docker-compose up -d

Starts containers in detached mode.

Installing Apache and setting up a reverse proxy


sudo apt install apache2 -y
sudo a2enmod proxy proxy_http rewrite headers
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/mautic-docker.conf

Installs Apache web server
Enables modules:
- proxy and proxy_http — for proxying requests
- rewrite — URL redirection
- headers — HTTP headers support

Virtual host configuration:


<VirtualHost *:8080>
    ServerName yourdomain.com
    ServerAdmin [email protected]

    ProxyPreserveHost On
    ProxyPass / http://localhost:8081/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:8081/

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/mautic_proxy_error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/mautic_proxy_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Proxies all requests from port 8080 to the Docker container running Mautic on port 8081.


sudo a2ensite mautic-docker.conf
sudo nano /etc/apache2/ports.conf
sudo systemctl reload apache2
sudo systemctl restart apache2

Enables the site and reloads/restarts Apache to apply changes.

Video guide for installing Mautic

For those who prefer to see the full installation process visually, a video tutorial is available:

Conclusion

Mautic is not just a tool—it’s a comprehensive marketing solution for automating routine tasks, speeding up team workflows, and managing all marketing processes efficiently.
It is useful for anyone involved in advertising who wants to reach a higher level.
In this article, we covered what Mautic is and how to install it.

Thank you for reading, and good luck with your marketing campaigns!

Author – Anatolie Cohaniuc

Marketing automation using Mautic