Install Mautic on a VPS (Free Mail Marketing)

What Mautic does — the free marketing-automation option

Install on a clean Ubuntu VPS, LAMP-shaped:

1. apt install the stack: Apache or Nginx, MySQL/MariaDB, PHP 8.x with the extensions Mautic demands (intl, mbstring, zip, gd, curl).
2. Create the database and a dedicated user with full grants.
3. Download the latest Mautic release zip, extract it into the web root, and open the domain in a browser.
4. Walk the installer: database credentials, admin account, email sending settings.
5. Set the cron jobs — the heartbeat of campaigns (segment updates, campaign reads, message queues) — per the installer's final screen.

Sizing runs 2-4 GB RAM for small lists; deliverability is the real work — SPF, DKIM and DMARC published before the first send, then warm-up discipline. The SPF and DMARC setup guide covers the records, and the VPS server tiers carry the stack; maintenance and costs follow below.

Server requirements and sizing

On Mautic, the honest summary is that defaults matter more than brand names — a well-set budget plan outranks a mis-tuned premium one. WebJi® documents its defaults openly and adjusts them per ticket when workloads need it.

Installation steps on a clean VPS

How this plays out with marketing automation: settings that look cosmetic usually decide page speed and uptime under real traffic. The defaults WebJi® ships are tuned for Indian network conditions, and support can review your setup on request.

Cron jobs — the heartbeat of campaigns

A cron job should call the exact script the app documents, on the interval it documents, and write output to a log you can read. A job that emails you every minute means the path or the PHP binary is wrong. Disable overlapping runs for anything that imports or sends mail.

Email deliverability — SPF/DKIM, warm-up, throttle

Publish one SPF record that includes only the servers allowed to send for the domain, turn on DKIM in the mail panel, and add a DMARC record that starts at p=none while you watch reports. Two SPF records invalidate both. After DNS changes, wait out the TTL before you judge a test message.

Maintenance — upgrades, backups, monitoring

Two practical notes on Mautic cron jobs: it interacts directly with caching and database response, and misconfiguration is the most common cause of 'hosting is slow' tickets. WebJi® support checks it as part of standard migrations.

Costs — VPS plus extras in INR

Costs — VPS plus extras in INR. Do the change this heading names on one site first, then check it in a private browser window or in the mail client, depending on the topic. Change one setting at a time, and undo it if the result is wrong before you try the next. If you want the Jaipur desk to look with you, email support@webji.services — that mailbox is staffed 24/7 in Hindi and English. Phone +91 141 4941811 is business hours only.