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OttoKit keeps widening its WordPress trigger surface one plugin at a time
Comparison · Mkt Auto
Joomla vs Mautic
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Joomla and Mautic — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Joomla vs Mautic: at a glance
What is Joomla?
Two security releases ship the same day, and 6.2 finally clears alpha
Joomla is running three branches at once: 5.4.x as the maintenance line, 6.1.x as the current series, and 6.2.0 now in beta. On 18 August both maintenance branches shipped security releases hours apart — 5.4.8 with 32 merged PRs and 6.1.3 with four — each carrying the same 'install as soon as possible' banner. The release bodies remain download tables and SHA-256 checksums with the merged-PR list at the very end, so the actual change set is only readable from the tail.
What is Mautic?
Mautic is patching three supported branches at once while 7.2 grinds through release candidates.
The project maintains 5.2, 6.0, and 7.1 simultaneously, and it showed: one coordinated security release patched SQL injection, SSRF, and server-side template injection across all three branches on the same day. Since then the visible work has been a 7.1.3 bugfix rollup — campaign restart and infinite email-resend loops, GrapesJS builder regressions — and a 7.2 release candidate line now on its second RC, tagged in late July with no compiled release notes.
Joomla vs Mautic: editorial side-by-side
Joomla
5.0MKT AUTO
Two security releases ship the same day, and 6.2 finally clears alpha
◆ Current state
Joomla is running three branches at once: 5.4.x as the maintenance line, 6.1.x as the current series, and 6.2.0 now in beta. On 18 August both maintenance branches shipped security releases hours apart — 5.4.8 with 32 merged PRs and 6.1.3 with four — each carrying the same 'install as soon as possible' banner. The release bodies remain download tables and SHA-256 checksums with the merged-PR list at the very end, so the actual change set is only readable from the tail.
◆ Where it's heading
The paired-branch pattern that defined the last month has now completed a full cycle: rc1 on 11 August, rc2 on 15 August, finals on 18 August, both branches in lockstep. The fix content is defensive rather than additive — path-traversal checks in com_templates, an ACL check before exposing the user edit link, division-by-zero guards in ListModel and subforms, Smart Search memory limits. Meanwhile 6.2.0 moved from Alpha 3 to Beta 1 after four static weeks, pulling in 19 PRs that include a security flag for updates, secure article preview without frontend login, and a language fallback chain for the AI subsystem.
◆ Prediction
Expect 6.2.0 to run a second beta before a release candidate, and the 5.4.x/6.1.x pair to resume their coupled patch cadence with the next rc pair a few weeks out.
Mautic
5.0MKT AUTO
Mautic is patching three supported branches at once while 7.2 grinds through release candidates.
◆ Current state
The project maintains 5.2, 6.0, and 7.1 simultaneously, and it showed: one coordinated security release patched SQL injection, SSRF, and server-side template injection across all three branches on the same day. Since then the visible work has been a 7.1.3 bugfix rollup — campaign restart and infinite email-resend loops, GrapesJS builder regressions — and a 7.2 release candidate line now on its second RC, tagged in late July with no compiled release notes.
◆ Where it's heading
This is maintenance-shaped output from a community project carrying a wide support matrix. The 7.2 RC notes are dominated by dependency bumps, refactoring, and developer-experience work rather than new marketing automation capability, and the campaign engine keeps surfacing scheduling bugs that suggest that subsystem is where the complexity sits. A second RC without notes points to stabilisation rather than late feature additions.
◆ Prediction
Expect 7.2.0 to reach stable off the current RC line, and expect any further fixes to be backported across all three supported branches as the coordinated May security release was.
Alternatives to Joomla and Mautic
Other Mkt Auto products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Joomla or Mautic.
Craft CMS
Craft 6's alphas keep converting the plugin API, one removal at a time
Buttondown
Buttondown ships almost daily, and most of it is someone else's bug report closed.
Flodesk
Flodesk just moved its analytics out of the dashboard and into Claude and ChatGPT.
Formidable Forms
Formidable widens MCP compatibility and locks down signature files
Mailtrap
Mailtrap is assembling a full email operations platform, one category step at a time
See all Joomla alternatives → · See all Mautic alternatives →
Recent activity from Joomla and Mautic
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 16h agoJoomla6.2.0 reaches beta with secure article preview and update security flags
- 18h agoJoomla5.4.8 security release: path-traversal checks and ACL fix in the maintenance line
- 18h agoJoomla6.1.3 security release ships four backported fixes
- 3d agoJoomla6.1.3 RC2 stages the 6.1 security fixes
- 3d agoJoomla5.4.8 RC2 stages the 5.4 security fixes
- 7d agoJoomla6.1.3 RC1 opens the August patch cycle
- 21d agoMautic7.2.0-rc2: second release candidate on the 7.2 line
- 1mo agoMautic7.1.3 fixes campaign resend loops, restores GrapesJS typography
- 2mo agoMautic7.2.0 RC: dependency cleanup and configurable campaign cache TTL
- 2mo agoMautic7.1.2 security release patches SQL injection, SSRF, and SSTI
- 2mo agoMautic6.0.9 backports the SQL injection, SSRF, and SSTI fixes
- 2mo agoMautic5.2.11 backports the same three security advisories
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Joomla and Mautic?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Joomla and Mautic are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Joomla better than Mautic?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Joomla and Mautic are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Mkt Auto products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Joomla?
Top Joomla alternatives in Mkt Auto are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Joomla alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/joomla for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Mautic?
Top Mautic alternatives in Mkt Auto are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Mautic alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/mautic for the full list with editorial commentary on each.