EasyMJML Builder: An open-source MJML email editor for Mautic

OVERVIEW

EasyMJML Builder is a free, self-contained visual email editor for Mautic, built on Easy Email and MJML. It gives marketers and developers an alternative way to create responsive emails without relying exclusively on the standard GrapeJS editing experience.

The plugin provides drag-and-drop editing, a real-time layer tree, direct control over email elements, Mautic asset management, personalisation tokens and support for reusable theme blocks. MJML is converted to responsive HTML client-side, while Mautic continues to manage the email, campaign and sending workflow.

A central objective was to give users more choice without creating migration risk. EasyMJML operates alongside the existing builder and can load content from existing Mautic emails and themes. Teams can therefore test and adopt it incrementally without rebuilding their complete template library.

The project aims to make professional email production more approachable for marketers while preserving the structured MJML workflows, reusable components and maintainable output required by email developers.

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

Creating and maintaining professional emails is a recurring challenge for Mautic users. Marketers need an intuitive visual interface, while designers and developers need responsive output, predictable code and better control over complex email structures.

Community discussions have highlighted frustrations with editing MJML emails, navigating nested layouts, maintaining templates and previewing changes. Alternative integrations have existed previously, but some relied on external editing platforms and accounts.

EasyMJML was developed by Sebastian Fahrenkrog and presented to the wider community by Crafting.email. It targets marketers, developers, agencies and organisations that want a different MJML-oriented workflow while continuing to use Mautic.

The opportunity was to provide a free and embedded alternative editing experience using established open-source technology. The editor is distributed with the plugin and does not require an account with an external email-building service.

IMPLEMENTATION

EasyMJML is installed and activated through Mautic’s plugin system. Once enabled, users can select it when creating or editing an email.

The plugin integrates with several native Mautic capabilities:

• Email/theme content.

• Lead, company and system tokens.

• Asset selection and image uploads.

• User permissions.

• Email saving and version storage.

• Mautic’s plugin and event architecture.

The visual editor is based on Easy Email, an established React and MJML project. It provides drag-and-drop editing, direct element controls and a real-time layer tree that exposes the hierarchy of sections, columns and content blocks.

This layer tree is particularly useful in email because nested structures can be difficult to understand or select directly on a canvas.

The plugin retains structured editor content and generates the compiled HTML required by Mautic. MJML-to-HTML conversion happens client-side, so no external compilation service is required.

EasyMJML also allows Mautic themes to provide custom components through a blocks.json file. Theme developers can define reusable MJML blocks, labels and categories that become available inside the editor. This supports more consistent, component-based email production.

The main branch supports Mautic 5.x, while a separate branch provides compatibility with Mautic 4.4.x. Packaged releases are created through an automated GitHub Actions workflow.

IMPACT AND RESULTS

EasyMJML version 1.0.0 was publicly released on 16 January 2026.

As of 4 September 2026, the public GitHub data shows:

• 22 downloads of the packaged v1.0.0 release.

• 5 GitHub stars.

• No open issues.

• Separate branches for Mautic 5.x and Mautic 4.4.x.

• Public source code and installation documentation.

The release-download figure does not include repository clones, GitHub-generated source archives or copies distributed elsewhere.

The project’s main qualitative impact is the introduction of additional choice. Mautic users can evaluate a different visual email workflow without replacing Mautic, removing GrapeJS or subscribing to an external editing platform.

For marketers, EasyMJML provides a clearer view of complex email structures and direct control over individual elements. For developers and agencies, it provides MJML-based production, custom theme blocks and maintainable source content.

The plugin has also contributed to community discussion about builder usability. Its forum announcement attracted immediate interest from a community member intending to test it, and it has subsequently been recommended in discussions from users seeking a better way to create professional newsletters in Mautic.

As a young project, its adoption is still at an early stage. The initial results demonstrate technical feasibility and a genuine community need, while providing a foundation for broader testing and future production case studies.

LESSONS LEARNED

The project demonstrated that introducing a new email builder is not only a user-interface challenge. Emails and templates are business-critical assets, so users need confidence that trying a different editor will not disrupt existing campaigns.

This made coexistence with the standard builder an important product decision. Teams can adopt EasyMJML gradually instead of committing to an immediate migration.

Another lesson was that a visual canvas does not always reveal the true structure of an email. Nested sections and columns can be difficult to select and reorganise. The layer tree helps users see and manage that underlying structure.

The project also reinforced the importance of connecting an editor properly to the host platform. Mautic themes, tokens, assets, permissions and saving behaviour are essential for the builder to feel like an integrated part of Mautic.

Finally, supporting different Mautic generations requires separate compatibility work. This resulted in a dedicated Mautic 4.4.x branch alongside the main Mautic 5.x version.

FUTURE PLANS

The next stage will focus on maturing the initial release through:

• Compatibility testing with newer Mautic releases.

• Evaluation of Mautic 6 and Mautic 7 support.

• Improved installation and troubleshooting documentation.

• Automated testing of the Mautic integration.

• More reusable theme blocks and example templates.

• Improved localisation.

• Testing with more complex MJML themes.

• Better documentation for theme developers.

• Structured feedback from marketers, agencies and developers.

• Production case studies measuring email creation and maintenance time.

The long-term goal is to establish EasyMJML as a dependable option for component-based email production within Mautic.

COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONS

EasyMJML contributes a complete alternative editing workflow to the Mautic ecosystem without requiring modifications to Mautic core.

Its community contributions include:

• A free, embedded MJML visual editor for Mautic.

• Integration with Mautic themes, tokens and assets.

• Custom reusable theme blocks through blocks.json.

• Storage of editable content and compiled email HTML.

• Version storage when emails are saved.

• Compatibility branches for two Mautic generations.

• Public installation and theme-development documentation.

• Automated packaged releases.

• Public discussion around email-builder usability and professional MJML workflows.

The project connects three open-source ecosystems: Mautic, Easy Email and MJML. Crafting.email has supported its visibility by publishing a feature overview and presenting it to the Mautic community.

The project also builds upon ideas explored by earlier third-party builder integrations while replacing the need for an externally hosted editor with an embedded, open-source editing experience.

SUPPORTING MATERIALS

Project overview and screenshots:
https://crafting.email/plugin/easymjml-builder/

Source code and documentation:
https://github.com/sebastian-fahrenkrog/EasyMjmlBundle

Version 1.0.0:
https://github.com/sebastian-fahrenkrog/EasyMjmlBundle/releases/tag/v1.0.0

Mautic 4.4.x branch:
https://github.com/sebastian-fahrenkrog/EasyMjmlBundle/tree/v4

Community announcement:
https://forum.mautic.org/t/a-free-alternative-to-grapesjs-for-mautic-easymjml-builder/38090

Community discussion about email-builder usability:
https://forum.mautic.org/t/do-you-really-use-the-built-in-editor-to-create-emails/38196

Easy Email:
https://github.com/zalify/easy-email-editor

INCLUSION AS A CASE STUDY

Yes. We are happy for EasyMJML Builder to be included as a case study on the mautic.org website and in the Mautic Pitch Deck.

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