Unclaimed: Are you working at Act!?
Act! Reviews: 3.9/5 — Good for the Price
Act! is one of the pioneer brands in its space that evolved into a customer relationship management platform, and cloud-app with a browser-based front end. It offers an integrated email marketing platform that is ideal for small to mid-sized companies. The software also has an easy-to-use dashboard designer with a good marketing automation workflow builder.
| Capabilities |
API
|
|---|---|
| Segment |
Small Business
Mid Market
|
| Deployment | Cloud / SaaS / Web-Based, Desktop Windows, Mobile Android, Mobile iPad, Mobile iPhone, On-Premise Linux |
| Support | 24/7 (Live rep), Chat, Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Phone Support |
| Training | Documentation |
| Languages | English |
Act! sells three cloud tiers at $30, $45, and $60 per user, and what actually separates them is how many marketing emails you can send. Standard allows 2,500 a month, Professional 25,000, and Ultimate 50,000. The CRM underneath is broadly the same product throughout. Understand that and the pricing page stops looking like a capability ladder and starts looking like what it is — an email volume plan with a CRM attached.
- What it is: A long-established CRM for small and mid-sized businesses, bundling contact management with email marketing and, unusually, still offering an on-premise option.
- Best for: Small businesses that want CRM and email marketing from one vendor, and organizations with a genuine need to host data themselves.
- Pricing: Cloud Standard $30, Professional $45, Ultimate $60 per user monthly, billed annually. Premium Desktop $39. Verified July 2026.
- The honest catch: Premium Desktop costs $39 — more than the $30 entry cloud plan — so choosing on-premise is a premium, not a saving.
What Is Act!?
Act! is one of the oldest names in contact management, dating to the late 1980s and passing through several owners since. That history explains both its strengths and its reputation: it is deeply featured and genuinely mature, and it carries an interface lineage that reviewers routinely describe as dated next to newer competitors.
What distinguishes it in 2026 is scope. Most CRMs at this price handle contacts, deals, and activities and expect you to buy email marketing separately. Act! bundles both, and at the higher tiers adds marketing automation, lead scoring, quotes and payments, appointment scheduling, forms and surveys, website chat, event management, project management, and accounting integration. For a small business that would otherwise assemble four subscriptions, that consolidation is the real argument.
It is also one of very few CRMs still selling a genuine on-premise product. Act! Premium Desktop runs on your own infrastructure with networked access, which matters to businesses with data residency requirements or a firm preference for not putting their customer list in someone else’s cloud.
How Act! Works
- Cloud or desktop. Act! Advantage is the hosted line; Act! Premium Desktop is installed and managed by you.
- Email sends as the metering dimension. 2,500, 25,000, or 50,000 per month by tier — the clearest differentiator between plans.
- Contact and pipeline management. The core CRM, full-featured on every tier including the cheapest.
- Bundled marketing. Campaigns and nurture sequences from Professional, full marketing automation with lead scoring on Ultimate.
- Quotes, scheduling, forms, and chat. Standard versions from the entry plan, advanced versions from Professional.
- Cloud storage by tier. 15 GB, 25 GB, and 35 GB respectively.
Act! Pricing
Captured from Act!’s pricing page in July 2026, in US dollars. All plans bill annually.
| Plan | Price/user/mo | Email sends/mo | Storage | Key additions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud Standard | $30 | 2,500 | 15 GB | Full CRM, mobile app, Office 365 and Gmail, standard quotes, forms, chat |
| Premium Desktop | $39 | — | On your servers | On-premise deployment with networked access |
| Cloud Professional | $45 | 25,000 | 25 GB | AI writing assistant, nurture marketing, accounting integration, project management |
| Cloud Ultimate | $60 | 50,000 | 35 GB | Marketing automation, lead scoring, customer portal, custom industry tables |
What this means for your decision:
- The upgrade trigger is email volume, not CRM capability. Standard is described as a “full-featured CRM,” and it is. If you send 2,000 marketing emails a month, Professional’s extra $15 per user buys you send headroom and some marketing tooling, not a better CRM. Work out your send volume first — it is the number that picks your tier.
- 2,500 sends is genuinely tight. A list of 1,000 contacts emailed twice a month exhausts it. Any business doing real email marketing lands on Professional, making $45 the practical entry price.
- Desktop costs more than entry cloud. $39 against $30. On-premise is often assumed to be the cheaper, no-frills option; here it is a deliberate premium for control. Choose it because you need to hold the data, not to save money.
- Everything is billed annually. There is no monthly option advertised, so the free trial is the only low-commitment evaluation.
- Per-user pricing compounds normally. Five users on Professional is $225 a month, ten on Ultimate is $600.
- Consolidation is the value case. At $45 per user you are getting CRM, email marketing, quotes, scheduling, forms, surveys, chat, and project management. Assembled separately from best-in-class tools, that stack costs considerably more.
Who Should Use Act!
- Small businesses wanting one vendor. The clearest case. CRM plus email marketing plus quoting from a single subscription genuinely simplifies both billing and integration.
- Organizations needing on-premise. Act! Premium Desktop is a rare option in a category that has almost entirely moved to cloud.
- Established businesses with existing Act! data. Decades of contact history is a real reason to stay, and migration is genuinely painful.
- Teams doing moderate email marketing. Professional’s 25,000 sends covers most small-business campaigning without a separate platform.
It fits poorly for teams that prize interface quality, where Pipedrive and monday CRM are markedly more pleasant; for businesses wanting a free tier, which HubSpot CRM and Zoho CRM provide; and for sales-led organizations needing deep pipeline analytics, where dedicated sales CRMs go further.
Honest Pros and Cons
Strengths
- Genuine breadth. CRM, email marketing, quotes, scheduling, forms, chat, and project management in one subscription.
- Full CRM on the entry plan. The cheapest tier is not a crippled version of the product.
- On-premise option. Rare, and decisive for organizations with data residency requirements.
- Mature and stable. Decades of development show in feature depth.
- Bundled marketing automation. Lead scoring and progressive profiling at Ultimate, without a separate platform.
- Dedicated onboarding specialist included from the entry tier.
Limitations
- The interface shows its age. The most consistent criticism, particularly against newer competitors.
- Tight email allowance at entry. 2,500 sends pushes most marketing-active businesses to $45.
- Desktop costs more than entry cloud. $39 versus $30, which surprises buyers expecting on-premise to be cheaper.
- Annual billing only. No monthly option for a low-commitment start.
- No free tier. Where several major competitors offer one.
- Bundled tools are adequate, not best-in-class. The forms, chat, and project management are convenient rather than excellent.
Act! Alternatives and How It Compares
- Zoho CRM is substantially cheaper with a free tier, and far stronger if you use other Zoho applications.
- HubSpot CRM has a genuinely free CRM tier and a more modern interface, with costs rising sharply as you add marketing.
- Pipedrive is the better sales-focused pipeline tool, with a cleaner interface and less bundled marketing.
- Keap is the closest philosophical competitor — CRM plus marketing automation for small business — at a higher price.
- Insightly combines CRM with project delivery, which suits services businesses.
- Freshsales and monday CRM are the modern-interface options at comparable cost.
For a broader survey, browse our CRM directory.
The Verdict
Act! is a consolidation play, and judged on those terms it holds up. For $45 per user a small business gets a full CRM, 25,000 monthly marketing emails, quotes and payments, appointment scheduling, forms and surveys, website chat, event management, project management, and accounting integration. Buying those capabilities separately from category leaders would cost noticeably more and require the integrations to be your problem. If you want one vendor, one invoice, and one support number, that is a legitimate and underrated reason to choose it.
The way to price it correctly is to start from email volume rather than user count. Standard at $30 includes the full CRM, so the $15 step to Professional is buying send headroom — from 2,500 to 25,000 a month — plus marketing tooling. A business emailing a list of a thousand contacts twice a month has already exhausted Standard, which makes $45 the realistic entry point for anyone doing marketing at all. Conversely, if you genuinely only need contact and pipeline management, Standard is a complete CRM and there is no reason to move up.
Two honest caveats. The interface is the most consistent criticism in reviews, and if your team has used Pipedrive or monday, Act! will feel dated — that is a real cost in daily use, even if the functionality is there. And note that Premium Desktop at $39 costs more than entry cloud at $30; on-premise here is a deliberate premium for holding your own data, not a budget option. Choose it for control, and if control is not your requirement, the cloud plans are both cheaper and less work.
FAQ
How much does Act! cost?
Act! Advantage cloud plans are $30 per user per month for Standard, $45 for Professional, and $60 for Ultimate, all billed annually. Act! Premium Desktop, the on-premise option, is $39 per user per month. Prices were captured from Act!’s pricing page in July 2026 in US dollars. A free trial is available; there is no free tier.
What is the difference between Act! plans?
Primarily email send volume and bundled marketing. Standard includes the full CRM with 2,500 monthly sends and 15 GB storage. Professional raises that to 25,000 sends and adds an AI writing assistant, nurture marketing, accounting integration, and project management. Ultimate provides 50,000 sends plus marketing automation, lead scoring, a customer portal, and custom industry tables. The core CRM is full-featured on every tier.
Is Act! Desktop cheaper than Act! Cloud?
No — it costs more. Act! Premium Desktop is $39 per user per month against $30 for the entry cloud plan. On-premise deployment here is a premium option for organizations that need to host their own data, rather than a budget alternative. It also means you take on hosting, backups, and updates yourself, which the cloud plans include.
Is Act! still a good CRM in 2026?
It remains functional and unusually broad, bundling CRM with email marketing, quoting, scheduling, and project management in a way few competitors match at the price. Its weakness is the interface, which reviewers consistently describe as dated relative to newer tools. It suits businesses valuing breadth and vendor consolidation over daily polish, and existing Act! customers with substantial contact history.
What is Act! best for?
Small and mid-sized businesses that want CRM and email marketing from one vendor rather than assembling a stack, and organizations with a genuine requirement to host customer data on their own infrastructure. It is a weaker fit for teams prioritising interface quality, for anyone wanting a free tier, and for sales-led organizations needing deep pipeline analytics.
Compare Act! with other popular tools in the same category.
Detailed contact management for the purpose of keeping track of inquiries,, followed by appointments, then student information. Most communication is done by email with regular use of swiftpage email service.
Lack of easy cross platform access. Not easy to get contacts on phone and when traveling, there is no web access to our contact information. Cannot sync off site. Always have to write notes and manually input on office computer.
Use with swiftpage email is efficient enough. Email communication very important.
I understand how it works and can build my own layout and content
I still have to type the information! Printing the diary is complicated
Deals with repetitive matters efficiently
ability to customize forms in a simple way
It needs a modern look, it looks outdated
Act is our only CRM and is used to track customer contact for all of our sales processes
interacts with other software well; all contacts in one place; synchronizes with my Galaxy S7 (and previous versions)
sync not in budget packages; needs to be included in all options; i have to purchase and use a third party solution (with some problems in the past)
keeping me on track with to do and reminder for repeat business
I never miss an opportunity to stay in touch with a client or prospective customer. ACT enables me to be more effective by keeping notes handy and available re the name of a spouse, birthdays, etc.
Periodically, I've had difficulties with interaction between the program and Microsoft.
ACT enables one to overcome the problems associated with contact management
The versatility of designing database to fit your business
I do not have any complaints about Act. Have been using for about 25 years
Real estate business marketing
Act is Intuitive, fast to learn and very flexible. Designing thing like your signature interfacing to Outlook, Word and other programs is huge. Designing reports and templates mays you look professional.
Having Microsoft bomb the seq. server is very annoying but the support group coms through.
Constant contact and emailing customers
Easy to use, easy to teach. I like coming into work everyday going to task manager, view, file , today and I start marking my sales calls. They order or not and I put in a new call back date. I add notes so when I call back I know info about each customer so he thinks hes getting excellent customer service.
I can't get the call backs for today to come up by time. 9:00 am - 6:00Pm
When to call my customers back to get a new order. I call them so they don't have to worry about running out of stock.
Whatever information I have, I can attach to the contact. It has a perpetual history as long as the contact is in the database. I can also set up Groups. I use it not only for buyers and sellers but personal groups with the ability to produce mailing labels, etc. I have been a user of ACT! since about 1990. It has many more features than I use at the present time.
There is nothing that I dislike about the program. I can write letters and Emails to contacts and it auto stores. I can enter daily information on a client that could be used in court if I ever needed to produce the information for client history. Log daily actions with customers and clients.
Just the fact that I can recall information that I have entered about a client, potential client or customer is extremely beneficial. I have repeat clients that use my services over a span of several years. Of the many Real Estate Agent programs I have witnessed over the years (approximately 30 years) ACT! has not only proven to be a program still in existence, but is still going strong. I chose ACT! when I started in Real Estate because it's base program is generic and it had a side program for the Real Estate world. It could be used (adapted to) for any kind of business. Very flexible.
Ease of use, flexibility and suitability. Act! is versatile and does everything that I need.
This is not an Act! issue, but every time there is a Windows update, I have to restart the SQL program
Tracks all our communications with customers, vendors, consultants etc. Allows us to verify which personnel are in contact with each Act! client. Plan visits, calls, emails etc. Great to review past communications.
I have been an ACT user since ACT version 1.0; I would highly recommend to anyone wanting to better manage their day-to-day activity
Some pain during the transition to SwiftPage.
ACT is on all day and I am serving my clients and connecting with prospects to provide our services. The benefit - happy clients!
Easy to use easy to use easy to use easy
not available on MAC please offer MAC version
Keeps all information in one place
I can capture contacts easier and it makes sending e-blasts so easy. It saves so much time with a few clicks.
I have not found anything I don't like so far.
I am able to capture contacts and get information out to them on a timely basis.
Love the system, its a great way to track my client base
Incorporating mailers with a large lists and creating many different reports can take time to manage
Keeps me focused on my cients
I can easily access my clients' and potential clients' information, including notes from every phone call for the entirety of each relationship. By using category designations I can create groups and easily manage tasks related to my business.
I miss the "task bar" which I accidentally deleted but created something similar in a word processing program instead.
I keep a running list of current clients, which I go through regularly to keep my relationships fresh, and a separate for former ones in what I call a "junkpile" - this allows me to make sure my good relationships are up to date and I don't become a pest to the others.
Act makes me more efficient. I now have the ability to control my Prospect / Customer contacts on one easy platform. Maintaining records assists me to be more professional with those I seek business from.
This is my 17th year using Act. I have found a few times software conflicts with Microsoft Office. Corrections were enacted in a reasonable period of time.
Maximizing my daily efficiency using most forms of sales communications.
Act! provides the ability to keep a detail history of all my contacts (3,089 at the moment) along with a tickler as to when to follow up with them. Also gives the user the opportunity to track non-business facts that is a plus when speaking with your network.
Not much. I'm probably not in love with the inability to record history directly in the "Last Results" dialogue box. The words "Field Changed" is the only thing that shows up in the "Last Results" dialogue box (unless I move it manually).
I have a consulting business. Act! has helped me with my practice development to not miss contacts.
It is fast and flexible and built on solid SQL standards.
Due to Microsoft not always playing well with others, sometimes the Outlook integration is not as smooth as I'd like.
Keeps track of our 100,000+ prospects extremely well.
ACT Contact Manager is and has been my "go-to" tool for the past 20 years. I cannot imagine being able to manage the sales cycle without it. My favorite feature is my daily activity list.
I wish the fields were a bit more user-friendly, however, that is not too big an issue because their customer support is good and any issues I have are quickly resolved with a remote session with tech support.
ACT helps very much in ensuring all leads are follow-up on. The benefits are many, but most importantly streamlining the entire sales cycle.
The easy format, low cost and versatility of use, especially with the new cloud and email services
Sometimes computer updates change usability. Takes me a while to understand the instructions for functionality
It is so easy to store and access client information. Simple to email directly from the contact. Looking forward to using the email marketing applications. This is a super benefit for marketing my business services
What I like best about ACT is the simplicity in appearance and functionality as well as the support available. Because the screen is not "busy," you can more easily get on with business without the distractions. It has the functionality I need to manage more than one business. The support team is very relateable and helpful and fully addressed my inquiries. I like that I will be able to serve people more effectively my being more organized. I like the fact that ACT! is on the cloud and I won't have to loose critical contacts and information if my cell phone or computer is lost or stolen.
Originally, it was that I had to commit to a year vs. month-to-month before I was really able to sink my teeth into it, but that was resolved.
Organization. Although I am still in the process of transition from paper to CRM, I am confident that it will be helpful in accomplishing my goals. I will take discipline on my part, but long-term it will help me to be more productive and profitable.
When I talk to my clients and look them up in the database it's easier to talk to them about what the situation is with them and it also assures them that we are taking care of them with notes.
It can be a little slow due to all the storage
Have an easier tie keeping track of clients and their information in case the hard copy is ever lost. Less hard copies needed in general because we can scan and upload the documents to the contact.
The program is responsive and the ACT team's responsiveness and help is an additional key benefit!
I am truly not fond of taking surveys or giving endorsements. Since ACT has be an integral part of my success in business over the last 25+ years, this is one of the few surveys I have willingly responded to in the last five years. ACT may be a key part of your toolbox in the future if you give it a try!
ACT enables adding contacts to appropriate groups, an invaluable too, to use in conjunction with ACT's extensive search capabilities
The immediate organization of our records and the ability to stay on top of our business.
Nothing we have be active ACT! Clients since 2005!
Collaboration with other people in the office has increased our abilities to respond to client needs and close more sales.
It allows me to manage not only my business life and scheduling but also my personal life
The lack of a great mobile app. If Act! had that, it would be the #1 CRM easily.
The ability for Act! to manage one-to-many relationship through custom tables allows for many industries to utilize the product from support to insurance to recruitment
We were able to customize our fields to fit our business tracking each customers transaction which gives us complete visibility to micro and macro data.
Add in for auto calculations forces us to enter every field before calculating total profit per order.
Our supplier was frustrated over our lack of "former customer" information years ago which caused us to implement ACT. Now we know if customers have gone too long on maintenance and need a reminder letter for recommended proper care.
Swiftpage integration and GROUPS. When I send an email blast, the pre-selected contacts in GROUPS is very helpful. I find using Swiftpage very user friendly. I wish the template editor was easier to use, especially importing images. I discovered that using a Swiftpage template allows for easier importing of images. When I create my own email template, I'm limited to text only.
Creating a new email template does not automatically get saved in ACT. Since I upgraded to ACT Pro, the program has frozen on me a few times that required rebooting.
I'm a one man show. ACT allows me to look like a bigger company. I stay in touch with my customers via email blasts using Swiftpage for $30 per month. I'm still evaluating the necessity of this ongoing cost.
Wide range of features. Email marketing. Groups for powerful selection of appropriate marketing prospects. Fabulous history includes email, multiple types of history, notes, images, SocMed integration. I could fill this up by typing anything but the first few sentences really cover everything there is to know about my experience with act.
Best uses probably in Enterprise space, and I am a one artist studio. Windows only: contact management and usage is only Windows. Don't get reminders on my iOS phone and tablet for important meetings or actions due. You folks really piss me off. I spend time that I bill at over $200 per hour. However, I am enraged that there is no simple way to submit validation beyond the screenshot of the Program open to my own contact page. I am happy to go on to complain about the rigidity of the validation process, and the lack of care in setting up the questionnaire in such a way that my 2-shareholder llc can "validate" I have been using this program since the very first version. So I dislike the design and rigidity of this questionnaire. It's not worth a lousy 25 bucks to spend so much time on such a simple thing. So: I dislike the marketing analysis firm. I will NEVER recommend them to anyone! And I have a valid license and annual support contract. The screenshot from the program isn't good enough?! You should be ashamed of yourselves
Management of different types of prospects. Groups are powerful. I have: collectors, patrons and sponsors, new prospects, et cetera.
I like the ease of use and the ability to customize ACT to my liking. It has many features that I like
I wish that more things like ZoomInfo would connect to ACT directly like it does with SalesForce. SalesForce seems to be the main product that everyone is connecting their products to and even though SalesForce isn't a great and easy to use CRM, they seem to be the main one that companies are using today as ACT seems to have lost it's top position to them.
I mainly use it to log my contacts and keep my to do's in one spot.
Scheduling, Emailing, Follow Up, Appointments, Customer Details, Customizing Fields specifically for my clients, and Notes. I love ACT in every aspect of my business solutions.
Sometimes it loses the synchronization with Office 365. There online support, especially Isaac is very helpful and I always get results.
Follow Up, Notes, Birthdays, Appointments, and Goal Setting