Unclaimed: Are you working at ActiveCampaign for Marketing?
ActiveCampaign for Marketing Reviews: 4.5/5 — Highly Rated
ActiveCampaign is an integrated marketing tool that easily automates email marketing strategies and creates targeted campaigns. While automated marketing is a core component of the system, ActiveCampaign is a powerful tool that can do so much more. The software is known for being able to deliver a personalized experience across all customer touchpoints, track buyer behavior and preferences, customize send-outs, and gather data from every stage of the customer lifecycle, just to name a few.
| Capabilities |
AI
API
|
|---|---|
| Segment |
Small Business
Mid Market
Enterprise
|
| Deployment | Cloud / SaaS / Web-Based, Mobile Android, Mobile iPad, Mobile iPhone |
| Support | 24/7 (Live rep), Chat, Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Phone Support |
| Training | Documentation |
| Languages | English |
ActiveCampaign for Marketing Pros and Cons
- Powerful email builder
- Machine learning enabled helps boost marketing results
- Seamlessly integrates with automations
- On-site chat is an additional, paid add on
- Advanced feature are complicated to use and navigate.
ActiveCampaign’s $15 Starter plan limits each automation to five actions. On a platform bought specifically for automation, that is the number that decides your plan — a welcome sequence, a lead-scoring flow, or an abandoned-cart journey all run past five steps quickly. And the discount you get for accepting that limit shrinks as your list grows: at 25,000 contacts, Starter is displayed at $391 a month while Plus, which has no action cap at all, is $389.
- What it is: A marketing automation platform combining email, automation, CRM, and now WhatsApp, built around a visual automation builder.
- Best for: Businesses whose value comes from behavioural automation rather than from sending newsletters.
- Pricing: Starter $15, Plus $49, Pro $79, Enterprise $145 per month at 1,000 contacts, billed annually. Verified July 2026.
- The honest catch: Starter and Plus are single-user plans; three users arrive at Pro.
What Is ActiveCampaign?
ActiveCampaign’s reputation rests on its automation builder, which is genuinely one of the best in the category: branching conditions, goals, split tests, wait steps, and CRM actions arranged visually. Where most email tools bolt automation onto a newsletter product, ActiveCampaign is an automation product that also sends email.
The 2026 lineup adds two structural things. Channels are now chosen before plans — Email, WhatsApp, or Email + WhatsApp are separate price families — and “Active Intelligence”, the AI layer, appears on every tier but carries unstated limits on Starter and Plus. The page also offers a results guarantee: 30 days or your money back.
Prices are set by contact count through a selector, so every published figure describes a list size rather than a plan.
How ActiveCampaign Works
- Priced by email contacts, chosen from a dropdown that runs from 1,000 to 150,000.
- Automation actions are the Starter cap — five per automation, unlimited from Plus.
- Users ladder late. One on Starter and Plus, three on Pro, five on Enterprise.
- Landing pages start at Plus, not Starter.
- Attribution and conversion tracking start at Pro.
- WhatsApp is a separate plan family, priced independently of email.
ActiveCampaign Pricing
Captured from ActiveCampaign’s pricing page in July 2026 in US dollars, Email plans, billed annually, reading the contact selector at each size.
| Contacts | Starter | Plus | Pro | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $15 | $49 | $79 | $145 |
| 5,000 | $79 | $145 | $205 | $375 |
| 10,000 | $149 | $189 | $375 | $589 |
| 25,000 | $391 | $389 | $629 | $879 |
| 50,000 | $391 | $609 | $969 | $1,169 |
What actually decides your plan:
- Five actions per automation is a hard ceiling, not a soft one. A welcome series that sends three emails with waits between them has already spent its budget. If automation is why you are here — and it usually is — Starter is an email tool with a decorative automation feature, and Plus is the first plan that does the job.
- The Starter discount evaporates with list size. At 1,000 contacts Plus costs 3.3 times more; at 10,000 it costs 27% more; at 25,000 the pricing table shows Starter at $391 against Plus at $389. Whatever the reason for that crossover, nobody with a 25,000-contact list should be choosing Starter over Plus on price.
- Starter’s displayed price stops rising at $391. It reads $391 at 25,000, 50,000, and 75,000 contacts while every other tier keeps climbing. That may be a deliberate ceiling or a quirk of the selector; either way, confirm it with ActiveCampaign before building a budget on it.
- Landing pages require Plus. Starter sends and automates but does not host pages, which matters if you were planning to run campaigns end to end.
- One user until Pro. Both Starter and Plus are single-seat, so a second marketer means $79 at 1,000 contacts — a fivefold step from the headline.
- Attribution is a Pro feature. Knowing which campaign produced revenue starts at $79, which is worth weighing if proving ROI is part of the job.
Who Should Use ActiveCampaign
- Businesses running genuine behavioural automation. The clearest case, and where the builder outclasses most competitors.
- Ecommerce operators. Deep store integrations plus abandoned-cart and post-purchase flows are a core strength.
- Teams wanting email and CRM together. The built-in CRM removes an integration for smaller sales teams.
- Companies adding WhatsApp to the mix, now a first-class channel rather than an integration.
It fits poorly for simple newsletters, where MailerLite or Kit cost far less; for large lists mailed infrequently, where Brevo’s send-based pricing is structurally cheaper; and for teams needing multiple seats early, since three users requires Pro.
Honest Pros and Cons
Strengths
- The best automation builder in its price range. Conditions, goals, and split tests done properly.
- A real CRM included, not a contact list relabelled.
- Deep ecommerce integrations for cart recovery and post-purchase flows.
- WhatsApp as a native channel rather than a bolt-on.
- A 30-day results guarantee, unusual in the category.
- Transparent contact-based pricing, published across the full list-size range.
Limitations
- Five actions per automation on Starter, which undercuts the reason to buy it.
- Starter’s value collapses as lists grow, and inverts against Plus at 25,000 contacts.
- Single user on Starter and Plus.
- No landing pages below Plus.
- Attribution requires Pro at $79.
- AI limits on Starter and Plus are unstated — “limits apply” without a number.
ActiveCampaign Alternatives and How It Compares
- Mailchimp is better known and easier to start with, but weaker on automation logic at comparable prices.
- Brevo charges by emails sent rather than contacts stored, which is structurally cheaper for large, rarely-mailed lists.
- Klaviyo is the ecommerce specialist, stronger on store data and more expensive as profiles accumulate.
- GetResponse and Omnisend occupy similar ground, the latter ecommerce-focused.
- MailerLite and Kit are the cheaper options for creators and simple sending.
- HubSpot Marketing Hub is the heavier all-in-one, with costs that escalate quickly.
For a broader survey, browse our marketing automation directory.
The Verdict
ActiveCampaign earns its reputation. The automation builder handles branching logic, goals, and conditional content with a fluency that most competitors at this price cannot match, the CRM is genuinely useful rather than nominal, and the ecommerce integrations make cart-recovery and post-purchase flows straightforward. If your marketing depends on what individual contacts do rather than on what you send everyone, it belongs on the shortlist.
Ignore the $15. Starter caps every automation at five actions, and five actions is not an automation — it is a short sequence. Three emails with a wait between each has consumed the allowance before you have added a condition or a goal. Since automation is the entire reason to prefer ActiveCampaign over a cheaper email tool, buying Starter means paying for the product’s reputation while being locked out of the thing that earned it. Plus at $49 is the honest entry price.
Then set the contact selector to your actual list size, because the plan gap behaves strangely as lists grow. At 1,000 contacts Plus costs 3.3 times Starter; at 10,000 it is only 27% more; and at 25,000 the table shows Starter at $391 against Plus at $389 — the entry plan costing more than the tier above it. Starter’s displayed price then holds at $391 while everything else climbs, which is odd enough that it is worth confirming directly with ActiveCampaign rather than planning around. The practical conclusion is unchanged either way: the cheapest plan is only meaningfully cheap on a small list, and on a small list its automation limit is exactly what you cannot afford.
FAQ
How much does ActiveCampaign cost?
Captured in July 2026 in US dollars for Email plans billed annually at 1,000 contacts: Starter $15, Plus $49, Pro $79, and Enterprise $145 per month. Prices rise with contact count — at 10,000 contacts they are $149, $189, $375, and $589. WhatsApp and Email + WhatsApp are separate plan families with their own pricing. A 30-day results guarantee applies.
What is the 5-action limit on ActiveCampaign Starter?
Starter permits five actions per automation, where an action is any step — sending an email, waiting, applying a tag, updating a field, or branching. A three-email welcome sequence with waits between the emails reaches the limit immediately. Every plan from Plus upward includes unlimited automation actions, which is why Plus is the realistic entry point for anyone buying ActiveCampaign for automation rather than for sending.
Why does Starter cost more than Plus at 25,000 contacts?
That is what ActiveCampaign’s own contact selector displays: $391 for Starter against $389 for Plus at 25,000 contacts. Starter’s shown price then remains $391 at 50,000 and 75,000 while the other tiers keep rising. It may be a deliberate ceiling on the entry plan or a quirk in the pricing table, so confirm it before budgeting — but at that list size there is no price argument for Starter over Plus in any case.
How many users does ActiveCampaign include?
Starter and Plus are both single-user plans. Pro includes three users and Enterprise five. That makes Pro the practical entry point for any marketing team rather than a solo operator, and at 1,000 contacts that is $79 per month against the $15 headline — worth establishing before you compare it against competitors that include several seats lower down.
Is ActiveCampaign better than Mailchimp?
For automation, clearly yes — the builder handles branching conditions, goals, and split tests with more depth than Mailchimp offers at comparable prices, and the built-in CRM is a real one. Mailchimp is easier to start with, better known, and has a free tier. Choose ActiveCampaign when behavioural automation drives revenue, and something simpler when you mostly need to send good-looking campaigns to a list.
Compare ActiveCampaign for Marketing with other popular tools in the same category.
What's invaluable about marketing with ActiveCampaign is that I'm able to automate the communication with my community, as well as deliver a smoother client experience for my online products.
There are various little things that I want to be able to do in ActiveCampaign. For example, to be able to make a change to an email template and have all emails that use this template be updated.. Or to combine two separate email automation under a single automation workflow.. Or transition an email campaign made into new newest email designer with a single click instead of re-creating the email.
Facilitating the conversations I have with my community as well as keeping track of lead and client behaviour.
While there is a steep learning curve, once you understand how to use automations within active campaign, it's far and wide the best tool out there for email marketing.
The latest changes to email campaigns I believe are a step back from where they were in early 2023. The new designer tool isn't as intuitive as it was before
Being able to fully automate my email sequencing, allowing a seemless process from ad > email > conversion. We save a huge amount of time by automating the full process.
Automation and ease of use and customer service is on par with a lot of other major platforms
Nothing to dislike everythingis functioning well
communication with customers
I really enjoy the work flows and automations. Once we have something set, for the most part, it runs smoothly. We have hundreds of leads every month, almost 0 issues!
It is a little pricey. I also wish sms was easier, but that seems to be an issue with all platforms.
Time! i have a lot more time on my hands!
I use GroupKit to run two Facebook groups, and I love how ActiveCampaign connects to it to send welcome emails, etc. I also found it so easy to use automations than any other site I've used.
Nothing really. I haven't found anything that is a problem.
Automating Facebook welcome emails.
Number of features, Ease of integration with other apps and software that I have Grows with me Split testing option CRM
For a small buisness it can be quite overwhelming at first! there is a lot of things the AC does, I'd love to be able to explore them all! It get's much more expensive when you grow, making it harder to budget for
Easy templates to reuse and brand to send personalised messages to my audience. Integrates to capture emails from website, lead magnets and funnels Automation of email sequences
ActiveCampaign is easy to use and has been reliable for the two years I have been using it. It also integrates with the software I use for my online courses so i can automate everything.
I wish there was a way to export all the email content as I often write my emails directly into ActiveCampaign rather than saving them elsewhere. Would like to export so I can repurpose some of the copy.
Allows me to build an email subscriber list.
As a UX expert, and having used over 10 popular ESPs, ActiveCampaign remains my favorite. It provides the best automated features and usability for the price. I love that I can use AC to integrate directly (not using Zapier) with just about any 3rd party app on the market. This, coupled with the abundant customization power of AC, enables me to create an engaging customer experience at every touch point along my customer's journey.
The downside is that it's not the cheapest ESP for a new solopreneur. Most newbies start with a less feature-rich platform like Mailchimp, because of the low cost (even free). The problem is, once they start growing their list above 1500 or so, and realizing that they need some automations in place, they may be so entwined with it that they find it hard to move. And that's when they start paying more for a less powerful ESP. I wish AC had a less expensive entry so it would be even easier to refer others.
It makes it easy to automate email sequences for onboarding, page abandonment, and easily segment my list based on user behaviors.
Sending marketing emails on autopilot allows me to focus on other areas of my business. Using their preset recipes takes some of the work out of creating autoresponders.
I haven't really come across anything! I sometimes wish that I had more time to dive into all that it has to offer.
Activecampaign has provided an easy way to keep in touch with my current and past clients and leads while also allowing me to grow my lead list. This allows me to increase my outreach to individuals with ADHD and to have a way to share information and offers with them.
I like the ease of use and that it seems to land in people's inboxes more easily.
I have been getting told more and more that my emails are getting in spam or junk. That didn't used to be the case.
Reaching out to my customer every week and nurturing during lead generation
I love AC because of The ease of creating automations.
I wish there was a lower plan because I do not use or need all of the options on the plan that I have.
Automating my emails
It is really popular which means lots of people are familair and it is gaining more and more integrations ect. A lot of my clients use Active Campaign and are happy with it!
can be a little slow at times and sometimes it prompts you to do certain tasks in certain order that is confusing at first, but of course after you use it once it is fine!
Allowing Conversational Marketing and saving time for my sales team, it puts us ahead in segmentation from our competition.
Using Active Campaign last year, I gained 220 conversions with a total value of about $91,000 USD. The best thing about it is that once set up it just runs itself. Automations score candidates and invite them to calls, creating a passive lead stream.
Set up is a bit tough. Compared to MailChimp, some functions are not as clear. It could be better if there were set-up wizards to guide through certain processes.
Customer engagement. We've narrowed down a highly-engaged segment of the community that is really interested. It makes it easier to target them. Performance is increased. Now we are #3 in sales through email vs other channels.
I've used a lot of different email marketing platforms (Mailerlite, Flodesk, Converkit, Klaviyo, Mailchimp) and I can without a doubt say that ActiveCampaign has the best features for managing automations and flows for leads. No other system allows you so much flexibility and customizations while still looking good. But on top of that, over the past month I've had a lot of special requests for things that I messed up on and needed to fix and their customer service is so helpful, patient, and flexible. It's rare to get that high level of service and I will be forever grateful to their team. They are so quick to respond.
The only thing I dislike is the investment structure. It's a bit more pricey than some of the others I mentioned and because their plans are primarily annual only, it makes it hard to commit to that investment every year. Oh and I don't like the reporting. I need more details and more options to dig deeper at the Professional level plan. I'd love for the integration with Shopify to work more like Klaviyo so I can see microdetails about someone's purchase history and website history.
I need email marketing to help me automate some of my marketing because I'm a solo business owner. I don't always have the time or motivation to be active on social media. It's also one of my highest converting marketing platforms (email) so my profit depends on the success of my emails. ActiveCampaign has always made it very easy to segment my lists, move people throughout the funnel, and do a lot of customizations.
The simplicity of their design. Their customer support is also fantastic.
Perhaps more video tutorials would be helpful.
Contacting my customers with email marketing.
How I can save a lot of time by sending bulk emails. Also how you are always on command
A lot of times I have to research about active campaign to know what to do, but it would much helpful if after every section , you had a link explaining how to use this
It is saving much time with its well designed templates etc so I don't have to , making it much easier for marketing agencies to outreach
Active campaign has been my favorite email automation platform to use and has created an easy way for me to engage with my subscribers. Their platform is user friendly and SO versatile. If I need something automated there is always a way to make it happen with Active Campaign.
The platform capabilities are so comprehensive that it takes a while to learn.
Time! Running a small business takes a lot of work and time. Active Campaign saves me time because they have a repetitive way for me to send my weekly newsletters to everyone on my lists.
Very easy to use with great functionality. Also looks visually appealing unlike most of the competition.
Can get expensive with large amounts of data
It allows us to manage our contacts in a more profitable manner. It helps us efficiently send automated or campaign based emails to all our contacts in a nice professional visually appealing format, tags when they click open links and lets up track everything.
I love being able to tailor an email to my client list in minutes. I know it looks professional and clean. I also like being able to catagorize my contants at a glance.
I haven't seen any downsides...the program is pretty user friendly.
It let's me get multiple emails out at once and even allows me to personalize them.
ActiveCampaign is a reliable way to securely deliver email marketing messages to my Write On Creative Community. The segmentation capabilities ensure the right messages are reaching the right people. Deliverability rates are impressive, and the support desk has been helpful.
Some of the features are more advanced than what I need right now, but I like that there are options to grow.
ActiveCampaing provides secure delivery of email in accordance with the CAN Spam act.
Active Campaign is very easy to set up and also very affordable. I like that you can create different funnels and have different content sent to different people, depending on their interests. It's a nice low-cost business option, but with a lot of functionality.
I don't think there is anything I dislike really. I'm sure I'm not using to its full advantage, but so far like all of it.
Staying top of mind with customers, giving potential customers value. Was able to sell a course enrollment to my newsletter list.
I've been using AC for quite some time for list building and establishing relationships with my potential clients and nurturing ones with existing clients. It's very user friendly and intuitive.
I would like to see the app improved as it has a very limited features. I would want to see more detailed reports as on the desktop version.
I use AC primarily for email marketing purposes, and I love it. I have email automations set up and weekly newsletters scheduled way in advance.
My favorite thing about active campaign is the massive amount of customization for automations. Tracking open rates and sending my email list through a specific funnel if they have or have not read my email.
It can be laggy sometimes but it's not bad at all.
It is cutting out a tonne of time that it would otherwise take me to manually send emails to customers and leads. It just runs seamlessly in the background.
Easy way of working with Automation and Tags. It makes the daily work with the AC tool better and faster. We used other agencies, but we can say it was much more challenging to build the automation which we needed.
Performance could be a little bit faster.
We use very complex automation for Webinars and Coachings, and we also build a customer bonus program with points and goodies, this thing we could create with the automation in Active Campaign. We use AC as a CRM with many custom fields where we input the information from many forms
What I like best about ActiveCampaign for Marketing is the flexibility it offers with campaigns and automations. Most other tools I've tried are always missing *something*. You could be paying for a premium package and still have to upgrade to enterprise for 1 teeny, tiny little thing you need to optimize your launch or welcome email sequences (for example); even when you're a small business owner or solopreneur... With Active Campaign, I get everything I need and it is SO customizable + a CRM which makes moving from marketing to deals/sales SO easy. I literally could not say enough good things!
I would say the biggest think I dislike about ActiveCampaign is the learning curve for creating segments and their lingo in general. Some of the field options do not or did not make much sense to me when I first looked at them. I figured there was a way to segment my emails the way I wanted, but I couldn't figure out how to do it on my own. Thankfully Active Campaign does assign you an onboarding person to help, and they do have quite a bit of documentation as well! It takes some patience, but it's worth the flexibility! I think another thing they could do better is give suggestions to improve email performance. They have links to documentation for best practices, but personalized suggestions could be helpful! Also, AI is everywhere these days. I'd love to see an in-app AI that can review my campaigns and give me feedback on tone, grammar, make my ideas more concise, or help me write a first draft as it learns my voice!
It's helping me keep track of my lists, schedule campaigns and create automations, see my metrics so I can make data-driven decisions, and more.
I really like the in-depth targeting and funnels that are available with ActiveCampaign. It makes providing my audience with what they actually want so much easier. Other platforms don't allow you to get as granular within their automations.
At this point, the price point is extremely high for small businesses and it makes using the platform less accessible. And as someone who was referring my clients to AC regularly and setting up their new AC accounts, it is rather disappointing. I also do not think their forms are very attractive.
It makes connecting with my email list very straightforward and easy. And it makes creating detailed funnels more powerful and successful.
Active Campaign is easy to use, very user friendly. The drag and drop fuctions makes designing a professional and engaging email so simple! It is also super simple to create automations to keep your customers engaed and up todate.
There isn't anything I dislike about ActiveCampaign, it is a fantastic for creating, schedulling and sending email campaigns and automations, also great for keeping a database of all our contacts.
The scheduling side of things is the best as it is prescheduled we don't have to remember to send emails out to customers and can create emails in bulk to send in advance.
I can integrate with SamCart using tags.
I am not sure whether it works with a dialer for cold callers. it appears I need to integrate it with other apps to get a robust marketing tech stack.
Following up with customers for upselling and customer support.
Cheaper than Hubspot with many of the same or similar features.
Customer support has been a little difficult at times
Automation for follow ups and other ways to stay top of mind are great
It allows you to automate in a very flexible way.
It's quite daunting to start with. You need to build up your knowledge.
We are segmenting our database and increasing our profitability. It makes it easy for us to have a CRM
