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.
The CRM function; I can keep track of the customers I have.
Hard to duplicate or work with some of the campaign templates.
It is giving me more access to my potential customers and allowing me to offer content and marketing opportunities to my audience. The ability to continually publish to my potential customers allows me repetitive exposure which leads them to contact me when ready.
Easy to use! We love the insights and data we can track.
At this point we really like everything about it!
We are able to send mass emails and provide our clients with updates about our company.
ACtive Campaign its a full suite of features to automate email marketing, from the sales process to customer support and nurturing users. This is one of the best tools in this niche.
Sadly It's too expensive for the number of users we can use. :-( Get cheaper, please!
Active Campaign can help to send emails to specific users based on their actions and activities. So if we nail down the user's need, we can offer what they need when they are searching for it.
Easy to set up and very intuitive, have integration with all other software that I use daily
Sometimes it might be a little slower when the automation flown became bigger
An easy CRm with a powerful email.marketing automation
The automation features and CRM integrations for effective and personalized marketing campaigns.
The learning curve for beginners can be a bit tough at the start, but pays out once you learn the tool.
It streamlines marketing efforts automating our marketing campaigns. Without this tool it would be much harder to coordinate the marketing efforts of our clients with all the actors involved.
One of the best things about ActiveCampaign for marketing is its high level of automation and personalization options. With ActiveCampaign, you can easily create automated campaigns that are triggered by specific customer actions or behaviors, and you can personalize your messages to each individual customer. This helps to increase engagement, build stronger relationships with your customers, and ultimately drive more conversions. Additionally, ActiveCampaign offers robust reporting and analytics tools that allow you to track the success of your campaigns and make data-driven decisions about your marketing strategy.
The cost of ActiveCampaign may be a bit high for smaller businesses, but many users believe that the value they receive from the platform justifies the cost. Personally, I think that ActiveCampaign offers a wide range of features and tools for marketing automation that can help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Although it may be a bit expensive for some businesses, the return on investment that can be obtained through the use of the platform can be significant. Overall, I would recommend that businesses carefully evaluate their needs and budgets before deciding if ActiveCampaign is the best option for them.
ActiveCampaign has been a crucial tool for me in generating automations and streamlining sales processes. With the platform, I'm able to automate tasks such as sending personalized emails to customers based on their behavior, segmenting customers based on their interests, and nurturing leads to eventually convert them into sales. Without ActiveCampaign, these tasks would be much more difficult and time-consuming to accomplish. The ability to automate these processes has allowed me to focus on other important aspects of my business, while also driving more sales and revenue. Overall, ActiveCampaign has been a game-changer for my business in terms of marketing automation and sales growth.
It is really great. It allows you to do proper retargeting.
Not a lot. Somtimes the ux and speed could be better
Communicating and marketign to customers.
Easy to use, very user friendly, and intuitive user interface
It can be expensive for startups so it could be a barrier for some businesses.
It is saving so much time for me. I do not have to manually follow the customer journey. Instead, the automation take care of this process.
I love that there are so many advanced email marketing features that are included in my very affordable subscription. I came from HubSpot's Marketing Starter package, which did not have all the functionality I needed without moving up to the next pricing tier - a $10k jump. Too prohibitive for the small business I work for. ActiveCampaign is an excellent alternative and the price is very affordable for those with tight marketing budgets.
I am a b2b marketer, and I use ActiveCampaign more as a CMS. Some features are better suited for b2c/e-commerce and marketers trying to grow and manage an email marketing list.
I use ActiveCampaign to communicate with a customer base and the insurance brokers who place employer clients with us. The high deliverability is nice, ensuring our clients see important notifications. As for data management, it's a bit cumbersome since most of my contacts are added manually as new cases are sold, contact details change, and clients terminate. Having to click into each field to type is a little much.
I have reclaimed so much of my time since signing up for ActiveCampaign. I love that I am able to set automation that works in the background for me while I focus my attention elsewhere.
It can be a little overwhelming. I'd love more training on all of it's functions on a 101 level.
It allows me to stay in front of my clients - without sacrificing my time to remember to do it. The automation is priceless!
Active Campaign is simple, easy to use, and effective. It's the number one leader in ROI for our marketing budget. Compared to other platforms, the customer service is head and shoulders above the rest.
There's not much I can say to complain about active campaign. Occasionally, I'll hit the wrong button on my keyboard and delete an entire email, and there's not much of an undo button. Other than that, no major complaints!
The automations allow me to put my welcome sequences on autopilot. I can load up a sequence and have it go to everyone who joins the list, creating multiple marketing touch points and keeping me top of mind, which is key in retail.
I used to pay literally 8x more/month than this for --another similar service. ActiveCampaign has every feature and more. The platform is so robust, I know I'm only using the tiniest fraction of what I could be using. There are tons of resources for support. I can do everything I want to do and more. I love that I can usually use a bit of ingenuity and come up with ways that activecampaign can continue to make my life easier. Can't wait to see what else I can do!
I'm really struggling to come up with something that frustrates me, but the only things I can think of are things having to do with integrations with other apps. I wish that ActiveCampaign had more native integrations without relying on zapier. I find the zapier process to be glitchy.
I use it to automate my workflow since I work with different types of contacts including my clients, prospects as well as my contractors who are not employees so I have to be able to work cohesively with others and the notification emails are helpful to me to communicate to my contractors about their cases/clients
It is user-friendly and easy to understand and set up.
Nothing so far! I have loved using this platform.
Active Campaign is helping me reach my subscribers as well as automate digital products I have available.
We love the ease of every element of ActiveCampaign, from newsletter design, automations, pipelines, contact system and the dashboard. It helps us manage projects too, especialy those where we are all involved at different stages. I pay $1 per year to maintain regular contact with our long client list - a great investment. Since we started using AC we have seen our revenue grow significantly. One of the most outstanding things about AC is the ongoing support and training. We have been blown away by how helpful and accessible this training and support has been from the time we signed up 18 months ago.
The only thing which functioned more easily on our previous CRM was how emails showed up in each contact. We could more easily track the communication between our colleagues and each client, especially helpful when clients forget to reply all!
We're so busy and AC gives us such easy way to provide meaningful and engaging content to our client list, as well as automated communication about the programs they have booked in for.
It is very easy to navigate and set up email campaigns for my business. It's also cost effective. Highly recommend if you're a small business and don't have the funds for a premium account on popular platforms like hubspot.
I dislike that my developers and email template creators need to constantly verify their account to login and I have to relay the code to them. Super frustrating.
Creating a system so that I'm not constantly having to email clients updates on their orders. This allows me to set up a system where when x happens, y email gets sent automatically.
I've been in internet marketing for over 20 years, Activecampaign is my hands-down go-to every time.
None. I have yet to find any faults not overcompensated by it's benefits
Email deliverability and marketing automation can get bulky and overcomplicated quickly. Activecampaign is completely streamlined.
Use friendly and easy to integrate on different platforms.
A bit slow. It hangs every time I use it, sometimes the site doesn't open well.
It helps me reach a wider audience: which helps me get more sales.
I love how easy it is to integrate ActiveCampaign into the entirety of my business. It essentially helps me connect my website, lead generation, social media, and blog. It has so many capabilities and is extremely useful when it comes to nurturing my leads and bringing in new customers.
The only downside to ActiveCampaign is how complex it is. This is of course extremely helpful, but it can take extra time to learn about all the features it has in order to use it to its full capacity.
Activecampaign allows me to engage with my customers in an incredibly personal way. I love how customizable and automatic everything is. It gives me peace of mind to know that my customers are taken care of no matter what.
We use Active Campaign for our recruiting. The platform is very user-friendly and has all the functions we need. It helps us stay organized and collaborate on different deals.
Having to enter a value to each deal - it's a great feature but we don't need it for what we use. We could do without this feature.
Getting organized and collaborating - for recruitment.
ActiveCampaign is truly the only way to go. The capabilities and ease of use are incomparable!
I would love it if ActiveCampaign added URLs as a part of the contact fields so that personalization tags can be clickable URLs. Future state!
ActiveCampaign allows our customer communication to be well-organized and clear. We keep the lines of communication tight with ActiveCampaign, all throughout the customer journey.
I like the ease with which I can create email automations and link automations based on different actions. I run different ad groups and they feed into different automations.
Nothing really. I am only using such a small slice of what is possible.
As a real estate agent, I need to keep myself in front of my clients and prospects. Active campaign allows me to do that by adding them to one list and then they receive emails all year long
ActiveCampaign is dynamic and easy to use! I love that I can creat automations and campaigns without having to take a bunch of classes to figure it all out. Easy for beginners.
What is least helpful about ActiveCampain is there is no automatic question or ability to select a campaign that I recently sent and automagically add it to my automation sequence.
I can resuse my campaigns by simply cloning them which saves me a ton of time.
The automations are my favorite tool because they help engage new leads.
Upgrading for landing pages because it's just a big expense for a small business.
Engaging leads and helping to convert to clients using the automations.
Active Campaign was easy to learn and easy to start implementing right away. My whole team loves designing and creating in it.
I do wish the landing pages were a bit easier to use. However, this is probably more of a suer error than an actual fault of the system.
Active Campaign helps me create really great email sequences that sell for me. My email funnels have never been more successful!
I like that it is easy, adaptable and is a one stop shop for all client details
Using gmail through outlook doesn't sync to AC
Automating our processes
I love all the features ActiveCampaign has within its platform, and I still need to take the time to learn how to use them all. The ability to segment my lists and add various tags makes it easy to create emails based on the preferences of my audience. There are a variety of email templates and suggested automation flows that can be customized. I appreciate the sliding fee structure based on the number of contacts. Importing my list from my previous email marketing platform was easy, and my tech skills are limited.
In the past, I used a couple of different email marketing platforms, and since switching to ActiveCampaign, I haven't yet experienced any downsides utilizing this platform.
ActiveCampaign allows me to legally build my list and communicate with people interested in receiving my emails. It allows me to create and schedule email campaigns and automations to be sent out whenever I want.
It's easy to use and easy to add as a part of your own website.
Can't really think of anything right now. 🤔
- easy to build an email list - easy to send pro level emails to my customers
I love that I can save templates and color preferences. It saves me so much time. I used to use Mail Chimp, and I can't imagine going back now.
I wish ActiveCampaign was integrated into Squarespace, especially from a commerce perspective. I have to manually add emails from customers to ActiveCampaign.
Being able to communicate offerings and announcements with my clients and followers.
Scheduled sending of email campaigns and automations is a game changer for a busy business owner. I can create my marketing emails in time blocks and schedule them to send at a later targeted time.
Besides the learning curve, I use MS Outlook and Active Campaign emails don't seem to be formatted for outlook users.
Automation of marketing emails and keeping relevant for my audience. They take an average of 6 months to convert so having weekly emails in their inbox helps keep me at the top of mind.
It integrates with my click funnels account seamlessly and has an easy to use interface. The setup process was quick and I don't have to worry about it not getting new contacts.
Sometimes I have to clear my cache for it to move past the email writing screen to the send screen.
Fast way to contact my email list!
