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.
Leicht zu bedienen, gut und anschaulich erklärt. Viele Einstellungsmöglichkeiten.
Den Preis, es ist okay was zu zahlen, es könnte aber günstiger sein.
Aufbau von NewsletterkundInnen.
AC is amazing. I feel like I'm able to create exactly the experience I'm looking for when reaching out to new leads. It's a big part of my core business.
Nothing at all! It takes care of all of my needs!
I like how natural I can make the experience feel. The segmenting is perfect to get the right tone to the right customer.
That I can create my own workflow based on what I need for my business. I found the process of creating my own funnel for my clients a lot of fun and continues to let me adjust based on activitiy.
The learning curve was a litle slow, but the more time I spend with it, the more I realize how powerful this program acually is!! It's definately worh the time and effort!
It save me a TON of time chasing down leads and current clients. The system allows me to stay connected to my customers without having to be hands on every step of the way.
As a website design and digital marketing agency, we find using Active Campaign is an important tool in our own marketing, as well as our client's marketing. We have been using Active Campaign for years. Although at first, it felt complex in nature, we recognize how powerful and robust it was for our marketing team. Furthermore, they have training videos and are there to help you along the way. We had no issue learning how to use it and are glad we switched from another software.
The only thing that we disliked at first was how complicated the software was. However, just like anything that has power - it is never easy to use, and you will need to dedicate time to getting to know how it all works. It's well worth the time invested.
For our clients and us, Active Campaign helps our clients stay connected with their customers and patrons. It helps them to keep the conversation going and nurture the interactions. It is also helping capturing leads.
I have used many of the tutorial options, as well as the chat to get help in setting up and utilizing Active Campaign. It's a high level of service even at the lower membership levels.
Honestly can't think of anything I dislike
I didn't want to mess around with other email services because they all seemed to lack some aspect that was valuable. AC has a good reputation and can do so much--it was really a no-brainer to go with AC. The benefit is that after learning how to use it, I can easily figure out how to use it for more things than I ever realized.
The most intriguing aspect is that it can be utilized for marketing purposes in a variety of national languages, which is convenient for users. This opt-in form makes it incredibly simple to construct one. Forms may be included in pages that lead to links.
Its service charges are a bit high, but they are bearable considering the quality of their services. Moreover, searching through filters often does not provide specific information. A filter search is not enough to prevent the user from finding the information they want; it requires precision.
This program gives us an effective email template, a campaign, and clear set-up instructions, all of which are highly profitable for us. Also, every one of its choices is incredibly practical and easy to utilize.
Great options for campaigns and autmatations, very easy to use and get started with templates.
I couldn't figure out yet how to time emails for the next day for example.
Connecting with my email list, automations and connection with landing page are imporant for me.
The customer experience automation platform is nearly perfect. The UX is lovely, the features are top of the range, and the support team is very knowledgeable.
While on-boarding was incredible, the service timelines once onboarded are much slower than we need. It's easy enough to book in a support call, but the calendar is always full for the next few weeks! The automation platform does what it does well, but isn't very flexible in terms of mathematical functions, data formatting, etc. The platform's mobile version is entirely unusable...this needs to be fixed!
- Customer journey automation, providing good customer experiences across many different journeys - CRM, SO MUCH EASIER TO USE THAN SALESFORCE!! - Donor management, better than all of the dedicated donation platforms out there!
I love the simple CRM tool built into the platform so I don't need two separate services for email marketing and customer relationship management. I love the ability to really personalize and target email campaigns through the automation.
Because of the customization ability the learning curve can be a bit steep, but I think that may be the trade-off for the ability to customize the automation.
Managing my contacts better and using active campaign to connect with potential clients.
It's a very robust system. Whenever I wonder if it's capable of something I need it to do... it's able to do it!
There was a bit of a learning curve to get started but that's likely the same for any good platform.
Clear way to build my online business through email.
The Organization and Features are phenomenal
Because there are so many features to explore, we often times do not always know what capabilities and features we should be using
It helps us manage our leads and customers.
I've been an Active Campaign subscriber for many years, and I've always found it easy to use. The learning curve for getting set up and running is very shallow and I rarely run into problems when implementing something new on the system.
If anything, I would have to say the current pricing regime is a bit excessive, especially if you're a smaller operator and you only use a portion of the features.
The automation process is making the administration of lists and contacts super easy. I almost never have to touch the system once the automations kick in because I know each contact will get what I want them to get and will progress through my marketing funnel with ease.
It is great. I am building out lists for email and using automation. It will streamline your efforts so you can keep your customers in one place.
It seemed overwhelming at first but easy after understanding the concept.
Allows me to keep all customers in one place.
I love the simplicity of using ActiveCampaign for emails in my business. It's so easy to segment my audience and then to take them on specific email automation journeys
There isn't really any negatives about using the platform
I love adapting the email templates
Visual workflows, automation recipes and contact segmentation make for more personalized email marketing efforts. And I like the feature add-ons, I can grow with AC.
There is a learning curve relative to the competition when only using for simple campaigns.
ActiveCampaign helps me to keep in regular contact with my email subscribers. I have also embedded an AC contact form on my website, which helps me to keep up with and connect with leads.
Compared to other markting platforms ActiveCampaign is the most advanced solution I have used. The price is well justified as it enables you to track all your business activities on many levles and get precise metrics
I can't fault the platform for anything. I have used a number of solutions from different companies but this one ticks for me personally all the boxes and delivers what I need
The one problem that ActiveCampaign solves for me personally is the fact that they have a in depth solution for reporting. This is a big deal for me as I need to understand my audience precisley.
I love how user-friendly and intuitive the interface is. I also enjoy the power of the automations, as well as the versatility of the CRM.
Haven't encountered any significant frustrations or setbacks as of yet.
It's helping us automate and organize a lot of things that we were doing manually or less efficiently before.
Ease of use and features that are always being added to the system.
Some new beta features are sometimes confusing to understand and hard to learn.
The biggest problem we had prior to ActiveCampaign is that we weren't managing a list of potential and current clients. The ability to create lists and segment our clients is very helpful.
Ease of building a template for mass communications
Sometimes segmentation is a bit clunky but we'll figure it out.
We needed a more sophisticated program for communications and segmentation to grow our donor base and engage partners more deeply.
The automation makes many tasks such as new user onboarding, failed payments, paused subscriptions & cancelled subscriptions run on auto. I find the platform robust and intuitive.
I would like to be able to quickly see sent campaigns and have the ability to copy text, something you can not do in the preview. You can do this in the archive section but it only seems to archive the last three months.
I am using ActiveCampaign to connect to FaceBook ads, helping me collect leads and send campaigns and automations.
Many features that are easy to intuit and apply for segmented and scheduled email campaigns
Cost can be high as email list grows, but it's probably competive with other platforms and Active Campaign is robust. I'd like to receive more marketing advice via email from them to help grow my business
It's helping me to know who does and doesn't have interest in my offerings and segment out the list I want to actively grow and those I can leave behind or offer something else to
Active Campaign makes email marketing simple, easy, and straightforward. The automations are powerful (and easy to build), the pricing is competitive, and the deliverability is insane. Highly recommend.
The only things I dislike about AC are minor gripes and technical annoyances (e.g. occasionally, the hyper link text color will appear correctly in the email designer and then change colors when it sends out). Other than that, no issues.
Deliverability is the biggest problem Active Campaign solves. Previous ESPs would get open rates of 10-15%. With Active Campaign, we're well above 30% on every email we send.
I value the great user-friendliness and how easy the system is to handle. It has great features and most of what you can ask for. It is great in terms of pricing as well and a bit cheaper than many competitiors.
I think that buying a system like ActiveCampaign suits your company that either has low knowledge of similar systems or a company that does not need all the advanced and deeply customizable features. Due to the price and the relativly simple UX/UI it has it's limitations in customization both in terms of design and functionality.
For us the main value with ActiveCampaign is that we can in an easy way communicate with our customer base both with the help of single campaign sendouts but most importantly the automations and the power of scalability and personalizations that comes with it.
Loev the automation features of ActiveCampign, and the user-friendly interface! I've used all the other major marketing platforms out there over the years however, this one has been the best in my opinion. The forms are easy to set up and embed on our website and work seamlessly.
I don't dislike anything! It really is a great platform and helps our hospitality business daily! Thanks Guys!
With this platform our potential customers (leads) can opt-in on our website for catering enquiries. It captures all the info we need to contact them back.
AC est facile à utiliser pour écrire des mails qui vendent : mailing quotidien ou automations, tout est là pour réussir sur le web.
La chose la plus difficile est sans doute de supprimer des contacts inactifs.
AC me sert à vendre donc c'est la vie de mon business
I love the fact that for a small business Active Campaign is a very cost-effective way to get started in the CRM and marketing space. It also allows for growth when small businesses often have a small marketing budget but still needs capacity to think about the future.
Overall, I don't have negative items that have hindered me. I have found the UI and UX very engaging, easy to learn and relatively easy to use. As a new user, I found it easy to engage.
For me, Active Campaign has helped me address a few needs: 1. Consistency: As a small business that is still a one-person show, I needed help in discipline in communication 2. Automation: Once I took the time to set up workflows, it helped me to be able to funnel people into my communication stream
I tried a lot of crms. Active campaign is the best solution i found so far. The outlook integration plugin is great.
I would like to send email to a single recipient with attachments.
Love the email automation.
Einfache Anbindung an woocommerce. Bietet große Möglichkeiten der Verwendung.
Zu Beginn eher schwieriger zu verstehen, wenn man aus anderen Systemen kommt.
Erleichtert sehr viel Arbeit. Gerade bei woocommerce konnte einfach eine auf das Produkt angestimmte automation eingebunden werden
Activecampaign is very intuitive and easy to set up. The graphic automations are easy to create and change. You can set up forms and kick off email nurturing based on how the form was filled out.
It is contact centered instead of company centered which makes it harder to use for a full CRM solution.
Keeping track of leads and responding to them quickly is one of the hardest things in business. AC makes it easy to respond quickly and keep the lead warm. Things quit falling through the cracks once we implemented marketing automation.
Once you have started with the basic tutorials and automations it all becomes easier. With an updated interface it's even smoother to get where you need to be on the system.
Sometimes it can get overwhelming but that just means keep it simple and build from there. There are lots of tutorials and specialist groups happy to help. Nothing needs improvement right now
Automated a webinar reminder sequence. Automated two lead magnet delivery systems. Save time in the long run. By using dynamic dates in custom fields it does save time
