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.
I love how easy it is for us to create custom templates. We send emails daily, sometimes multiple times a day, and with Active Campaign, we can create very clean and high-quality custom email templates. The customer support is amazing and we can get help whenever we need it.
Because our list grows quickly we have run into a few issues with limited sends being applied to our account.
Active Campaign is helping us communicate with our audience on a daily basis.
It is easy to personalize the emails and is very helpful to have the statistics. The integrations are great.
it would be beneficial having a way to discharge all my emails written in a doc format.
I'm sending email marketing, and everything runs together perfectly ok with my web and different integrations. Also, It helps a lot with the automatized emails
Great onboarding. Mind-blowing functionality. Capaign builder and page builder.
Sometime overwhelming options - choice paralysis.
Newsletter, webinar funnel, email outreach, landing pages.
Simple to use, segments easily and retains all tempaltes for quick duplication
Nothing its wonderful system - if I had to find soemthing it would be to ahve more tutorials emailed to me
Easiler to reach all my people
They have live chat support - this is the best feature, you always have help
Sometimes the different lists and everything are confusing. (Meaning It says that 4K people are in my list, but the mail is only sent to 2K people
It is an autoresponder, I am a coach & consultant, so it helps me market to my audience
That it give you what you need: The contacts of your leads. And in a very easy way.
All good, I did not find anything wrong with this tool.
I get the email contacts of my leads
I like that I can build advanced email automation sequences with ease. I can add triggers that tag subscribers or move subscribers out of a sequence once they made a purchase. I also love that Active Campaign integrates with a lot of tools that I use for marketing. The customer support is amazing. Any time I have an issue they solve it immediately. I also love that you can automations with different accounts. I can build an automation in my account and then share it to a client's account. It is such a time saver to be able to have the framework built and then load in to customize.
Contact reports and tag trends are my least favorite feature, I find them difficult to understand. I have also had issues with the tag trend report excluding existing contacts. When you're running a retargeting campaign this can be an issue. However, this could be user error on my part.
I am using Active Campaign for my email marketing. It allows me to grow an email list of subscribers who are interested in my services and create really impressive email automation sequences that nurture my list. Because of the advanced features I can customize the experience of my subscribers and build stronger connections.
Extremely powerful and mail marketing automation platform. I recommend ActiveCampaign to every marketer and client who wants a reliable way to manage complex CRM and newsletter funnels
Sometimes customer care is not really that helpful and has to be chased. Setting Activecampaign up the first time can be daunting but very rewarding.
I launch automated webinars and ActiveCampaign helps me with the automation side. It's essential for me.
It's easy to use, shows you the stats you want to see, is reasonably priced and customer care is next level.
I struggle understanding some of the elements around segregating specific people out of certain emails.
It helps me deliver a sequence of emails fast.
I love the conditional logic features and how easy it is to implement.
The platform is slow on Safari, so it can take a while to setup.
I use Active Campaign for a drip marketing campaign to new leads encouraging them to schedule a consultation call.
Easy, Efficient, User Friendly. Also the support team is amazing
You cannot easily export the campaigns as html to send externally.
Communicating with our audience and tracking their engagements
The dashboard and support have been the most helpful. When I log in I can see exactly what's happening and where my attention is needed. I've been using it for 3 years now and I've always been able to to reach out to support and get help within a reasonable time frame. I've even upgraded a few times since my needs have changed and grown with this software.
I wish the sms texting service was more robust.
It's helping me stay in touch with my audience. I meet them on social but keep them in email :)
I was looking specifically for a CRM app that I could integrate with our SaaS application, after looking at a few, Active campaign came out on top with easy integration and a great designer to create custom emails.
I haven't encountered any downsides yet, the application has been very easy to use and everything I have expected has been available to use.
When users subscribe to our application we want to send various welcome and getting started emails, this as solved the problem without having to build this funtionality.
It's pretty easy to use, and it has helped me increase my deliverability and open rate.
I'm not a fan of the monthly cost as a function of number of subscribers. That's a reasonable idea, but when you get over 5k subscribers then the next level is 10k! That being said, the customer service has been good and they have worked with me on my subscription level.
Email automation, list building, and email deliverability
The email automation and campaigns are intuitive and super user-friendly.
Before becoming a regular user, I had to watch several videos on how to navigate the site.
AC solves the problem of the time it takes to create automations and campaigns. It's a paint-by-number system that's easy to navigate once you understand how the platform works. It's benefitting me because I don't have to think about how to roll an automation out; it's virtually "plug and play," and for a non-tech-savvy person like me, it saves me a ton of time and thinking power that I can use to focus on other aspects of my business.
This tool is ideal for e-commerce marketing, automation, and sales. The customer support is truly excellent, with quick responses both in chat and for tickets, and a fast solution to all problems. Tracking is exceptional and offers a detailed analysis of the user experience.
There isn't free plan but the basic plan can be used for the start marketing.
It's perfect for automation and so for my e-commerce.
Active Campaign is the best for email marketing automation. The support is ready for anything
in this moment I have a little bug. Hope it will restore early
The email automation
The best aspect of ActiveCampaign for marketing is its robust automation capabilities. It allows for the creation of complex, personalized email sequences that engage customers effectively. Additionally, its user-friendly interface makes it easy to manage campaigns, segment audiences, and track performance metrics. The integration options with other platforms are also a significant advantage, making it a versatile tool for a comprehensive marketing strategy.
One downside of ActiveCampaign is its pricing, which can be steep for small businesses or startups. While it offers a range of powerful features, the cost can be prohibitive for those on a tighter budget. Additionally, the learning curve for mastering all its functionalities can be steep for beginners. Some users might find the advanced features overwhelming at first, and the need for initial training or tutorials to get the most out of the platform.
Marketing automation
I've been using ActiveCampaign for many years, both for myself and my clients, and I think it's fantastic. Easy, intuitive and within everyone's reach! The number of my customers has increased thanks to this software! And I really like that it's in Italian!
Nothing, I really like everything! Of course, if the subscription cost less, I would be even happier! 🤣
It allows me to have continuous and frequent communication with my potential customers!
ActiveCampaign is EASY. The drag and drop creation of emails as well as the ability to see reports, send test emails, and easily use templates made it amazing. It's been one of the best ways to grow my small business this year. The switch from MailChimp was seamless and a game changer in so many ways.
Honestly, the only thing that bugs me is having to log in each time I return to the website. For some reason (probably privacy), it doesn't hold my password nearly as long as other sites.
The biggest problem I was trying to solve when I switched was making my emails professional-looking without headaches. The drag and drop builder is so simple and easy to use. The first few templates took me a bit to create and now it's just using the same templates over again.
ActiveCampaign has features that were a perfect fit for the goals I was trying to achieve with my email marketing. Not only that, but their customer service is excellent as they are very friendly and knowledgable. Every question I had while implementing was answered with clarity and professionalism. Once you get familiar with the platform, it is easy to use. They also have great video tutorials to get you familiar with the platform. I would recommend ActiveCampaign to any of my colleagues and clients.
I have not experienced anything I would consider a dislike about ActiveCampaign. Perhaps that there is so much content available to help you get the most out of your subscription that there is not enough time to take advantage of it?
Through ActiveCampaign I have built an extensive automation which allows me to stay in front of my contacts in a consistent way that was unavailable to me previously.
the automations, upload and update data and emails
Customer care should be in italian as well
it is siolving for me the problem to automize process and the benefit is earning time
Supporto clienti eccellente: rapido, gentile e professionale
Non mi sembra molto intuitivo per un novizio
It helps me to maintain a realtionship with my customers
I have loved how easy it is to understand exactly what I'm doing. The automation process was so revolutionary for our business and it was easy to implement once I understood what to do. I use ActiveCampaign on a weekly basis for newsletters, alerts, and getting in front of my customers. There are a number of features that have really helped my business: from their AI suggested designs, to automation flow, to scheduling. It has been super easy to integrate into all my other applications, including LeadPages. The process of getting my subscribers from their free lead generator into my automation process was so easy to set up and has been a huge help for my business.
There isn't anything that I inheritantly dislike currently. It has met all the uses I needed.
It is helping me get my customers plugged into my weekly email from their initial signup from my lead generator form.
I like how user friendly it is and the support is amazing. Not only do I have a very responsive account manager but the help function/chat in the platform are very helpful and fast as well.
Making segments could be a little easier maybe but no major complaints.
We switched over from Mail Chimp to Active campaign because of its ease of use and all the other functions it would give us. I didnt imagine I would use so many great features like the website popup forms and landing pages and the automations. The automations make it so easy to just set it and forget it.
The support I recieve for my queries through Active Campaign is amazing.
The only downside is the loyalty program I use from my end not being able to link to AC, it's purpose built and old.
I have 12 stores and I use the lists functions to tailor my content for each site.
ActiveCampaign it is extremely ease to use and to integrate with other tools (Wordpress Elementor for example). I love the way I can create complex automation with different triggers and tags.
Sometimes it gets a bit slow but anyway acceptable
I use it mostly for marketing automation and it helps to send out automatic emails based on specific triggers.
The automations are awesome. This feature has been really great to use and is the most value for money platform that includes this. Mando was my onboarding support person and he was also amazing.
The integration with mindBody is very minimal. I get frustrated with the amount of third party intergrations that are needed e.g. Zapier, Apiant, AppyPie etc. that are needed to make certain features and data work.
Email automation. Makes our life a little easier when it comes to communicating via email with our customers.
Actice Campaign ist sehr intuitiv, einfach und logisch aufgebaut und ermöglicht mir, meine Newsletter ohne großen Aufwand oder technisches Knowhow zu verschicken, zu tracken und meine Kunden zu selektieren und so mein Marketing immer optimaler ausrichten zu können.
Mir fällt ehrlicherweise nichts ein, was mich an Active Campaign stört. Wenn mal gerade irgendwas nichts funktioniert, ist der Support schnell erreichbar und das Problem wird behoben.
Aufbau meiner E-Mail-Liste, Kontakt zu meinen Kunden, Infos zu neuen Produkten und Verkauf, Content zu meinen Kunden zu bringen und einen Mehrwert für sie darzustellen. Automationen einrichten zu können. Super Integration von Elopage.
ActiveCampaign is fantastic. After using it since 2019 it's easy to take some of the feature for granted. But when you think about the level of marketing automation that is possible, it really is incredible. Of course, no system is perfect and that holds true here, but overall I have to say it's quite possibly the most powerful revenue-generating tool I use in my business.
The campaign (email) editor could be made slightly slicker. For example if you want to change the name of an email you sometimes need to make 3 clicks which really should be accomplished in one. Not a huge deal but hopefully something they're working on. Also, some of the reporting on campaigns (emails) could eb improved. But minor issues really and no service is perfect!
1) List segmentation which was a mess before with Aweber. 2) Identification of most responsive subscribers, 3) Proper marketing automation using conditional logic based upon subscriber behaviour
