Are you considering switching from ActiveCampaign to another software?
Or maybe you’re considering choosing ActiveCampaign for your business — but need to check out other ActiveCampaign alternatives before making the decision.
If so, you’ve come to the right place.
You might feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of email marketing software out there.
ActiveCampaign might not offer the best customer support or onboarding process, as many users have reported:
Not to mention, ActiveCampaign can be quite expensive — especially for small businesses:
See what we mean? But don’t worry; we’ve got you covered!
In this blog post, we’ll show you 11 of the best ActiveCampaign alternatives and why each may be a better choice for your business:
- EngageBay
- HubSpot
- GetResponse
- Aweber
- Constant Contact
- MailChimp
- ConvertKit
- Keap
- Drip
- Sendinblue (Brevo)
- Campaign Monitor
Happy hunting!
Table of Contents
11 of the Best ActiveCampaign Alternatives
In today’s post, we’ll closely examine these 11 ActiveCampaign alternatives so you can choose the one that’s the best fit for your company!
We’ve laid out the features, discovered their pros and cons, and compared their pricing — so that you don’t have to do the grunt work.
#1. EngageBay
EngageBay is an all-in-one sales, marketing, and support solution with built-in Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Founded in 2017, EngageBay arose as a HubSpot alternative that’s more cost-effective for small businesses and startups.
Here are some features that make EngageBay a viable ActiveCampaign alternative:
- EngageBay’s Smart Lists and Static Lists can be custom titled to organize your contacts better, no matter how many lists you have. You may also select the conditions for each list you build. In addition, EngageBay’s email marketing tools can help you craft the perfect campaign.
- Creating your own landing pages and emails from templates is incredibly easy with the drag-and-drop functionality.
- Unlike ActiveCampaign, EngageBay’s CRM is always free. You can use ActiveCampaign’s CRM as part of their least expensive plan, the Lite plan, which starts at $9.99 with only 500 contacts. At 2,500 contacts, you’re already paying $45 a month, which is getting costly! This makes EngageBay the best ActiveCampaign alternative.
- With team management and task management, keeping your employees productive using EngageBay is easy. You can also prevent task overlaps so everyone can stay focused on their own work.
- EngageBay’s sales and marketing automation can save you time in so many ways. From scheduling meetings to sending emails, posting on social media, and taking care of routine tasks that suck up hours of your day, using visual marketing automation workflows will make a big difference.
- EngageBay’s dashboards offer a holistic view of your company’s performance, including marketing funnels, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and other useful insights.
| Cost compared to ActiveCampaign | Plans for EngageBay’s products start at $12.74 a month per user for 500 contacts. You can also use their Free plan with support for up to 250 contacts. |
| Trial? | EngageBay does not offer a trial version of their product. |
| Free version? | EngageBay offers a free-forever version to help businesses just starting out. |
| Pros | If you need an ActiveCampaign alternative for small businesses and startups, EngageBay is a clear choice. You get a surprising number of services as part of their Free plan, and the premium plans are highly affordable. EngageBay’s Pro plan also offers unlimited emails. |
| Cons | EngageBay’s integrations list is smaller than some more established sales and marketing tools. That said, EngageBay is adding new integrations at a rapid pace. |
EngageBay vs ActiveCampaign Monthly Pricing
| Contacts | ActiveCampaign | EngageBay (per user) |
| 1,000 | Lite — $39
Plus — $70 Professional — $187 Enterprise — custom-priced |
Growth — $49.99 |
| 5,000 | Lite — $99
Plus — $186 Professional — $262 Enterprise — custom-priced |
Growth — $49.99 |
| 10,000 | Lite — $174
Plus — $287 Professional — $424 Enterprise — custom-priced |
Pro — $99.99 |
| Unlimited Contacts | For more than 50,000 contacts, you need to talk to ActiveCampaign’s Sales team. | Pro — $99.99 |
Read also: Find Your Perfect CRM Match: HubSpot vs ActiveCampaign
#2. HubSpot
Few names in sales and email marketing software are as big as HubSpot, which divides its products into the Hubspot Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, and CMS Hub.
Here are some of its best features:
- HubSpot’s CRM is always free. That can offset some of the high costs of using HubSpot’s sales, marketing, and customer service software.
- Automate more marketing tasks with powerful workflows and multilevel automation.
- HubSpot’s sales CRM lets you develop new contacts, nurture and engage with them, and present your sales solutions to close the deal.
- You can work on your website with the drag-and-drop page editing tool. You can also code the pages for more precision and control.
- HubSpot offers a myriad of integrations, including PPC, helpdesk, events, CRM, email, CMS, video, e-commerce, surveying, project management, automation, social media, lead gen, workflow management, calling, sales, marketing, and analytics.
| Cost compared to ActiveCampaign | HubSpot’s Starter plan with 1,000 contacts at $50 a month is comparable to ActiveCampaign’s Lite plan at $39 a month for the same number of contacts. Then HubSpot’s pricing gets considerably more expensive without adding a lot of contacts. |
| Trial? | 14-day free trial. |
| Free version? | Hubspot offers a free-forever version with limited features. |
| Pros | If you want name recognition with your sales and email marketing platform, HubSpot is the cream of the crop. Their free CRM offers usable features, too. |
| Cons | For startups and small businesses who plan on exceeding 1,000 contacts this year, the pricier plans of HubSpot are way outside of your budget. |
HubSpot vs ActiveCampaign Monthly Pricing
| Contacts | ActiveCampaign | HubSpot |
| 1000 | Lite — $39
Plus — $70 Professional — $187 Enterprise — custom-priced |
Starter — $50
Professional — $1,780 Enterprise — $5,000 |
| 5000 | Lite — $99
Plus — $186 Professional — $262 Enterprise — custom-priced |
Starter — $241
Professional — $2,031 Enterprise — $5,000 |
| 10,000 | Lite — $174
Plus — $287 Professional — $424 Enterprise — custom-priced |
Starter — $441
Professional — $2,281 Enterprise — $5,000 |
Read also: 8 Fantastic HubSpot Alternatives for Small Businesses
#3. GetResponse
GetResponse is another excellent ActiveCampaign alternative for small businesses and startups.
It offers a suite of marketing solutions, including conversion funnels, landing pages, and autoresponders. In fact, its webinar feature is one of the best in the industry.
Here are some of the software’s features:
- You get a drag-and-drop autoresponder editor with advanced timing controls. GetResponse also offers unlimited daily messages.
- The platform offers SSL-encrypted webinar URLs along with password protection for added security. You also get advanced webinar analytics, including viewer location details, conversions, survey vote responses, and time spent on the webinar.
- GetResponse’s marketing automation features include automated contact management with scoring and tagging. The visual workflow editor offers conditions, filters, and actions to help you build multistep workflows.
- In addition, GetResponse offers webinar funnels, lead funnels, and sales funnels to help you capture leads, nurture them, and convert them into paying customers.
| Cost compared to ActiveCampaign | GetResponse offers four plans, and the affordable pricing makes it a good alternative to ActiveCampaign. |
| Trial? | 30-day free trial. |
| Free version? | GetResponse offers a free-forever plan. |
| Pros | Has one of the best webinar features compared to other CRM and automation platforms. |
| Cons | GetResponse is a marketing automation tool, which means you don’t get sales automation features. |
GetResponse vs ActiveCampaign Monthly Pricing
| Plan Pricing | ActiveCampaign (for 1,000 contacts) | GetResponse (for 1,000 contacts) |
| Essential | Lite — $39 | Free — $0 (500 contacts only) |
| Advanced | Plus — $70 | Basic — $19 |
| Professional | Professional — $187 | Plus — $59 |
| Enterprise | Enterprise — custom-priced | Professional — $119 |
Read also: Pipedrive Alternatives — 5 CRM Tools To Supercharge Your Sales Teams
#4. AWeber
Our fourth ActiveCampaign competitor is AWeber, a small business email marketing tool created in 1998.
Let’s take a look at some of AWeber’s top features:
- Integrate with a plethora of third-party applications, including Facebook, WordPress, PayPal, Etsy, Shopify, Privy, and WooCommerce — making it one of the best ActiveCampaign competitors.
- Score prospects via quick targeting and segmentation so you can organize your leads in an instant. AWeber’s subscriber management tools let you further categorize and manage your contacts.
- Automate your email workflows with triggers that activate depending on a lead or customer’s email behavior.
- You can also personalize your email communications, streamline routine tasks, and use auto-tagging with AWeber.
- Make your own landing pages, emails, and newsletters with drag-and-drop features, or browse AWeber’s robust template library.
- AWeber delivers pre-built reports and analytics for optimizing your next marketing campaign.
| Cost compared to ActiveCampaign | AWeber only has four plans, one of which is free. The paid plans are on par with ActiveCampaign’s plans. |
| Trial? | No trial version for premium plans. |
| Free version? | AWeber offers a free-forever version with 500 contacts. |
| Pros | Recommended for small to medium businesses looking for advanced email automation features. |
| Cons | AWeber only offers marketing tools, so it is not recommended if you’re looking for a comprehensive software solution. |
AWeber vs ActiveCampaign Monthly Pricing
| Contacts | ActiveCampaign | AWeber |
| 1,000 | Lite — $39
Plus — $70 Professional — $187 Enterprise — custom-priced |
Free — $0 (up to 500 contacts)
Lite — $24.99 Plus — $39.99 Unlimited — $899 (Unlimited contacts) |
| 5,000 | Lite — $99
Plus — $186 Professional — $262 Enterprise — custom-priced |
Lite — $44.99
Plus — $59.99 Unlimited — $899 (Unlimited contacts) |
| 10,000 | Lite — $174
Plus — $287 Professional — $424 Enterprise — custom-priced |
Lite — $64.99
Plus — $79.99 Unlimited — $899 (Unlimited contacts) |
| >50,000 | For more than 50,000 contacts, you need to talk to ActiveCampaign’s Sales team. | Lite — $387.99
Plus — $402.99 Unlimited — $899 (Unlimited contacts) |
Read also: AWeber Alternatives — Which One Should You Choose?
#5. Constant Contact
The next ActiveCampaign alternative on our list is Constant Contact.
Constant Contact offers a range of tools to help you build, grow, and succeed in your business. You get email marketing automation to connect with people, grow your lists, post on social media, and automate business processes.
Here are some key features of Constant Contact:
- Constant Contact offers dynamic sign-up forms to help you capture lead information directly from your website. This information automatically gets added to your lists. You can also import your contacts from Outlook, Salesforce, and Excel. This makes Constant Contact one of the best ActiveCampaign competitors.
- You can also increase customer engagement, improve results, and nurture leads using Constant Contact’s marketing automation software.
- Automatically send out welcome and transactional emails when your leads are interested in your company. Drip campaigns let you nurture your leads over time based on their behavior and interactions with your brand.
- Constant Contact lets you convert social media visitors into customers through social ads on Facebook and Instagram. Within minutes, you can launch an effective marketing ad campaign, drive website traffic, and grow your list.
- The drag-and-drop email template builder lets you stand out from the crowd. You can choose from hundreds of pre-designed templates and launch your email campaigns — no coding needed.
| Cost compared to ActiveCampaign | For fewer contacts, both Constant Contact and ActiveCampaign are priced similarly. As your contact list grows, Constant Contact becomes more affordable than ActiveCampaign. |
| Trial? | 14-day free trial |
| Free version? | Constant Contact does not offer a free-forever version. |
| Pros | Constant Contact is an excellent choice if you need a comprehensive marketing automation tool that doesn’t break the bank. |
| Cons | It does not offer sales and customer support tools, so Constant Contact is not recommended if you need an all-in-one solution. |
Constant Contact vs ActiveCampaign Monthly Pricing
| Plan Pricing | ActiveCampaign | Constant Contact (per user) |
| 1,000 | Lite — $39
Plus — $70 Professional — $187 Enterprise — custom-priced |
Lite — $30
Standard — $55 Premium — $110
|
| 5,000 | Lite — $99
Plus — $186 Professional — $262 Enterprise — custom-priced |
Lite — $80
Standard — $110 Premium — $200 |
| 10,000 | Lite — $174
Plus — $287 Professional — $424 Enterprise — custom-priced |
Lite — $120
Standard — $160 Premium — $275 |
Read also: Constant Contact vs Mailchimp vs EngageBay — Which Tool Is Better?
#6. Mailchimp
Mailchimp is an advanced email marketing and automation tool for experienced marketers and businesses across several industries. It offers a suite of email marketing functionalities that enable you to develop solid relationships with your customers.
Unlike ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp only focuses on creating mailing lists, sending emails, and running personalized campaigns.
Here are some of Mailchimp’s features:
- Mailchimp has a customer journey builder that lets you identify critical points in your customer journey and visualize the various paths your contacts will take before conversion. This will help you create and optimize your automaton strategy to capture more visitors at scale.
- With Content Studio, you can sync, store, manage, and modify your digital assets (images, files, videos, etc.) in one location. This grants you easy access to your files whenever you need them for promotion or repurposing.
- Creative Assistant works with Content Studio to help you produce custom designs for your brand. With your digital assets, you can craft attractive emails to improve your traffic and engagement.
- Mailchimp’s marketing automation feature lets you send triggered emails, set automated email sequences, build personalized customer journeys, etc. It uses your customer data to run automated campaigns based on their preferences and interactions with your brand.
- The web-based tool uses tags, pre-built segments, and predicted demographics to improve personalization. It also improves your reach and helps you grow your audience by offering customizable landing pages and signup forms.
- Content Optimizer provides personalized recommendations to improve your emails and help you send the right messages to the right audience. It combines with other tools like Creative Assistant, A/B testing, automated journeys, click maps, subject lines, etc.
| Cost compared to ActiveCampaign | Mailchimp is a more affordable option but as your contacts increase, AciveCampaign becomes more affordable |
| Trial? | 30 days free trial on Essential and Standard plans |
| Free version? | The free version supports 500 contacts |
| Pros | It is an advanced email marketing and automation tool with great features for businesses of all sizes |
| Cons | Phone support is only available on Premium plan |
Mailchimp vs ActiveCampaign Monthly Pricing
| ActiveCampaign | Mailchimp |
| Lite – $29
Plus – $49 Professional – $149 Enterprise – custom quote |
Free – $0
Essentials – $13 Standard – $20 Premium – $350 |
Read also: 17 Mailchimp Alternatives With Pricing, Comparison Tables
#7. ConvertKit
ConvertKit is a unique email marketing tool designed for small businesses and creators (bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers, musicians, etc.). It is a user-friendly platform that provides creators with tailored marketing features for managing lists, sending personalized messages, and running targeted campaigns.
ConvertKit also supports powerful solutions that enable creators to grow and monetize their audiences by selling books, albums, courses, etc.
Here are some of the features:
- The intuitive visual builder helps you create multiple automated sequences for different customers based on their behavior, interests, and entry points. It also gives you a 360° view of your customer interactions to improve your segmentation.
- ConvertKit’s email marketing tool lets you create, format, and modify your emails to improve your open rate and engagement. It also has an email delivery rate of 98%.
- With Email Designer, you can format your emails to suit your brand tone. ConvertKit also supports a drag-and-drop and an HTML editor to help you craft professional attractive email templates.
- ConvertKit offers a paid newsletter and helps you promote and sell your courses, e-books, albums, photos, etc.
- Creator Network is a feature that allows you to collaborate with other creators in your industry to grow your lists together and tap into new audience networks through recommendations and cross-promotions.
Wondering if ConvertKit’s pricing suits your business budget? Dive deep into our thorough analysis and make an informed decision.
| Cost compared to ActiveCampaign | ConvertKit has a free plan and paid plans are lower than ActiveCampaign |
| Trial? | 14 days free trial on Creator and Creator Pro plans |
| Free version? | The free version supports 300 contacts |
| Pros | It is an easy-to-use platform well-suited for creators across several industries |
| Cons | Customer support needs improvement |
ConvertKit vs ActiveCampaign Monthly Pricing
| ActiveCampaign | ConvertKit |
| Lite – $29
Plus – $49 Professional – $149 Enterprise – custom quote |
Free – $0
Creator – $25 Creator Pro – $50 |
Read also: 13 ConvertKit Alternatives That Make Sense For Small Business Owners
#8. Keap
Keap (formerly Infusionsoft) is a simple customer relationship management (CRM) system that offers small businesses tailored features for organizing contacts, generating leads, identifying sales opportunities, and tracking sales pipelines.
The cloud-based solution provides marketing and sales automation, and project management features to help you turn visitors into loyal customers.
Here are some of Keap’s features:
- The email marketing feature provides attractive pre-built templates that let you send automated emails and engaging newsletters. It also uses proper segmentation to deliver personalized messages to customers.
- Keap’s client management system uses forms, landing pages, and social media to capture leads and store clients’ information. It has a unified system that lets you organize and access your customer data from a desktop or mobile app.
- Keap supports several eCommerce features like invoicing and payment processing. It also supports upsells and promo codes to amplify your conversions and enable repeat purchases.
- The analytics and reporting feature gives you a visual representation of your sales cycle and provides valuable insights from customer data to help you track your progress and identify opportunities.
- Text Marketing ensures closer connections with your clients by enabling automated and personalized text messages. It provides attractive templates that allow you to send broadcast messages and handle replies.
- Keap lets you manage your contacts by tracking prospects, creating sales funnels, and identifying qualified leads. It also supports lead nurturing and scoring.
| Cost compared to ActiveCampaign | Keap’s pricing is higher than that of ActiveCampaign |
| Trial? | 14 days free trial on all plans |
| Free version? | N/A |
| Pros | It is an intuitive and user-friendly platform for small businesses |
| Cons | Keap’s customer support needs improvement |
Keap vs ActiveCampaign Monthly Pricing
| ActiveCampaign | Keap |
| Lite – $29
Plus – $49 Professional – $149 Enterprise – custom quote |
Pro – $189
Max – $249 |
Read also: 11 of the Best Keap Alternatives (Features, Pricing)
#9. Drip
Drip is a marketing automation platform that helps eCommerce marketers create pleasant buying experiences for their customers. It also supports features that let you connect with existing and potential customers through targeted and personalized email messages.
The eCommerce CRM offers unique solutions such as customer-first marketing and smart integrations with popular eCommerce platforms to help you expand your functionalities.
Here are some of Drip’s features:
- Dynamic segmentation helps you organize your contacts based on their preferences, interests, and interaction with your brand. This improves your personalization and simplifies contact management
- Drip supports a visual workflow builder that streamlines your marketing campaigns across email and social media channels. It also offers pre-built workflow templates that help you create trigger-based emails.
- Drip also supports a visual email builder for designing beautiful emails. A point-and-click builder also allows you to add your store products directly to your emails. And with over 50 pre-designed eCommerce templates, you can customize your emails to suit your brand tone.
- Onsite is a unique feature in Drip that lets you connect with your customers without using their email addresses. It allows you to craft messages that attract first-time visitors and turns them into potential customers.
- Actionable and clear insights from detailed dashboards enable you to analyze your customer data, discover what’s working (and what’s not), and identify opportunities for improvement.
| Cost compared to ActiveCampaign | Drip pricing is higher than that of ActiveCampaign |
| Trial? | 14 days free trial on all plans |
| Free version? | N/A |
| Pros | Drip has unique features well-suited for eCommerce marketers |
| Cons | It lacks a few basic features and may not be suitable for startups on a low budget |
Drip vs ActiveCampaign Monthly Pricing
| ActiveCampaign | Drip |
| Lite – $29
Plus – $49 Professional – $149 Enterprise – custom quote |
2,500 contacts – $39
5,000 contacts – $89 7,500 contacts – $124 10,000 contacts – $154 |
Read also: 11 of the Best Drip Alternatives (Features, Pricing, Pros and Cons)
#10. Sendinblue (Brevo)
Sendinblue (Brevo) is an all-in-one digital marketing platform that helps you build stronger relationships with your customers through automated marketing campaigns, sales automation, and smart integrations.
The cloud-based tool offers email, text, eCommerce, and social media marketing in one suite to help small and mid-sized businesses connect with customers across several channels.
Here are some of Sendinblue’s (Brevo) features:
- Sendinblue’s (Brevo) email marketing feature lets you create attractive emails with engaging and personalized content. It uses smart segmentation to deliver targeted messages to the right recipients.
- The SMS marketing feature lets you connect with your customers using text messages.
- WhatsApp Campaigns allow you to keep your contacts up to date through targeted WhatsApp messages. You can connect your business account to upload, manage, and segment your contacts, thus, enabling you to personalize your broadcast messages.
- Sendinblue’s (Brevo) workflow builder lets you build and automate dynamic workflows by setting pre-defined rules and triggers based on customers’ behaviors and interactions with your brand.
- Live Chat and Chatbot help you create pleasant customer experiences by improving your communication with customers even beyond their inboxes
- Sales CRM allows you to track deals, monitor customer interactions, and manage your sales pipeline in one place. It also supports features that help you boost productivity with seamless team collaboration.
| Cost compared to ActiveCampaign | Sendinblue (Brevo) is more affordable |
| Trial? | N/A |
| Free version? | The free version supports 300 emails per day |
| Pros | The free plan supports a wide range of advanced features to give you a head start |
| Cons | The CRM features are basic and need improvement |
Sendinblue (Brevo) vs ActiveCampaign Monthly Pricing
| ActiveCampaign | Sendinblue (Brevo) |
| Lite – $29
Plus – $49 Professional – $149 Enterprise – custom quote |
Free – $0
Starter – $25 Business – $65 Professional – custom quote |
Read also: 11 of the Best Sendinblue (Brevo) Alternatives (Pricing & Advantages)
#11. Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor is a simple but powerful email marketing service provider that lets you build automated email journeys, run personalized marketing campaigns, and boost conversions.
The web-based solution supports several features that guide you from customer acquisition to conversion and retention. Also, it integrates with several third-party app extensions to amplify your functionalities.
Here are some of its features:
- Campaign Monitor helps you create beautiful and responsive emails with pre-designed customizable templates. You can also use the drag-and-drop or HTML editor to create custom templates for your brand
- Email analytics gives you actionable insights into your marketing performance and helps you visualize your customer interactions across diverse channels.
- Email segmentation features allow you to manage your contacts by setting up custom fields and organizing them into different segments based on their preferences and interests.
- The SMS marketing feature enables you to deliver powerful text campaigns. Combining SMS and email marketing will help you reach a majority of your contacts, regardless of their preferred channel.
| Cost compared to ActiveCampaign | Both prices are fairly similar |
| Trial? | N/A |
| Free version? | The free version is limited to 5 subscribers |
| Pros | It is user-friendly and easy to use |
| Cons | It has limited customization options |
Campaign Monitor vs ActiveCampaign Monthly Pricing
| ActiveCampaign | Campaign Monitor |
| Lite – $29
Plus – $49 Professional – $149 Enterprise – custom quote |
Basic– $29
Unlimited – $59 Premier – $149 |
Interested in HubSpot competitors? Understand the pros, cons, and pricing of each in this detailed guide.
Our Best Pick
Now that you’ve seen ActiveCampaign pricing compared to these great alternative tools, which one is the best?
You can’t go wrong with any of the recommended software options. Figure out what you need, and then choose the one that ticks all (or most) of your requirements.
For small businesses that need all-in-one software, EngageBay is the best option.
Why, you ask? It’s simple.
EngageBay offers the best return on investment (ROI) as it eliminates the need for multiple software.
And, it’s much more affordable than ActiveCampaign.
For example, the Lite version of ActiveCampaign with 10,000 contacts costs $174 a month. EngageBay, on the other hand, only costs $49.99 a month for the Growth plan.
But wait, there’s more. EngageBay’s Pro plan with unlimited contacts costs $99 a month. ActiveCampaign’s Professional plan costs a whopping $686 a month for just 25,000 contacts!
Shawn L loves the way he was able to solve his problems using EngageBay:
Sign up now for free — no credit card information or commitments needed.
If you need a demo to understand how EngageBay can help you, just book a 30-minute slot at your convenience and speak to our experts.
