ActiveCampaign
Email marketing and CRM automation
ActiveCampaign is an email marketing and CRM automation platform: the focus is on multi-step, behavioral automation — not just a “nice newsletter sender”. Priced by contact list size; AI, landing, CRM and omnichannel functions are opened on Starter / Plus/Pro / Enterprise bands.
No Permanent Free Plan: Paid after a 14-day trial. If you put it next to 0 / Mailchimp, typically ActiveCampaign is the “deeper automation + CRM” choice.
Key features
- Email Campaigns
- Templates, A/B tests, AI content assistant by bars.
- Marketing automation
- Multi-step workflows; Starter limited action/automation, Plus+ more.
- CRM and segmentation
- Deal pipeline / CRM elements; Pro+: advanced segmentation, predictive sending, conditional content.
- Landing and site message
- Plus+ band landing and web messages.
- E-commerce
- 1 / 0 type connections for abandoned cart and attribution direction.
Pricing
Briefing ($0) Price = plan × contact number. Annually ~20% cheaper. 1,000 contact entry lanes:
| Plan | Features | Est. price |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | Basic automation (limited), e-mail, 1 seat; max ~25k contacts. | approx. $15 / month (annual) / $19 (monthly) |
| Plus | Landing, AI content, cross-channel, more automation. | approx. $49 / month (annual) / $59 (monthly) |
| Pro | Predictive sending, conditional content, attribution, 3 seats. | approx. $79 / month (annual) / $99 (monthly) |
| Enterprise | SSO, HIPAA, premium CRM integrations, 5 seats. | approx. $145 / month (annual) / $179 (monthly) |
Pros
- A powerful automation engine in the industry
- CRM + email in one
- AI on all paid bands
- Scalable list pricing
Watch-outs
- No Free — trial only
- Expensive rapidly as list grows
- Starter limited automation
- Learning curve for complex workflows
Who is Activecampaign for?
Worth a look if you:
- Behavioral email automation is required (not just a monthly newsletter).
- You would keep a CRM and marketing list in a system.
- You have a webshop and need cart abandonment / segmented sequences.
Prices are indicative — final fees apply on the provider’s site.