ActiveCampaign
Marketing automation with email, contact profiles, landing pages and SMS, WhatsApp and CRM add-ons, priced by contacts.
Founded 2003
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ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation platform founded in 2003 by Jason VandeBoom and headquartered in Chicago, with customers in more than 170 countries. It combines email campaigns, multi-step automations with more than 950 prebuilt recipes, segmentation, site tracking and forms with CRM contact profiles. SMS, WhatsApp and enhanced CRM pipelines are paid add-ons from Plus up; transactional email is an add-on on every plan.
There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial. At 1,000 contacts, Starter costs $19 a month ($15 a month billed yearly), Plus $59 ($49), Pro $99 ($79) and Enterprise $179 ($145). Starter limits each automation to 5 actions and has no landing pages; Plus adds landing pages, and Pro adds predictive sending, conditional content and advanced segmentation. Plans send 10 to 15 times their contact limit a month, and accounts created on or after November 3, 2025 count every contact, unsubscribed ones included.
Best for
Small and midsize businesses that rely on multi-step automations and want email, site tracking and a CRM in one account, and that will pay for Plus or Pro to get landing pages, predictive sending and advanced segmentation.
Pros
- Multi-step automations with more than 950 prebuilt recipes on every plan, including Starter
- Pro adds predictive sending, conditional content, advanced segmentation and revenue attribution
- API, webhooks and more than 1,000 integrations on all plans, plus a Claude and ChatGPT connector via MCP
- Unlimited landing pages on Plus, Pro and Enterprise
- 20% discount for nonprofits
Cons
- No free plan; the 14-day free trial allows 100 email sends
- Starter allows 5 actions per automation and up to 5 lists, includes 1 user seat (one more can be bought) and has no landing pages
- Accounts created on or after November 3, 2025 count every contact toward the contact limit you pay for, unsubscribed and bounced ones included
- No built-in paid subscriptions or subscriber referral program; referrals need a partner app such as GrowSurf or SparkLoop
- Sends past the monthly limit cost $0.005 each
Pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Yearly (12-month total) |
|---|---|---|
| EnterpriseFrom $179/month for 1,000 contacts ($145/month billed yearly); price rises with contacts; emails = 15x contacts; 5 user seats; SSO and HIPAA support | $179/mo | $1,740/yr ($145/mo) |
| ProFrom $99/month for 1,000 contacts ($79/month billed yearly); price rises with contacts; emails = 12x contacts; 3 user seats | $99/mo | $948/yr ($79/mo) |
| PlusFrom $59/month for 1,000 contacts ($49/month billed yearly); price rises with contacts; emails = 10x contacts; 1 user seat | $59/mo | $588/yr ($49/mo) |
| StarterFrom $19/month for 1,000 contacts ($15/month billed yearly); up to 25,000 contacts; emails = 10x contacts; 1 user seat (1 more can be bought); not for existing customers | $19/mo | $180/yr ($15/mo) |
Prices checked on .
Features
In Email marketing
| Feature | ActiveCampaign |
|---|---|
| Free tier size | No · No free plan; 14-day free trial with 100 email sends, no credit card |
| Automations | Yes · Multi-step automations and 950+ recipes on all plans; Starter: 5 actions per automation; Plus and up: unlimited actions |
| Landing pages | Yes · Unlimited on Plus, Pro and Enterprise; not on Starter |
| Paid newsletters | No · No built-in paid subscriptions; Pro and Enterprise sync Stripe subscriptions (Recurring Payments) to trigger automations |
| Segmentation | Yes · Limited on Starter, standard on Plus, advanced on Pro, premium on Enterprise; saved segments on all plans |
| Referral program | No · No built-in subscriber referral program; partner apps such as GrowSurf and SparkLoop add one, on all plans |
| API | Yes · API and webhooks on all plans; 5 requests per second per account; Claude and ChatGPT connector via MCP |
| Deliverability tools | Yes · SPF, DKIM and DMARC set up with your sending domain; spam check on all plans; inbox preview 5/month on Plus and Pro, unlimited on Enterprise |