Overview
ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation platform for small and mid-sized businesses. Its core is a visual automation builder with multiple triggers, more than 950 recipes, site and link tracking, and goals, combined with email campaigns, forms, segmentation and ecommerce integrations. Recent releases add AI features that draft campaigns, build automations and suggest segments.
There are four plans priced by contact band. Starter allows only five actions per automation and one user. Plus removes that limit and adds landing pages. Pro adds three users, advanced segmentation, predictive sending, conditional content and attribution. Enterprise adds SSO, custom objects and a dedicated account team. Monthly sends range from 10 to 15 times your contact limit.
CRM pipelines, lead scoring, SMS, WhatsApp and transactional email are add-ons, so the total bill depends on what you attach. There is a 14-day free trial with no card, but no free plan.
For a SaaS product that mainly needs event-driven lifecycle email, lighter tools are cheaper; ActiveCampaign earns its price when sales and marketing automation are combined.
Pricing and plans
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | From $15/mo | 1,000 contacts, billed annually; 1 user; 5 actions per automation; sends 10x contacts; max 25,000 contacts |
| Plus | From $49/mo | Unlimited automation actions, landing pages, standard segmentation; 1 user; sends 10x |
| Pro | From $79/mo | 3 users, advanced segmentation, predictive sending, conditional content, attribution; sends 12x |
| Enterprise | From $145/mo | 5 users, SSO, custom objects, dedicated account team; sends 15x |
What it does
- Automation builder
- Multi-step automations with multiple triggers and 950+ recipes; unlimited actions from Plus.
- Site and event tracking
- Track site visits, link clicks and custom events for segmentation and triggers.
- CRM add-ons
- Pipelines, lead scoring and sales engagement available as paid add-ons.
- Multichannel
- SMS and WhatsApp add-ons, site messages and ad audience sync.
- Integrations and MCP
- 1,000+ integrations, API, webhooks, and connectors for Claude and ChatGPT.
Strengths and limitations
Strengths
- Mature, flexible automation builder
- Large integration catalogue
- Marketing and sales tools in one vendor
- Send allowances scale up to 15x contacts
Limitations
- No free plan; 14-day trial only
- Starter limits automations to 5 actions and 1 user
- CRM, SMS, WhatsApp and transactional email cost extra
- Published entry prices assume annual billing
Who it suits
Good for
- Small businesses combining sales pipelines and marketing automation
- B2B lead nurturing with scoring
- Teams wanting many ready-made automation recipes
Look elsewhere if
- Hobby projects needing a free tier
- Developers wanting cheap event-driven product email
Alternatives to ActiveCampaign
| Tool | From | Free option | Stages |
|---|---|---|---|
| GetResponse Email marketing and automation | $19/mo | Free tier | |
| Brevo Email marketing and transactional platform | $9/mo | Free tier | |
| Mautic Open-source marketing automation | — | Free tier | |
| Mailchimp Email marketing platform | $13/mo | Free tier | |
| Ghost Open-source publishing and newsletter platform | $18/mo | Free tier | |
| Notifuse Open-source email platform | $19/mo |
Questions
Does ActiveCampaign have a free plan?
No. It offers a 14-day free trial without a card.
What is the limit on ActiveCampaign Starter automations?
Starter allows 5 actions per automation; Plus and higher plans allow unlimited actions.
How many emails can I send with ActiveCampaign?
10 times your contact limit on Starter and Plus, 12 times on Pro and 15 times on Enterprise.
Sources read for this page