ActiveCampaign vs Drip
We give ActiveCampaign a 2.4 GPA and Drip a 2.0, out of 4.0. ActiveCampaign grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
ActiveCampaign
Email marketing and multi-step automation priced by contacts
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAActiveCampaignFair | 2.0GPADripFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C$15 a month for 1,000 contacts on yearly billing, or $19 monthly, a little above the middle of what email tools charge. Starter has 1 user and 5 actions per automation, though. Unlimited steps and landing pages need Plus at $49, and Starter is $149 a month at 10,000 contacts. | D$39 a month to start, in the dearest tenth of what email tools charge and three times the middle. The price then rises with active people and emails sent, and Drip doesn't publish the steps. Unlimited users are included, at least. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan at all, but there's a 14-day trial with no credit card needed. Long enough to build an automation or two and see if it clicks. | DNo free plan. The 14-day trial leads straight into the paid subscription, so cancel before it ends if Drip isn't for you. |
| Features | BMulti-step automations, a drag-and-drop designer with 250+ templates and A/B tests, segmentation, forms, reports and AI drafting. It covers the whole job. SMS, WhatsApp, transactional email and sales pipelines cost extra on top. | BStore-data segments that update live, ready-made welcome, cart, browse, back-in-stock, price-drop and win-back flows, pop-ups, quizzes, forms and A/B tests inside workflows. For a shop, that's the whole job. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record, and this is a web app where the work is building automations and segments. Powerful, but expect a learning curve before it pays off. | CNo App Store rating on record. You connect your store, switch on flows and design pop-ups, and the ready-made flow templates do a lot of the building for you. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, but it connects to Shopify, WooCommerce, WordPress, Salesforce, Stripe, Slack, Zapier and Calendly, and has an API. No desktop or phone app is listed. | BWeb, with Shopify, Judge.me, Junip, LoyaltyLion, Meta ads and Segment, an API, and Claude and ChatGPT able to run it for you. No desktop or phone app, so it stops at a B. |
| Best for | long automated email sequences | email flows and pop-ups for Shopify stores |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: ActiveCampaign and Drip. How we grade
Price against what you get
ActiveCampaign starts at $15 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Drip starts at $39 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and ActiveCampaign starts $24 a month lower. Of the other email marketing and newsletter tools on the chart, 3 score higher than ActiveCampaign for less, and 3 score higher than Drip for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- ActiveCampaign starts at $15 per month for up to 1,000 contacts, billed annually ($19 monthly). Drip starts at $39 per month and up, by list size and email volume.
- ActiveCampaign also covers sales pipeline and reports.
At a glance
| ActiveCampaign | Drip | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $15 per month for up to 1,000 contacts, billed annually ($19 monthly) | $39 per month and up, by list size and email volume |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial, no credit card needed | 14-day free trial |
| Web | ||
| Made by | ActiveCampaign | Drip |
| Price read from | activecampaign.com | apps.shopify.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
ActiveCampaign
- Businesses that run long automated sequences rather than one-off newsletters
- Teams that want email marketing tied to a sales CRM
- Online stores on Shopify, WooCommerce or Square that tie orders to email
Drip
- Shopify stores that want flows and pop-ups in one app
- Teams that want unlimited users on one account
- Store owners who would rather run campaigns by asking Claude or ChatGPT
Worth knowing
ActiveCampaign
- There is no free plan; after the 14-day trial every plan is paid.
- Monthly email sends are capped at 10 times your contact limit on Starter and Plus, 12 times on Pro and 15 times on Enterprise.
- SMS, WhatsApp, transactional email, sales pipelines and extra users are paid add-ons on top of the plan price.
- Starter has one user and stops at 25,000 contacts; landing pages need Plus and conditional content needs Pro.
Drip
- There is no free plan; the 14-day trial leads to a paid subscription.
- The price rises with active people on the list and emails sent, and the listing does not publish the steps.
- Free migration and personalized onboarding come only with some plans.
Key features
ActiveCampaign
- Multi-step automations
- A visual builder links actions, waits and branches into automations. Starter allows 5 actions per automation; Plus and above have no limit.
- Email designer and AI tools
- Drag-and-drop and HTML designer, 250+ templates and A/B testing, plus an AI campaign builder and AI text and image generation.
- Segmentation and personalization
- Segmentation runs from limited on Starter to premium on Enterprise. Conditional content and predictive sending start at Pro.
- CRM and pipelines
- Every plan keeps contact profiles, tags and custom fields. Pipelines, deals, lead scoring and win probability come with the paid CRM add-ons.
- Forms, landing pages and site messages
- Starter has standard and inline forms only; Plus adds landing pages. Site messages and Google, Facebook and LinkedIn ad audiences are also available.
- Reporting and attribution
- Campaign, automation and contact reports on every plan. Attribution starts at Pro; custom reports are included on Enterprise and an add-on on Plus and Pro.
Drip
- Store-data segments
- Groups customers automatically from Shopify order and browsing data, such as top spenders, and keeps segments updated in real time.
- Pre-built ecommerce flows
- Templates for welcome, abandoned cart, browse abandonment, back-in-stock, price-drop and win-back emails, with A/B split tests inside workflows.
- Pop-ups, forms and quizzes
- On-site pop-ups including spin-to-win and exit intent, embedded forms and quizzes to collect email addresses.
- Run it from an AI assistant
- Connect Drip to Claude or ChatGPT to pull data and launch campaigns by asking, at no extra cost.
- Email editor with store branding
- Templates, AI-generated content and brand assets pulled from the store, with custom code and custom fonts.
Plans
ActiveCampaign
Starter$15
per month for up to 1,000 contacts, billed annually ($19 monthly)
1 user, limited segmentation, 5 actions per automation, up to 25,000 contacts. Price rises with the list: $149 a month at 10,000 contacts, billed annually.
Plus$49
per month for up to 1,000 contacts, billed annually ($59 monthly)
1 user, unlimited automation actions, standard segmentation and landing pages. $189 a month at 10,000 contacts, billed annually.
Pro$79
per month for up to 1,000 contacts, billed annually ($99 monthly)
3 users, advanced segmentation, conditional content, predictive sending and attribution. $375 a month at 10,000 contacts, billed annually.
Enterprise$145
per month for up to 1,000 contacts, billed annually ($179 monthly)
5 users, premium segmentation, custom objects, single sign-on and a dedicated account team. $589 a month at 10,000 contacts, billed annually.
Drip
Subscription$39
per month and up, by list size and email volume
Email and automation builder, pop-ups and forms, A/B tests in workflows, AI access and unlimited users. Price rises with active people and emails sent.
Ways to pay less
ActiveCampaign
- Annual discount
About 20% off with annual billing
At 1,000 contacts, annual billing brings Starter to $15 a month from $19 monthly, Plus to $49 from $59 and Pro to $79 from $99.
- Nonprofit
20% off for nonprofits
ActiveCampaign's FAQ offers nonprofits a 20% discount on proof of nonprofit status, requested from the sales team or, for existing accounts, from support.
Drip
No public discounts listed.
