ActiveCampaign vs Encharge
We give ActiveCampaign and Encharge the same GPA: 2.4 out of 4.0. They get the same grade on all five counts.
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
Encharge
Behavior-based email automation for SaaS and subscription businesses
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAActiveCampaignFair | 2.4GPAEnchargeFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | CNo price on record, as Encharge's pricing page turned automated readers away. What we do know is that Growth and Premium are priced by subscribers, and crossing a tier moves you up automatically at the next bill. |
| 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. | CNo free plan, but there's a 14-day trial for up to 1,000 subscribers with no card needed. Long enough to connect Stripe and switch on an onboarding flow. |
| 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. | BVisual flows triggered by sign-ups, segments, events and billing, segments on tracked behavior, newsletters in drag-and-drop or text builders, companies and custom objects, and transactional email through an API. 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 and no phone app. The flows only come alive once your product is sending events and your billing tool is connected, and that setup is real work. |
| 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 only, with Stripe, Chargebee, Paddle, HubSpot, Salesforce, Segment, Facebook Ads and Zapier, plus an API. No desktop or phone app keeps it at a B. |
| Best for | long automated email sequences | behavior-based emails for SaaS companies |
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 Encharge. How we grade
Where they differ
- ActiveCampaign also covers sales pipeline and reports.
At a glance
| ActiveCampaign | Encharge | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $15 per month for up to 1,000 contacts, billed annually ($19 monthly) | Not published |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial, no credit card needed | 14-day free trial for up to 1,000 subscribers, no card required |
| Web | ||
| Made by | ActiveCampaign | Encharge |
| Price read from | activecampaign.com | Not confirmed |
| 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
Encharge
- SaaS teams onboarding trial users with behavior-based emails
- Subscription businesses acting on Stripe or Chargebee events
- Agencies running automation for clients who use HubSpot or Salesforce
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.
Encharge
- Prices could not be confirmed: the pricing page and the main site refused automated readers when checked.
- Plans are Growth and Premium, priced by subscribers; passing a tier upgrades you automatically at the next billing date.
- Each plan caps monthly events at 50 times the subscriber tier on Growth and 100 times on Premium; past the cap, events stop arriving.
- There is no push notification channel yet; Encharge lists it on its roadmap.
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.
Encharge
- Flows
- A visual builder for automated sequences triggered by sign-ups, segments, events and billing activity, with templates for onboarding, churn and upsells.
- Behavior-based segments
- Group people by attributes, tags, custom fields and tracked events such as page visits; event-based segments need the Premium plan.
- Broadcasts and email builders
- One-off newsletters built in a drag-and-drop or a simple text builder, with reusable blocks, custom HTML and Liquid personalization.
- Billing and CRM integrations
- Native syncs with Stripe, Chargebee, Paddle, Recurly and Chargify; HubSpot, Salesforce and Segment need Premium.
- Companies and custom objects
- Store companies and custom objects linked to people, and use those links in segments and flows.
- Transactional email API
- Send transactional emails from templates, custom HTML or plain text through an API.
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.
Encharge
Pricing could not be confirmed. See encharge.io.
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.
Encharge
No public discounts listed.
