# ActiveCampaign

> Email marketing and multi-step automation priced by contacts

ActiveCampaign is an email marketing and automation platform for small and mid-sized businesses. Its visual builder chains emails, waits, branches and CRM updates into multi-step automations, and AI tools draft campaigns, copy and images. SMS, WhatsApp, sales pipelines and transactional email are sold as add-ons to the four contact-based plans.

- **Category:** Email Marketing & Newsletters
- **Made by:** ActiveCampaign (since 2003)
- **Website:** https://www.activecampaign.com
- **Runs on:** Web
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 17, 2026

## Pricing

ActiveCampaign is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $15 per month for up to 1,000 contacts, billed annually ($19 monthly).

- **Pricing model:** Free trial
- **Free plan:** None.
- **Free trial:** 14-day free trial, no credit card needed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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. |

Read from https://www.activecampaign.com/pricing on Oct 17, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with ActiveCampaign before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **About 20% off with annual billing** (Annual discount): 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. Source: https://www.activecampaign.com/pricing
- **20% off for nonprofits** (Nonprofit): ActiveCampaign's FAQ offers nonprofits a 20% discount on proof of nonprofit status, requested from the sales team or, for existing accounts, from support. Source: https://www.activecampaign.com/about/faq

## Key features

- **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.

## Good for

- 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

## Worth knowing

- 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.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.4 out of 4**, graded Oct 17, 2026. ActiveCampaign is built for automations: long chains of emails, waits and branches that run on their own, with a CRM on the side if you sell. It starts at $15 a month for 1,000 contacts on yearly billing. But there's no free plan, and the cheapest plan stops each automation at 5 actions, so the good stuff starts at $49.

- **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.
- **Free plan and trial: C.** No 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.
- **Features: B.** Multi-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.
- **Ease of use: C.** No 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.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web 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.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from ActiveCampaign's own pages on 17 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among email marketing and newsletter tools

- ActiveCampaign's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 5 of the 24 other email marketing and newsletter tools we grade, and level with 9.
- It stands best on features (B, above 3 of 24) and worst on ease of use (C, above 1).
- Its paid plans start at $15 a month, against a middle price of $13 for the category: 12 of the 22 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. 3 tools score higher and cost less.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/email-marketing

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** To replace ActiveCampaign you would be making newsletters sent to thousands of people that still reach the inbox. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 10 of the 24 other email marketing and newsletter tools grade higher. It costs $180 a year.

- You could make: Forms, sales pipeline and reports: an app builder makes these well.
- You could not: Newsletters sent to thousands of people that still reach the inbox.
- You could not: Email sent in volume that still reaches the inbox.
- You could not: It plugs into other products, Shopify, WooCommerce and WordPress among them, and has an API.
- You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
- You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## Works with

Shopify, WooCommerce, WordPress, Salesforce, Stripe, Slack, Zapier, Calendly

**Tags:** Email campaigns, Marketing automation, Forms, Sales pipeline, Reports, AI features, Public API

## Alternatives

- [Mailchimp](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mailchimp): Email and SMS marketing with automations, priced by contact count. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/activecampaign-vs-mailchimp)
- [GetResponse](https://toolgpa.com/tools/getresponse): Email marketing with automation, webinars, courses and landing pages. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/activecampaign-vs-getresponse)
- [Brevo](https://toolgpa.com/tools/brevo): Email, SMS and WhatsApp marketing priced by emails sent, with a CRM. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/activecampaign-vs-brevo)
- [Klaviyo](https://toolgpa.com/tools/klaviyo): Email, text and push marketing built on online-store customer data. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/activecampaign-vs-klaviyo)
- [Drip](https://toolgpa.com/tools/drip): Email automation and pop-ups for online stores. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/activecampaign-vs-drip)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 17, 2026:

- https://www.activecampaign.com/pricing
- https://www.activecampaign.com/dist/pricing/fallback/USD.json
- https://www.activecampaign.com/about/faq
- https://www.activecampaign.com/about

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/activecampaign
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).