AWeber and ActiveCampaign are two prominent names in the advanced email marketing niche. They both have their strengths and weaknesses, so it’s helpful to compare them carefully if you’re trying to pick the best email marketing platform for your brand or business.
That’s where we come in.
Today, we’re going to look closely at AWeber and ActiveCampaign so that you can choose what’s suitable for you.
In short, both platforms offer email marketing with a variety of valuable features. AWeber is probably better suited for smaller businesses with more specific needs.
In contrast, ActiveCampaign is perhaps better suited for businesses that desire a wide range of features and have more marketing experience.
And while both are solid options for your email marketing strategy, they feature key differences that might make all the difference.
So, read on to see how these two services compare.
First, we’ll overview the two platforms and then make a side-by-side comparison of their main features.
AWeber overview
AWeber owes part of its popularity because it’s one of the older and more well-known email marketing platforms around.
Possessing a solid balance of features and ease of use, AWeber is a good choice no matter how experienced you are with email marketing.
It’s pretty simple to start producing and optimizing campaigns, even though the interface and features are often less intuitive than we’d like.
ActiveCampaign overview
An advanced email marketing platform, ActiveCampaign appeals to seasoned marketers in particular. ActiveCampaign excels when it comes to creating hyper-targeted campaigns with specific datasets.
On the other hand, ActiveCampaign may prove a bit daunting for inexperienced marketers. You might have some trouble starting if you’re new to email marketing. For true beginners, I’d highly suggest that Mailerlite be thrown into the mix. It’s inexpensive, easy to use, and packs some great features.
Features and characteristics
To decide what’s best for you, you need to carefully consider these two platforms’ most essential features and characteristics.
Luckily, we’re highlighting these for you right here.
Customer support
AWeber provides a live chat 24/7 to all customers, regardless of their plan when it comes to customer support.
There’s also email and phone support for twelve hours a day (8 am to 8 pm EST) during the week (Monday through Friday). Plus, they offer resources and tutorials to help you figure things out on your own.
ActiveCampaign, on the other hand, offers eight hours of live support during the week (8 am to 4 pm CST). You can schedule support online or sign up for a webinar that will train you on their tools.
Ease of use
AWeber offers reasonable ease of use, but it lacks certain features and intuitiveness to make the process easier. One of the older email marketing platforms, their design feels a little bit dated compared to other services.
As for ActiveCampaign isn’t necessarily any easier to use, although it does feature a more modern interface.
Unless you’re a veteran email marketer, you’ll likely need to spend time learning their features so that you can get the most out of them.
If you are a beginner, I suggest Mailerlite. If you want something more robust than these options, I recommend Keap.
My brothers Jeff and Paul Helvin at Ballen Brands build out sales funnels, set up email with Keap, and build websites: 702-917-0755.
Pricing
AWeber offers a free plan, which is a big plus. There’s no free trial, however. They offer discounts when you opt to pay either quarterly or yearly, which is a nice touch.
Overall, AWeber is an excellent value for newer or smaller businesses, mainly because all its different plans offer the same features.
ActiveCampaign, on the other hand, does not offer a free plan but does allow you to do a free fourteen-day trial. There are yearly discounts possible depending on the method you opt for. Overall, it’s more affordable if you pay yearly rather than monthly.
Integrations
AWeber offers integrations with many other platforms, including WordPress, PayPal, Shopify, Facebook, and Google Analytics.
ActiveCampaign offers essentially the same integrations, so these two don’t differ much from this feature.
Design and flexibility
AWeber has many template options, but its editor feels a little dated and isn’t always very intuitive.
ActiveCampaign also offers roughly the same number of template options, but they are more customizable and have a more attractive, modern feel.
Email Automations
AWeber’s email automations are relatively new compared to some other services. They aren’t mighty.
ActiveCampaign is one of the leading email marketing services when it comes to automations, with detailed tracking and a wide range of customization.
Reports
AWeber provides basic reporting options that you would expect with email marketing: opens, bounces, clicks, etc.
There are more advanced reporting options, but they’re a little bit hard to find, which can be frustrating.
ActiveCampaign offers great reporting features with extensive detail. While there is no eCommerce tracking, you can see just about anything else you might want.
Online reviews
When it comes to online reviews, AWeber and ActiveCampaign receive similar ratings.
However, it should be noted that ActiveCampaign has a much higher number of reviews on the site that I’m using, which is G2.com.
On this software comparison site, AWeber boasts a score of 4.2/5, while ActiveCampaign leads with a score of 4.6/5. These are based on 565 and 7,818 reviews, respectively—as you can see, ActiveCampaign has received a ton more reviews.
Reviewers tend to prefer AWeber for proofing, text and themes, and page customization. At the same time, ActiveCampaign leads when it comes to most other categories, such as ease of use, pre-designed templates, and e-commerce integration.
Wrapping up: do we have a winner?
Both AWeber and ActiveCampaign are solid picks when it comes to email marketing services. If you scour the internet for reviews, you’ll find a similar amount of reviews that favor one or the other.
Overall, ActiveCampaign may boast better features and a more modern-looking design. Still, inexperienced marketers may be overwhelmed by all that it has to offer and the learning curve that it presents.
On the other hand, AWeber is far from perfect but is pretty rock solid, particularly for smaller and younger businesses who may have limited marketing experience (and budgets).
Ultimately, it depends on your brand or company’s email marketing needs. Hopefully, this overview has given you an excellent start to which service may be better for you.
