If you are looking for a digital marketing tool for your organization, you may be overwhelmed by the number of options available. On the other hand, perhaps you are already using a tool and looking for a different tool that can automate your marketing, enhance your customer experience, and provide you with customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities. Continue reading to find details on the 15 best alternatives to ActiveCampaign.
What is ActiveCampaign?
ActiveCampaign is an automation tool for marketing that reduces the amount of manual work you have to do. It can help you track your website visitors and generate leads. In addition, it has the capability for automated follow-ups and alerts you about exciting leads.
In the early days of digital marketing, ActiveCampaign was powerful and user-friendly. While there are some great benefits to using ActiveCampaign, some strong competitors may provide your organization with more of its needs.
1) Sendinblue
Sendinblue is an all-in-one digital marketing platform intending to empower agencies, and e-commerce builds better customer relationships with transactional messaging, marketing automation, and end-to-end digital marketing.
While newer to the industry, Sendinblue is a strong competitor to ActiveCampaign because it gives you the best that ActiveCampaign has to offer at a better price point.
Sendinblue is slightly easier to use and guides you through creating your campaign. You can learn how to use it quickly; the key areas stand out and direct you where you need to go. The simple-to-use sidebar menu guides allow you to move through templates, statistics, settings, emails, and more.
Sendinblue stands out from ActiveCampaign because it includes live chat and landing pages. Live chat allows you to interact with your customers directly through your website.
Unlike ActiveCampaign, you can test out Sendinblue with its free plan. There is no initial investment; if you like it, you can upgrade to get some extra features and have a higher sending volume.
Sendinblue starts at $25, making it slightly more affordable than ActiveCampaign, which starts at $29/month for 1,000 contacts. You can get comparable features for a lower price from Sendinblue. ActiveCampaign has a complicated pricing structure, which Sendinblue does not, making it one of the best alternatives to ActiveCampaign. Sendinblue offers 300 emails a day for free.
Pros:
- Pricing based on email volume and not email subscribers
- Simple to get started for free
- Heat map analytics creates a better consumer journey and highlights leaks in your marketing funnel
Cons:
- Only able to start with one account
- It contains fewer CRM features
- Less third-party integration options
2) Ontraport
Ontraport is a complete CRM marketing software package. It provides more robust features and functionality than you will find with ActiveCampaign. This product requires more technical abilities, but it gives you a significant amount of power.
Ontraport allows you to expand your CRM capabilities by visualizing, building, and automating your core business practices. It helps you attract and retain customers through the entire lifecycle. Ontraport will build and then publish pages and forms from templates you create yourself. In addition, it allows you to create interactive email campaigns, track communication, and group together your sub-contacts. Ontraport offers a free trial period for 14 days. Ontraport does not offer unlimited emails in its Enterprise level package, which ActiveCampaign does.
One of the most significant differences between ActiveCampaign and Ontraport is Ontraport’s ability to embed e-commerce marketing. This allows you to track sales, which ActiveCampaign does not do.
While Ontraport is more expensive than ActiveCampaign, it remains a great alternative to ActiveCampaign for enterprises and businesses that are established and in need of advanced automation.
The pricing for Ontraportis higher, with a starting price of $79 for one user and 1000 contacts. ActiveCampaign’s basic plan starts at $29/month for 1000 contacts.
Pros:
- Fully functional and robust CRM
- Drag and drop functionality
- Highly customizable
Cons:
- Setup is complicated and takes time to learn
- Limited social media functionality
3) GetResponse
GetResponse is a full-scale automation and autoresponder product with a similar feel to ActiveCampaign. It is a great alternative to ActiveCampaign, especially for startups. GetResponse provides a full suite of marketing solutions, including landing pages, autoresponders, conversation funnels, and webinar features.
This tool can create online surveys, campaigns, and newsletters. The webinar capability creates encrypted URLs that are password protected. ActiveCampaign does not offer webinar capabilities without using the integration of a third-party. In addition, you can review advanced analytics, including viewer location, time spent, survey responses, and conversion information.
With GetResponse, you can build landing pages; however, ActiveCampaign does not allow this. Another feature that GetResponse offers but ActiveCampaign does not is selling products and receiving payments via your landing page.
You can try GetResponse for a 30-day trial period. There is also a free version of the program that you could use forever; however, the number of contacts is limited.
GetResponse has more pricing than ActiveCampaign, making it a more affordable option. GetResponse offers a free plan for 500 contacts. Its starting plan is $15.58 compared to $29 for ActiveCampaign.
Pros:
- Webinar functionality is the best you will find
- Sales alerts in real-time
- Mobile application that fully functions
Cons:
- Missing sales automation features
- Duplicate contacts count against you
4) SendX
SendX is a newcomer to the digital marketing software scene. However, it offers features that are considered next-generation email automation services.
SendX is affordable and currently being used by more than 3,000 organizations. You can build campaigns, forms, and landing pages. With drag and drop capabilities, it is simple to use. In addition, you can easily personalize and customize the platform for your needs. SendX offers a free trial period.
ActiveCampaign and SendX are fairly evenly matched, but SendX offers customer surveys, which ActiveCampaign does not. This makes SendX one of the alternatives to ActiveCampaign.
SendX is half the price of ActiveCampaign at every level. The SendX pricing schedule includes unlimited emails. SendX starts at $7.49 for 1 to 1000 subscribers compared to the $29 starting price for ActiveCampaign.
Pros:
- No limit placed on emails
- Built-in heat map
- Stock photos available for free
- 24/7 support available
Cons:
- Fairly new and hasn’t had time to build a reputation
- Few third-party integration options
5) SharpSpring
SharpSpring is a comprehensive marketing tool ideal for a large enterprise organization or a marketing agency that is compatible with any CMS. You can integrate it with most third-party applications. SharpSpring is affordable with an intuitive interface.
SharpSpring also automated marketing features, including social media, building blogs, and landing pages. However, ActiveCampaign does not include any social media tools.
This software helps you stay close to your market and provide your consumers with the most current information.
SharpSpring is more expensive upfront but becomes more affordable. However, the beginning prices make it unattainable for smaller businesses on a budget. ActiveCampaign has more affordable pricing.
SharpSpring has an onboarding and set-up fee of $1,800, which ActiveCampaign does not have. Its starting price is $449 for 1000 contacts.
Pros:
- Superior customer service
- Provides behavior-based marketing
- Create and share templates across multiple clients
Cons:
- It is not the best starter option for bloggers and basic email marketing
- More expensive than other options
- There is no free trial or free version
6) ConvertKit
ConvertKit is a platform that is built specifically for bloggers and content site operators. The interface is clean, and the automation tools are easy to use. In addition, ConvertKit provides unlimited landing pages, forms, and email sending capability at every level.
ConvertKit provides audience segmentation and tagging across the board for all users. In addition, it offers a free version that allows you to try the application for up to 300 subscribers.
When considering ConvertKit as one of the alternatives to ActiveCampaign, it is essential to note that ConvertKit is an email automation platform and not a robust CRM tool. In addition, ConvertKit is geared more toward a blogger, whereas ActiveCampaign focuses more on wide spectrum marketers.
ConvertKit has a more affordable pricing schedule than ActiveCampaign, with a free plan and the creator plan starting at $9 versus ActiveCampaign starting at $29.
Pros:
- Workflows are easy to use and intuitive
- Advanced functionality, including logic email option
Cons:
- Not the best option for someone that is not a blogger
- Limited e-commerce marketing tools for marketing campaigns
7) Hubspot
Hubspot is a full-spectrum and robust platform that focuses on automation and CRM. ActiveCampaign focuses more on email marketing. There is a portion of HubSpot that is always free. It also offers other marketing, sales, and customer service software. It allows you to automate your marketing tasks with multilevel automation and has powerful workflows.
Hubspot has many integrations, including events, project management, and analytics, just to name a few, which are more robust than what ActiveCampaign offers. The drag and drop editor also allows you to create your website easily, or the ability to code is available. Hubspot has more robust functionality than ActiveCampaign, making it more time-consuming to learn how to navigate. ActiveCampaign has a much easier user interface.
While Hubspot offers a free plan and ActiveCampaign does not, the paid plans offered by ActiveCampaign are more affordable. The pricing schedule for Hubspot starts at $50 for 1000 contacts. The starting plan for ActiveCampaign is $29.
Pros:
- Ideal for large marketing teams, sales teams, and lead management
- Offers fully automated workflows and templates
- Analytics dashboards with complex segments
Cons:
- May be too much for a traditional business
- Gets expensive fast
8) Drip
Drip offers a powerful automation software solution for email. It integrates closely with eCommerce and Shopify platforms. It also integrates with Facebook, which ActiveCampaign does not. Drip also seamlessly integrates with LeadPages and similar products. They are positioning themselves to be the place of digital commerce and automation.
This platform is intended for new drip campaigns. Drip does not offer the wide variety of sales CRM features that ActiveCampaign does. Drip does not provide the ability for split (A/B) testing.
It offers a flexible and simple pricing plan to allow your business to scale. There are no hidden charges. They offer a free trial for 14 days.
Drip is highly scalable, with options for every level you may need; however, it does have a higher price point than ActiveCampaign at every level. Drip starts at $39 for 1 to 2,500 subscribers.
Pros:
- Offers quickstart templates for forms
- Provides segmentation and a visual automation builder
Cons:
- Has a renewed focus on eCommerce and store owners, which is not ideal for content sites
9) Mailerlite
Mailerlite is a fast-growing marketing tool platform with a heavy focus on email. It offers automated sequence builders. It is intuitive and easy to use. However, you must get past some anti-spam checks before taking advantage of all it offers.
Mailerlite has advanced features that are easy to navigate. You can mock up templates and view them before publishing. In addition, it provides you with an easy-to-use editor that allows you to utilize drag and drop functionality. Mailerlite is a more basic autoresponder tool than ActiveCampaign.
There is no free plan from ActiveCampaign, but Mailerlite does. Mailerlite also has lower pricing, which is $9 to start, over ActiveCampaign, which starts at $29.
Pros:
- Built-in photo editing
- Email campaigns without upsells
Cons:
- Setup can be complicated
- Pauses account with low open rates
10) Sendlane
Sendlane is new to the digital email marketing platform market. Sendlane is a cloud-based program for digital marketers, content creators, and e-commerce. As a result, they are not as robust as other options, but they quickly catch up to their competition, including ActiveCampaign.
Sendlane still offers features that make it one of the strong alternatives to ActiveCampaign, such as performance tracking, email automation, and real-time reporting. Sendlane offers predictive analytics, which is not a feature of ActiveCampaign. In addition, they offer advanced capabilities for tracking. The Sendlane has an easy-to-use interface that is polished and clean.
Sendlane is more expensive than ActiveCampaign across every pricing level. The starter pack for Sendlane has a one-time fee of $600 then the base price is $83.
Pros:
- Real-time sales alerts
- Predictive analysis for optimization
Cons:
- Does not have SMS capabilities
- It gets progressively more expensive at each level
11) Aweber
Aweber is an experienced email marketing pioneer for the small business industry. If you looked into the platform in its early days and did not interest you, you should give it another chance. They have revamped their automation in recent years; however, they still lack the CRM capabilities you find with ActiveCampaign.
Aweber offers many points of integrations, such as Shopify, WordPress, and Facebook, just to name a few. In addition, it offers marketing campaigns that are easy to use. They have more than 700 email templates to cover every aspect of the business compared to the 25 templates in ActiveCampaign. In addition, they offer a 30-day free trial, which you will not find with ActiveCampaign.
In addition to a free trial period, Aweber offers a free plan with a lower price than ActiveCampaign. Aweber starts at $29.33 for up to 2500 subscribers.
Pros:
- Has been a leader in marketing software since the early 2000
- Provides double opt-in functions for sign-ups
Cons:
- May be difficult to migrate lists
- Unsubscribed remain part of your subscription count
12) Constant Contact
Constant Contact has been a fundamental part of the email marketing industry. Some tried to use Constant Contact in the past, and it is time to give it another look as they have added many automation features. It provides various tools to help you build, grow, and succeed.
Constant Contact gives you more than marketing automation. You can connect with people, grow your lists, automate business processes, and post on social media. As a result, you can improve customer engagement, improve results, and grow leads using. However, it does not have the flexible automation workflows and insightful analytics reports you will find from ActiveCampaign.
Constant Contact is one of the best alternatives to ActiveCampaign for small businesses with simple campaigns. In addition, it is considerably less expensive than ActiveCampaign. Constant Contact has tiered pricing in each plan, but the base price is $9.99.
Pros:
- Drag and drop email templates for campaigns
- Email template library
- Capable of split testing
Cons:
- More expensive than the competition
- Basic metrics for reporting
13) EngageBay
EngageBay is ideal for small businesses and startups, especially for visualizing, building, and automating their core processes. It integrates with social media, business applications, and email. In addition, you get a built-in desktop, SMS, push notifications, and telephony.
EngageBay provides task management, which you cannot find with ActiveCampaign. It has real-time reporting about the customer journey and sales performance. It helps you understand your customer, their journey, and how to retain them. In addition, EngageBay has an automated data entry system that ActiveCampaign does not offer.
Unlike ActiveCampaign, Engagebay is much easier to learn and offers a free plan. However, even putting the free plan aside, Engagebay is one of the more affordable alternatives to ActiveCampaign. Engagebay has a basic plan of $10.39 for 1000 contacts.
Pros:
- The free plan offers a large number of services
- Pro plan provides unlimited emails
Cons:
- A small list of integration points
14) Pipedrive
Salespeople built Pipedrive for other salespeople. They are a great alternative to ActiveCampaign for small to medium-sized businesses. First, it lets you see your marketing campaign’s big picture. Then, it works you through the decisions you need to make to close deals.
This is a powerful tool that is easy to use. Pipedrive offers the ability to customize the platform to meet your needs, which ActiveCampaign lacks. Construction companies use it to manage their sales. You can troubleshoot any concerns in your sales funnel. Pipedrive has a strong foundation in managing direct sales, which is still its strength. It is challenging for ActiveCampaign to compete with these features.
Pipedrive has an essential plan that starts at $14.90 compared to $29 for ActiveCampaign.
Pros:
- Helps improve sales
- It does not require training
Cons:
- Few third-party points of integration
15) Salesforce
Salesforce is an online tool best used for tracking leads and forecasting revenues. In addition, it is an industry-leading tool for marketing and managing sales. The innovations in Salesforce help you connect with customers, co-workers, and partners. It is geared toward enterprise customers looking for a powerful marketing automation platform to integrate with other Salesforce software.
Salesforce tends to attract a specific customer, whereas ActiveCampaign has a wider customer base. This platform helps with asset management, managing a contact database, and tracking deals. In addition, it is customizable to meet your needs and billing structure.
Salesforce scales its features so that some are only available at upper pricing levels. ActiveCampaign, on the other hand, offers all features at all levels. Salesforce has a starting price of $25 compared to ActiveCampaign at $29.
Pros:
- Pay by license, making it easy to scale
- Functionality to create new fields, write formulas, and build automation
Cons:
- While easy to customize, it is possible to create too much customization
FAQs
Is ActiveCampaign considered a CRM?
Yes, ActiveCampaign is a customer relationship management tool. It helps you build relationships with customers to allow you to grow your business.
Is ActiveCampaign a SaaS Company?
ActiveCampaign provides a SaaS platform to help businesses extend beyond marketing automation. This helps businesses engage with customers to optimize those experiences. Functionality includes messaging, email, and CRM.
What Does ActiveCampaign Do Best?
ActiveCampaign is an automation tool that will automate almost anything, including dynamic email content, sales follow-ups, and automated segmentation.
How Long Will it Take Me To Learn ActiveCampaign?
It only takes two hours to learn ActiveCampaign. You can access ActiveCampaign lessons at any time. You can only take one or two lessons, as you need.
Final Thoughts
When you are considering these alternatives to ActiveCampaign, here are 15 of the best alternative options. Your budget, objectives, and marketing capacity can make a difference in determining which of these options is best for you. The information contained here can help you narrow down your choices.
