ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is an email marketing and automation platform that combines campaigns, automated journeys, landing pages and a CRM in one account. Small teams use it to send segmented newsletters, run follow-up sequences and track leads in one place.
#17 in Marketing ToolsEmail Marketing SoftwareNo free plan
Who it's for
Best for
Small marketing teams running automated campaigns and landing pages
Marketers running behavior-triggered follow-up sequences on large lists
Not for
Teams needing a phone or human path for complex account issues
Budget-tight small businesses facing steep annual price increases
Free planNo
Starter$15/moBilled annually
Plus$49/moBilled annually
Pro$79/moBilled annually
Enterprise$145/moBilled annually
Features
Automations from a prompt
Workflows are assembled from a plain description of the sequence needed, such as a win-back flow, and go live in minutes rather than sitting in drafts.
Automatic campaign testing
Each send is tested automatically rather than only the largest campaigns. The best performing version is the one that goes out, pending a quick approval.
Engagement-based segmentation
The platform watches engagement and builds segments automatically, so every group receives messages matched to how it behaves.
Automated marketing reporting
Weekly marketing reports are prepared automatically, with numbers pulled, trends explained and a next move drafted before the working week starts.
What users say
Pros
- The drag-and-drop automation builder holds up with a 30K-contact list, and tested sequences run reliably.
- Email campaigns, landing pages, forms and reporting sit in one dashboard, so a small team launches without extra tools.
- Connects to internal software, patient portals and webhooks, so contact records and outreach stay in sync.
- Plain-English prompts to the AI assistant clean up duplicate contacts and handle list additions or removals at once.
- Help-desk replies come quickly and resolve the issue, frequently within the same day.
Cons
- Subscriptions renew at roughly four times the price paid two years earlier, with increases arriving without clear notice.
- Issues get routed to an AI bot that loops without escalating, leaving complex or locked-account problems open for weeks.
- Emails show as sent but get quarantined by Microsoft-hosted inboxes, and some accounts watched open rates fall to single digits.
- Pages and the editor load slowly, and automations glitch often enough that lead emails fail to arrive.
- Pasting copy into the email editor strips its formatting back to the default style, forcing manual restyling each time.
- Annual subscriptions auto-renew without an advance reminder, and refund requests after a charge are refused.
A selection of the review sources we used:
Summarized from public user reviews and community discussions. View details
Global Traffic Rank
Top 500k
Alternatives
Rank#17 in category#6 in category#7 in category#12 in category
Free planNoYesYesYes
ProReliable automations, all-in-one tools, integrations, fast help deskAdvanced segmentation, clean interface, strong open ratesNo-engineer email building, quick chat fixes, all-in-one toolFree tier, campaigns plus API, fast setup, deep reports, support
Better forRunning email campaigns on a free plan or starting at $8/mo billed annually.
Weaker atBuilding complex, multi-branch behavior-triggered automation workflows across large contact lists.