Best ActiveCampaign Alternatives 2026

ActiveCampaign built its reputation as the automation-first email marketing platform, and for years it delivered on that promise. But as the platform has grown — adding CRM, e-commerce features, and AI tools — the pricing has crept up, the interface has gotten busier, and plenty of users are finding they’re paying for a Swiss Army knife when they really need a scalpel. If you’re here, you’re probably feeling one of those frustrations right now.

Why Look for ActiveCampaign Alternatives?

Pricing that escalates faster than expected. ActiveCampaign’s per-contact pricing model hits hard as your list grows. A 10,000-contact database on the Marketing plan (formerly Plus) runs about $139/month. Jump to 50,000 contacts, and you’re looking at $486/month — and that’s before adding CRM seats or the Enhanced CRM tier. For teams whose lists have grown organically but don’t monetize every contact, that math stops working.

The CRM feels bolted on. ActiveCampaign added CRM functionality years ago, and it shows. The deal pipeline works for simple sales processes, but it lacks the depth of a purpose-built CRM. Custom objects are limited, reporting across marketing and sales is fragmented, and sales reps frequently complain about the interface feeling like it was designed for marketers, not for them. If your sales team has more than three people, you’ll feel the friction.

Automation power you might not need. ActiveCampaign’s automation builder is genuinely excellent — arguably the best in its price range. But that complexity is a double-edged sword. Teams that just need reliable email campaigns with basic triggers often find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer number of options. If you’ve built automations with 40+ steps and conditional branches, you know the debugging nightmare that creates.

Deliverability inconsistencies. This one’s controversial, but I’ve seen it across multiple client accounts. ActiveCampaign’s deliverability used to be a clear strength, but as the platform scaled, some users have reported inconsistent inbox placement. It’s not universally bad, but if you’ve noticed declining open rates that don’t correlate with content changes, you’re not alone.

Reporting gaps. For a platform with “active” in the name, the reporting can feel surprisingly passive. Multi-touch attribution is limited, campaign-level revenue reporting requires workarounds, and the built-in dashboards don’t compare favorably to what HubSpot or Klaviyo offer natively. If you’re trying to prove marketing ROI to leadership, you’ll spend time in spreadsheets.

HubSpot

Best for: Teams that want CRM + marketing in one platform

HubSpot is the most common destination for ActiveCampaign users who’ve outgrown the bolted-on CRM experience. The core difference is architectural: HubSpot was built as a CRM first, with marketing layered on top. That means your contact records, deal stages, marketing interactions, and support tickets all live in one unified data model. No syncing headaches, no deduplication nightmares.

The marketing automation in HubSpot is good — not as flexible as ActiveCampaign’s at the granular level, but more than sufficient for 90% of use cases. Where HubSpot pulls ahead is in everything surrounding the automation: attribution reporting, A/B testing across the full funnel, and the ability for sales reps to see exactly which emails a contact engaged with before they booked a call. That visibility alone justifies the switch for many B2B teams.

The honest limitation is cost. HubSpot’s free tier is generous for CRM basics, but the Marketing Hub Professional tier — where the real automation and reporting lives — starts at $890/month. That’s a steep jump from ActiveCampaign’s $49/month entry point. You’re also locked into annual contracts at the Professional tier, and adding marketing contacts beyond the included 2,000 costs extra. For a 50,000-contact database, expect to pay $2,000+/month at Professional.

My recommendation: HubSpot makes sense if you have a sales team that needs CRM access and you’re currently duct-taping ActiveCampaign to a separate CRM. If you’re a solo marketer or small team without a dedicated sales process, you’ll be paying for capabilities you won’t use. Start with Marketing Hub Starter ($20/month) to test the waters, but know that most of the features that differentiate HubSpot from ActiveCampaign live in the Professional tier.

See our ActiveCampaign vs HubSpot comparison

Read our full HubSpot review

Brevo

Best for: Budget-conscious teams sending high email volume

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) flips ActiveCampaign’s pricing model on its head. Instead of charging per contact, Brevo charges per email sent. That single difference can save thousands annually if you have a large contact list but don’t email every subscriber daily. A database of 100,000 contacts costs nothing to store — you only pay when you actually send.

The platform includes transactional email, SMS, and WhatsApp messaging alongside marketing automation. ActiveCampaign charges extra for transactional email (via Postmark, which they acquired) and SMS credits. With Brevo, it’s all in one billing relationship. The automation builder handles the basics well: welcome sequences, abandoned cart flows, lead nurturing based on page visits or email engagement. It won’t match ActiveCampaign’s conditional logic depth, but for straightforward workflows, it’s perfectly capable.

Where Brevo falls short is in automation sophistication. You won’t find ActiveCampaign-style if/else trees with multiple conditions, wait-until-event steps, or goal-based automation exits. The CRM module is functional but bare-bones — think contact management and simple pipelines, not lead scoring or predictive sending. If complex automation is your primary reason for using ActiveCampaign, Brevo will feel like a downgrade.

Pricing makes the decision simple: the Business plan at $18/month gets you marketing automation, A/B testing, and send-time optimization. For a team of 2-5 people managing 20,000+ contacts with moderate sending needs, Brevo can easily save $100-200/month compared to ActiveCampaign while covering 80% of the same use cases.

See our ActiveCampaign vs Brevo comparison

Read our full Brevo review

Mailchimp

Best for: Small teams prioritizing ease of use over automation depth

Mailchimp is the default choice for a reason — it’s the platform most people already know. If your team struggles with ActiveCampaign’s complexity and just needs to send good-looking campaigns reliably, Mailchimp removes the friction. The email builder is drag-and-drop intuitive, the template library is extensive, and the content studio keeps all your brand assets organized.

For e-commerce teams, Mailchimp’s integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce are polished. Product recommendations, abandoned cart emails, and purchase follow-ups work out of the box with minimal configuration. ActiveCampaign offers similar integrations, but Mailchimp’s are typically easier to set up and maintain, especially for non-technical users.

The trade-off is automation capability. Mailchimp’s “Customer Journeys” builder has improved significantly, but it still lacks conditional content blocks within emails, complex branching logic, and the trigger variety that ActiveCampaign offers. You can’t, for example, trigger an automation based on a custom event from your app without using the API. If you’re running behavior-based drip campaigns with 10+ decision points, Mailchimp will frustrate you.

Pricing has become a sore point. Mailchimp’s Standard plan for 10,000 contacts runs about $110/month — not dramatically cheaper than ActiveCampaign’s $139. The value proposition is really about simplicity, not savings. If your team spends more time fighting ActiveCampaign’s interface than building campaigns, the switch makes sense. If automation depth is what you value, look elsewhere.

See our ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp comparison

Read our full Mailchimp review

GetResponse

Best for: Marketers who need webinars and funnels alongside email

GetResponse occupies an interesting niche: it’s the all-in-one marketing platform that includes features you’d normally need separate tools for. Built-in webinar hosting (up to 1,000 attendees on higher plans), conversion funnels with landing pages and payment processing, and a website builder are all included alongside the email marketing core. If you’re currently using ActiveCampaign plus Zoom plus a landing page tool, GetResponse can consolidate three subscriptions into one.

The automation builder is genuinely competitive with ActiveCampaign’s. You get conditions, filters, actions, and scoring — the core elements of a sophisticated workflow. It’s not quite as flexible (fewer trigger types, less granular conditions), but it handles lead scoring, tagging, and multi-step nurture sequences without breaking a sweat. The visual builder is clean and performs well even with complex workflows.

The CRM, however, is basic. It’s really a contact management layer with deal tracking — no custom objects, limited pipeline customization, and reporting that doesn’t go deep enough for sales teams. If you’re using ActiveCampaign’s CRM features heavily, GetResponse won’t match them. It’s better positioned as a marketing tool that happens to have contact management than as a CRM.

The Marketing Automation plan at $59/month includes most of what you’ll need, and that price holds for up to 1,000 contacts. At 10,000 contacts, expect about $114/month — comparable to ActiveCampaign. The value equation tips in GetResponse’s favor if you’ll use the webinar and funnel features, since those alone could replace $50-100/month in other tool subscriptions.

See our ActiveCampaign vs GetResponse comparison

Read our full GetResponse review

Drip

Best for: E-commerce brands running behavior-based campaigns

Drip was built specifically for e-commerce, and that focus shows in every feature. Where ActiveCampaign treats e-commerce as one of many use cases, Drip makes it the only use case. The platform syncs natively with Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce, pulling in order history, browsing behavior, product data, and customer lifetime value without any configuration beyond connecting your store.

The pre-built automation workflows are where Drip shines. Welcome series, post-purchase follow-ups, win-back campaigns, browse abandonment — they all come ready to activate with sensible defaults. ActiveCampaign offers recipes for these, but Drip’s versions are pre-populated with e-commerce logic: dynamic product blocks, order-specific content, and revenue-based segmentation. For a Shopify store owner, the time from signup to first automated campaign can be measured in minutes, not hours.

Revenue attribution is direct and granular. Every email and SMS campaign shows attributed revenue, and you can track performance at the workflow level, the individual email level, and the segment level. This is possible in ActiveCampaign with setup, but Drip does it automatically. If proving email ROI matters to your business, Drip makes it effortless.

The limitation is clear: Drip is only for e-commerce. There’s no CRM, no deal pipeline, no B2B lead scoring. If you sell products online, Drip is excellent. If you sell services, SaaS, or anything that involves a sales conversation, this isn’t your tool. Pricing starts at $39/month for 2,500 contacts and scales to about $154/month for 10,000 — slightly more expensive than ActiveCampaign per contact, but the e-commerce-specific features often justify the premium.

See our ActiveCampaign vs Drip comparison

Read our full Drip review

Klaviyo

Best for: Data-driven e-commerce teams with large product catalogs

Klaviyo has become the default email platform for serious e-commerce operations, and for good reason. The data modeling is significantly deeper than ActiveCampaign’s. Klaviyo doesn’t just know that a customer bought something — it calculates predicted next order date, expected lifetime value, churn probability, and average order value, then lets you segment and trigger automations based on those predictions.

The dynamic content capabilities are especially strong for stores with large product catalogs. Personalized product recommendations pull from individual browsing and purchase history, and the rendering is reliable across email clients. ActiveCampaign can do basic dynamic content, but Klaviyo’s product feed integration is several steps ahead. If you sell 500+ SKUs, the difference in campaign performance is measurable.

SMS and email live on the same customer profile, which means you can build automations that intelligently choose the right channel based on engagement history. Send an email first; if it’s not opened within four hours, trigger an SMS. ActiveCampaign supports SMS, but the integration isn’t as tightly woven into the automation logic.

The pricing discussion is important. Klaviyo’s free tier (250 contacts) is useful for testing, but costs escalate quickly at scale. 10,000 contacts costs roughly $150/month for email only, and adding SMS increases that significantly depending on volume. At 50,000 contacts, you’re looking at $720/month for email alone. That’s substantially more than ActiveCampaign for pure email marketing. The investment makes sense if you’re generating enough e-commerce revenue to justify the predictive features — typically, stores doing $500K+ annually see clear ROI.

See our ActiveCampaign vs Klaviyo comparison

Read our full Klaviyo review

MailerLite

Best for: Solopreneurs and small teams who need simplicity at a low cost

MailerLite is what ActiveCampaign would look like if you stripped away 70% of the features and cut the price to match. That’s not an insult — it’s the product’s strength. For creators, bloggers, small businesses, and solopreneurs who don’t need conditional automation logic or CRM pipelines, MailerLite delivers the essentials at a fraction of the cost.

The platform includes a website builder, landing pages, pop-up forms, and email marketing in every plan. The email editor is modern and fast, with a block-based design that’s harder to mess up than ActiveCampaign’s more flexible (but more complex) builder. Newsletters, RSS-to-email, and basic automated sequences cover the needs of most small operations.

Automation is where you’ll feel the downgrade. MailerLite supports triggered emails (subscriber joins a group, completes a form, clicks a link) and simple delay-based sequences, but there’s no branching logic, no conditional content, and no lead scoring. If your current ActiveCampaign setup includes automations with if/else conditions, you’ll need to rebuild them as separate simpler workflows — or accept that some logic just isn’t possible.

The price tells the story: 10,000 subscribers on the Growing Business plan costs $73/month. The Advanced plan ($20/month base) adds a custom HTML editor, promotion pop-ups, and multiple automation triggers. Compare that to ActiveCampaign’s $139/month for 10,000 contacts, and you’re saving $66/month — nearly $800/year. For a small team that’s honest about their automation needs, that’s money better spent elsewhere.

See our ActiveCampaign vs MailerLite comparison

Read our full MailerLite review

Quick Comparison Table

Tool	Best For	Starting Price	Free Plan
HubSpot	CRM + marketing in one platform	$20/month (Starter)	Yes (CRM + basic marketing)
Brevo	High volume sending on a budget	$9/month	Yes (300 emails/day)
Mailchimp	Ease of use, small teams	$13/month	Yes (500 contacts)
GetResponse	Webinars + funnels + email	$19/month	Yes (500 contacts)
Drip	E-commerce behavior campaigns	$39/month	No (14-day trial)
Klaviyo	Data-driven e-commerce	$20/month	Yes (250 contacts)
MailerLite	Simplicity at low cost	$10/month	Yes (1,000 subscribers)

How to Choose

The right alternative depends on what’s actually bothering you about ActiveCampaign. Be honest about the real problem before shopping for solutions.

If your main complaint is price and you don’t use complex automation, go with MailerLite or Brevo. MailerLite is the simplest and cheapest. Brevo is better if you have a large list but moderate sending frequency, since its email-based pricing model will save you more as your list grows.

If you need a real CRM alongside your marketing, HubSpot is the clear choice. Yes, it’s more expensive. But if you’re currently paying for ActiveCampaign plus a separate CRM (Pipedrive, Salesforce, Close) and dealing with sync issues, consolidating into HubSpot often costs the same or less while eliminating integration headaches.

If you’re an e-commerce brand, the decision is between Drip and Klaviyo. Drip is more approachable and better for stores doing under $500K/year. Klaviyo’s predictive analytics and deeper data modeling justify the higher price for stores with larger catalogs and higher revenue.

If you want similar features at a similar price with a few bonuses, GetResponse is your best match. The automation builder is competitive, and the included webinar and funnel tools add genuine value.

If your team finds ActiveCampaign too complex and just wants to send campaigns, Mailchimp is the path of least resistance. Almost everyone on your team has probably used it before, and that familiarity has real value.

Switching Tips

Migrating from ActiveCampaign is relatively straightforward compared to moving off other platforms, but a few things will save you headaches.

Export everything before you cancel. ActiveCampaign lets you export contacts as CSV, but automation workflows, email templates, and reporting data don’t come with you. Screenshot or document your automation logic before you leave — you’ll need to rebuild them manually in any new platform.

Map your custom fields first. ActiveCampaign supports custom fields and tags extensively. Before importing contacts to a new platform, create matching fields and ensure your data maps correctly. Mismatched fields are the number one cause of messy migrations, and cleaning up 50,000 contacts after a botched import is nobody’s idea of a good time.

Plan for a 2-4 week overlap. Don’t cancel ActiveCampaign the day you sign up for a new tool. Run both platforms simultaneously while you rebuild automations, verify deliverability on the new platform, and train your team. Most people underestimate how long it takes to recreate automations — budget one week for every 10 active automations.

Watch your deliverability during the transition. Sending from a new platform means new sending IPs and domains that need warming. Start with your most engaged segments (opened email in the last 30 days) and gradually expand. Sending to your full list from a cold IP is a fast way to land in spam folders.

Don’t try to recreate everything. Migration is a natural time to audit. I’ve seen clients with 85 active automations in ActiveCampaign who, after honest evaluation, only needed 20. Kill the workflows that aren’t driving measurable results. Your new platform will be cleaner and easier to manage for it.

Check your integrations. ActiveCampaign connects to hundreds of tools via native integrations and Zapier. List every integration you’re currently using, then verify the new platform supports them. The tool that connects to your payment processor, form builder, and booking software is more important than the one with the fancier email editor.

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