I’m a huge ActiveCampaign fan, as well as a power user, but ActiveCampaign Pricing can be a bit confusing at first especially for beginners, so I’ve written this detailed pricing guide to help anyone on the fence about this powerful email automation platform make an informed decision before buying.
You'll learn which plan is right for your business, the pros and cons of their pricing model, and get feature breakdowns for all of their plans.
Ready to dive in? At any time you can skip ahead using the links in the table of contents.
Summary
ActiveCampaign provides flexible plans and affordable pricing options for any size business, and is zero risk to try with their free trial. With multiple options suitable for small and medium sized businesses all the way up to large enterprise organizations, ActiveCampaign has something for everyone.
Frequently Asked Questions About ActiveCampaign Pricing
Let's get the most frequently asked questions about ActiveCampaign pricing and plans out of the way first, because if you're like most people, you want the goods and you want them NOW, dangit!
"How much does ActiveCampaign cost?"
ActiveCampaign has subscription plans that start at $9/mo with the annual discount and increase in costs depending on the size of your email list, the features you need, and if you want to pay monthly or annually.
"Does ActiveCampaign have a free trial?"
ActiveCampaign does have a free trial in case you were wondering, so you can try it out for free before you buy. The best part is you do not need a credit card to start the free trial.
The ActiveCampaign free trial lasts 14 days and let's you test the system with up to 100 contacts and up to 100 emails sent and gives you all the features of their Professional Tier (more on the tiered plans below). There are a few other limitations with the free trial including API usage.
"Does ActiveCampaign have a free plan?"
ActiveCampaign does not have a free plan, unfortunately, but has affordable plans that start at $9/month.
"Is there a ActiveCampaign discount available?"
Active Campaign has an annual discount of 40% off if you pay upfront for 12 months of service. I opted for this option because I was sure that I would be with the platform for years to come before buying.
"Is ActiveCampaign Better than Mailchimp?"
This is a common question between these two email marketing juggernauts. ActiveCampaign is far superior to Mailchimp when it comes to features, automations, and functionality, but that doesn't mean it's right for your business. Mailchimp is a great entry-level platform for email marketing. You can also check out our ActiveCampaign Vs Mailchimp review to help you decide.
ActiveCampaign provides a FREE email system migration tool, which will transfer your current email marketing activities from any other platform (this is great because migrating from one email system to another is always one of the biggest barriers for switching email marketing platforms.)
Migrating is easy, all you have to do is go here, and follow their quick walkthrough guide.
Pricing Overview: What Will You Get For Your Money?
Let’s start with a broad overview of how ActiveCampaign pricing plans work before moving on to a more detailed dive into each pricing plan.
(If you want to open their pricing page alongside this guide while you read, go here and it will open in a new tab.)
ActiveCampaign has four main plans, Lite, Plus, Professional, and Enterprise which vary in price depending on the 3 main factors listed below.
ActiveCampaign pricing varies depending on three main factors:
- How many contacts you have on your email lists.
- The features you need for your email marketing activities (the plan you chose).
- If you want to pay annually vs monthly (ActiveCampaign has a nice annual discount for paying upfront for the year.)
Like many similar email marketing platforms and SaaS companies, ActiveCampaign has a tiered pricing system in order to accomodate the needs of their diverse customer base.
ActiveCampaign serves everyone from small businesses, solo entrepreneurs and bloggers with comparatively small email lists to large businesses with thousands of customers and massive email lists, and they have a plan that’s right for everyone.
Depending on where you fall on the spectrum (email list size and the features you need) you should be able to easily find the right plan for you.
This can be confusing at first when on their pricing page but they’ve created a handy tool to drag the number of contacts you have and see how it affects the price. See it in action in the animation below.
As you drag the tool to the right and increase contact amount the cost of your desired plan will increase.
Fortunately you're not limited to the number of email sends each month, only by the number of contacts, which is pretty common in the SaaS email marketing world. That means as your business grows, so too will your costs with ActiveCampaign.
I actually like this model because theoretically you can make a lot of money with email marketing, so the goal is to at least get it to pay for itself. As your email list grows, your revenue should follow.
ActiveCampaign Pricing Plans - Which Is Right For You?
ActiveCampaign pricing plans start at $9/month for the Lite plan with the annual discount when you pay for 12 months of service upfront. Lite will cost you $15/month if you choose to pay monthly.
Lite with the annual discount was perfect for me when I first started this blog. I had zero people on my email lists and was just getting started.
On the other hand I have years of experience with email marketing and wasn't intimidated by the robust automation and marketing features and was excited by everything I could get done with the system.
Free solutions like MailChimp are great but simply not powerful enough for my needs.
In the small business category of email marketing platforms, ActiveCampaign is by far the most feature-rich that I'm aware of for the price, and while it's often compared to the likes of InfusionSoft, we've found there's really no comparison. Because of that it can also be more complex than needed for your average blogger or solo-entrepreneur or local business.
Let's dive into the pricing plan comparison for ActiveCampaign.
(Note that all plans below reflect the annual discount pricing at the base minimum contact level.)
NOTE: If you're getting overwhelmed or feeling paralysis analysis, I suggest just trying the free trial, which doesn't require a credit card. Just dive in and start playing around with the system and see if it's worth migrating your current business over before upgrading to a plan.
ActiveCampaign Lite Plan - Great For Small Businesses & Bloggers
The Lite plan starts at $9 per month, and is great for bloggers, solo entrepreneurs, small businesses and local businesses that don't have complex needs, small marketing teams, solo marketers, and anyone that has a small list or starter budget who doesn't need a ton of features and doesn't have a large database of contacts.
With Lite you get:
Bloggers should check out this page first as they've given some thought to specifically solving the needs of this audience.
ActiveCampaign Plus Plan - Best for teams and small Businesses that need more features.
ActiveCampaign's Plus Plan is their mid-tier plan that starts at $49/month and is best for small to medium sized businesses with a smaller marketing team, startups, small agencies, companies that have a sales team and need CRM capabilities, anyone that needs a custom domain, and any company that needs a fuller featured marketing system that bridges marketing and sales. With 25 users available, this is great for companies with a full marketing and content team.
Along with everything from Lite, you get:
ActiveCampaign Professional Plan - Best for larger teams with more marketing needs
The ActiveCampaign Professional Plan starts at $129/monthly and is great for large businesses with more complex needs, a larger marketing and content team, and any business that needs all the bells and whistles of a nearly enterprise-level email and marketing system without the high price tag.
Along with everything from Lite and Plus, you get:
ActiveCampaign Enterprise Plan - Best for Enterprise Organizations and teams with large Email lists
The ActiveCampaign Enterprise Plan starts at $229 per month, and is best for large businesses, agencies, and enterprise organizations that need hands-on service with a dedicated account rep, in-depth technical and marketing onboarding services, phone support, and have a large team that needs to access the app. Basically, Enterprise gets you everything plus whiteglove service.
In addition to everything from the Lite, Plus, and Pro plans, you get:
If you want to start a free trial of ActiveCampaign, go here.
Detailed ActiveCampaign Pricing Plans Features Breakdown
As I've mentioned before, ActiveCampaign is a feature-rich platform. They're so much more than just an email marketing system.
Below I've listed a more detailed breakdown of features available on each plan.
This is only the beginning, however, I haven't included Integrations and Support breakdowns due to the table below getting huge, to see the full comparison of each plan go here.
ActiveCampaign Pricing | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Features | Lite | Plus | Pro | Enterprise |
Send Newsletters | ||||
Email Marketing | ||||
Automations | ||||
Built-in CRM | ||||
Sales Automation | ||||
Contact & Lead Scoring | ||||
Site Messages | ||||
Attribution | ||||
Predictive Sending | ||||
Drag & Drop Designer | ||||
Free Email Templates | ||||
Import Your Lists | ||||
Autoresponders | ||||
Detailed Reporting | ||||
GEO Tracking | ||||
Advanced Segmentation | ||||
Number of Users | 3 | 25 | 50 | Unlimited |
User Permissions | ||||
Unlimited Sending | ||||
SMS Subscribe | ||||
Inbox Preview Testing | Optional Upgrade | 5 Free/Mo | 5 Free/Mo | Unlimited |
Contact Social Data | Optional Upgrade | Optional Upgrade | Optional Upgrade | |
SMS Marketing | ||||
HIPAA Compliance | ||||
Integrations & Support | ||||
As you can see in the chart above, you get a huge bang for your buck with ActiveCampaign, and when you opt for the annual discount, this powerful system can quickly become one of the highest ROI-potential tools in your marketing toolit.
Pros And Cons Of The ActiveCampaign Pricing Model
The flexibility of ActiveCampaign's pricing model means there's something for everyone.
Pros
Cons
Conclusion
ActiveCampaign pricing plans have something for everyone and offer a ton of flexibility at a great price.
The pricing page can feel a bit overwhelming, especially if you're new to marketing automation tools and unfamiliar with the lingo, so spend a little time with it and you should be able to easily find your sweet-spot pricing plan with their contact-dragging tool.
It's unfortunate that there's no free plan, but they have great pricing nonetheless and a great free trial, and if you're totally confident that you will be sticking with their service for at least one year, their annual discount is a great option.
Though this post isn't designed to be a platform/features review, I feel I should mention that ActiveCampaign is by far my favorite of the small business focused email marketing platforms, has the most powerful automation capabilities, and is a true powerhouse marketing tool that can help anyone grow their business.
I recommend ActiveCampaign for anyone who wants a flexible, powerful marketing automation tool and isn't intimidated by advanced features.
Ready to check out ActiveCampaign?
ActiveCampaign is our #1 recommended email marketing automation platform, great for small and large businesses alike. Start your free 14-day trial below, no credit card requiried.
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