ActiveCampaign review

ActiveCampaign is the automation specialist on this list. Even the Starter plan, from $15 per month billed yearly for 1,000 contacts, includes multi-step marketing automation, AI-powered automation and campaign builders, more than 250 pre-built templates and 15 active business goals, with 10,000 email sends per month and 1 user seat. Plus, from $49 per month, adds cross-channel marketing, generative AI for content and images, landing pages and site messages, and an Enhanced CRM add-on. Pro, from $79, brings predictive sending and conditional content, so one email can show different blocks to different contacts. That depth is the reason to choose it, and also the reason it scores lower on ease of use: building branching automations takes more setup than a MailerLite welcome series. There is no free plan, and segmentation on Starter is limited. For a small business that already knows it wants behavior-based automation, ActiveCampaign gives more for the money than any other tool here.

Who it is for

Small businesses whose main need is automation that branches on behavior, beyond a simple newsletter.

Price

From $15 per month billed yearly for 1,000 contacts.

Starter For getting your first automations live. Starts at $15 / Month Billed yearly for 1,000 contacts
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 6, 2026.

Key features

• Multi-step marketing automation on every plan
• AI-powered automation and campaign builders
• 250+ pre-built email templates
• Landing pages, site messages and cross-channel marketing from Plus
• Predictive sending and conditional content on Pro

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Multi-step automation is included even on Starter
• Strength: Starter at $15 per month billed yearly is affordable for 1,000 contacts
• Strength: Clear upgrade path to Enhanced CRM and advanced segmentation
• Weakness: No free plan
• Weakness: Starter has 1 user seat and limited segmentation
• Weakness: Landing pages and cross-channel marketing start on Plus at $49 per month

Key facts

• Free plan: No
• Paid plans: Starter, Plus, Pro, Enterprise
• Starter limits: 1,000 contacts, 10,000 email sends a month, 1 seat

Where it ranks

ActiveCampaign is No. 4 in our Best Email Marketing Software verdict and No. 1 in Best Marketing Automation Software.