8 ActiveCampaign Alternatives to Step Up Your Email Marketing

You probably like that ActiveCampaign’s robust email marketing automation features trim down your to-do list and make marketing easier. But you’re probably now finding the platform less intuitive than you’d like and you’re convinced there must be an easier way. 

Or maybe your business is growing, and you’re frustrated that the cost of your email marketing software is growing right alongside it. Or perhaps you’re considering an email marketing platform for the first time and want more information before making your final decision.

Regardless of your reason, what ActiveCampaign alternatives are available for you? We’ve done the research, so you don’t have to. This article will dive deep into the eight main ActiveCampaign alternatives you should consider, including: 

We’ll cover the key features of each platform, which users it’s best suited to and its pricing so you can make the best choice for your business.

Let’s get started.

First, let’s look a little more closely at ActiveCampaign’s major shortcomings to identify why you might be looking for an alternative.

Email marketing platforms should work for you, not against you. So the last thing you want is software that’s difficult to get to grips with. Some users found the ActiveCampaign interface wasn’t particularly intuitive, and it was hard to navigate the system.

“Active Campaign can be a steep learning curve as you get a handle on the many ways it is possible to set the system up to suit you. As with any tool, you don’t need to use every widget, but it can be hard to know the ones you should focus on first to build momentum for your business.” Susanna R, G2 Reviews.

Well-designed emails and forms are key to attracting potential subscribers’ attention. Beautiful images, a complementary color palette that aligns with your brand, and good use of white space are all critical to engagement. White space alone can draw attention to your call-to-action buttons and may improve comprehension by up to 20%—which is crucial to landing your message.

As small business owner Jenn says Active Campaign isn’t giving the “pretty” designs she wants in her emails: “I would love for a more ‘pretty’ design or more options for specific branding. Pretty emails get more reads from my niche, and I wish I had more flexibility to do some things with the emails to make them more visually appealing.”

One of the major challenges with email marketing software products is finding a provider that scales appropriately with your business. Many offer a free or cheap solution for a small number of contacts or low-volume email sends. 

However, as your business grows and you want to reach a larger audience, the costs can mount up. Active Campaign’s lowest-priced account costs a reasonable $9/month for 500 contacts but jumps to $25/month for 1,000 subscribers and $45/month for $2,500 subscribers. 

As a sole trader, Brooke H feels the price is “too high given the competition,” which is echoed by small business owner Andrew S, “I also don’t like how the plan changes with the amount of contacts you have. The price jump is steep when going from 500 to 1000 etc.”

ActiveCampaign’s builder tool is cause for frustration for several users on review site G2, with Luthien M finding their form builder “very basic and definitely needs improvement” and Serena S wishing it was “more drag-and-drop friendly.” Kerryn T found the email builder flexible but shares that it “sometimes gets glitches and can be a bit clunky at times.”

96% of users rated good customer service as essential in their loyalty to a brand, which isn’t such a surprising statistic. Poor customer service affects your business. If you can’t get the help you need to make your email marketing tool work for you, you can’t use it effectively to serve your subscribers.

According to reviews, customer service is an area where ActiveCampaign could do better. Several reviews found their customer support to be unresponsive and ill-equipped to deal with technical queries:

“Support is really exceptionally bad. We have reached out quite a few times to enquire about how we can use different integrations with Active Campaign, and we have not received any responses to date.” Kobus L, G2 Reviews.

“I also dislike the lack of tech support. I get no response when I call or use their chat box. I haven’t heard from any ActiveCampaign personnel in over a year. You reach out to them and they do not call back or email you.” Jon-Roy S, G2 Reviews.

The ActiveCampaign shortcomings we outlined above have probably validated your opinion that the right alternative for you is out there. Our features comparison table offers some high-level information about potential options, but let’s discuss the pros and cons in more detail. For starters, let us introduce you to what we rate as the best email marketing software, Flodesk (yes, that’s us!).

Flodesk is the fastest-growing email marketing platform on the market, and with good reason. Our library of beautiful email templates and high-design forms make it easy for email marketing beginners to get started. Have more experience? 

All our templates are fully customizable, or you can build your own from scratch. And, with Flodesk, you can grow your email list, engage your audience and turn subscribers into customers without needing a website. For more top tips on getting started without a website, read How to Build an Email List Without a Website.

Flodesk fills in the gaps that ActiveCampaign’s shortcomings create—that’s what makes it one of the best alternatives to ActiveCampaign. Here’s a look at our key features to help you decide if we could be perfect for one another.

Here at Flodesk, we don’t want to penalize you for growing your email list. So, you’ll find we offer a flat-rate pricing system that stays the same no matter which features you use, how many subscribers you gain or emails you choose to send. 

So, let’s look at what that looks like for unlimited emails:

That’s right. One flat rate price always. You even get 12 months for the price of 11 if you decide to pay annually.

Flodesk offers a free trial account with access to all its key features for 30 days—no credit card needed.

Moosend is a cloud-based email marketing service that allows you to send emails to your contact list with minimal fuss. It has a range of simple, cost-effective email marketing tools that help you attract new subscribers and engage your current ones. 

Moosend offers a free account for up to 1,000 contacts. It also has two paid plans, Pro and Enterprise. The cost of the Pro plan depends on subscriber volume.

So, what does it look like?

Yes, up to 1,000 contacts.

Mailchimp is a well-known American all-in-one marketing platform established in 2001. It enables you to build integrated multi-channel campaigns using email, social posts, landing pages and digital ads. It has robust reporting and analytics functionality that you can use to monitor what’s working, and the platform offers smart recommendations as to what to try next.

The cost of the plans depends on subscriber volume, and Mailchimp recommends the features of its Standard plan for most users.

So, what’s the cost?

Yes, up to 2,000 contacts.

Compare Mailchimp’s top alternatives or compare to Acumbamail, a smaller-scale alternative

GetResponse is an inbound marketing solution that enables you to engage your audience via email, build landing pages and automate your marketing workflows. GetResponse uses a suite of integrations with apps such as Stripe, Zapier, WordPress and Google Analytics to expand its functionality.

GetResponse has three paid plans and a fourth ‘Max’ solution with customized pricing based on your business’s requirements. The cost of the other three plans depends on subscriber volume. Apart from the Max account, none of the plans offer telephone customer or technical support, but all have 24/7 live chat and help via email.

So, how much does it cost?

No, but all plans have a 30-day free trial.

Constant Contact is an online marketing company that helps businesses coordinate their email, social media and SEO marketing efforts within a single platform. Constant Contact has a website builder feature that allows you to get started growing your subscriber list. 

You can add a sign-up form to your landing page and create an ecommerce store to begin selling online. To start sending emails to your subscribers, you’ll need one of their email marketing plans. To learn more about growing your list, read How to Grow Your Email List: Focus on Your Target Audience vs. Your Ideal Client.

You can get started with Constant Contact’s website builder from $10/month. It also has two email marketing plans, Email and Email Plus. Pricing is dependent on the number of subscribers you have. If you have over 10,000 subscribers, you’ll have to purchase the Email Plus plan.

Let’s look at the costs by subscriber number:

There’s a 15% discount when paying upfront for an annual subscription. There’s also an Ecommerce Pro plan with AI-powered email optimization to maximize your online sales. The Ecommerce Pro plan starts from $195/month.

No, but you get a 60-day free trial with the Email plan.

Omnisend is a multi-channel ecommerce marketing platform. Originally designed as a simple email marketing platform, it recognized the needs of its ecommerce users for multi-channel customer communication options and expanded its functionality to enable that. Its key features are now centered around functionality to support those users.

As well as its free plan, Omnisend offers a standard and pro plan. The pro plan includes the ability to send both email and SMS. The pricing plans scale depending on how many subscribers you have, and the amount of emails you can send with the standard plan is capped at 12X your subscriber number. 

Let’s take a look at the price:

Prices continue to increase by $5/month for every additional 500 subscribers.

Yes, Omnisend is free for up to 250 subscribers and 500 emails/month.

Like other ActiveCampaign alternatives, Mailerlite helps you automate your email marketing campaigns — and it also does it at affordable prices. It offers tools that help small businesses reach out to existing and potential customers and also provides you with important data that helps you understand your customers/subscribers better and improve communication.

How much does it cost? Let’s see.

Yes, free for up to 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month.

ConvertKit is another tool you’ll often see in articles about ActiveCampaign alternatives, like this one you’re reading. It’s especially built for content creators and has advanced features for building and managing an email list. It’s simple to use, and the support is great as well.

Yes, for up to 300 email subscribers.

Flodesk has all the email marketing features you need to effortlessly deliver beautiful and engaging content that delights your subscribers. Our stunning email templates and immersive forms make it easy for beginners and experts alike to build their email lists and convert subscribers into customers—all without a website. And our transparent, one-cost pricing means you’ll pay the same no matter how big your business becomes. 

If you’re interested in the best ActiveCampaign alternatives, look no further than Flodesk.