ActiveCampaign Plans & Pricing (2026)
All prices below are for annual billing with the base contact allotment. Monthly billing is available at approximately 20–25% higher cost.
- Email marketing
- Basic automations (single-step)
- Email templates
- Segmentation
- 1 user
- CRM + deals pipeline
- Multi-step automation
- Landing pages
- SMS (1,000 credits)
- Lead scoring
- Facebook Custom Audiences
- 25 users
- Predictive sending (AI)
- Site personalization
- Advanced reporting
- Attribution tracking
- Unlimited automations
- 85 users
- Custom reporting
- Custom objects
- Dedicated account manager
- HIPAA compliance available
- SSO / advanced security
- 200 users
How Pricing Scales by Contact Count
This is the most important thing to understand about ActiveCampaign pricing. The plans above are starting prices — as your contact list grows, so does your monthly bill. Here's what the Plus plan (most popular) costs at various list sizes:
| Contacts | Starter | Plus | Pro | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $15/mo | $49/mo | $79/mo | $145/mo |
| 2,500 | $29/mo | $70/mo | $79/mo | $145/mo |
| 5,000 | $45/mo | $99/mo | $135/mo | $225/mo |
| 10,000 | $70/mo | $125/mo | $187/mo | $323/mo |
| 25,000 | $135/mo | $230/mo | $380/mo | $575/mo |
| 50,000 | $225/mo | $395/mo | $625/mo | $875/mo |
| 100,000 | $375/mo | $650/mo | $1,050/mo | $1,400/mo |
*Prices are approximate — use ActiveCampaign's pricing calculator for exact quotes at your list size.
What Each Plan Actually Includes
Starter Plan ($15/mo) — When It Makes Sense
The Starter plan is ActiveCampaign's entry point and is significantly more limited than you might expect for a platform known for automation. Automation is limited to single-step sequences — you can send a welcome email automatically, but you can't build multi-step drip campaigns. You also get no CRM pipeline, no landing pages, no SMS, and only 1 user seat.
Starter is right for: Very early-stage businesses sending basic email newsletters who want to eventually grow into automation. It's a valid starting point if budget is the constraint and you plan to upgrade.
Plus Plan ($49/mo) — The Sweet Spot for Most Teams
The Plus plan is where ActiveCampaign becomes genuinely powerful. Key unlocks versus Starter:
- CRM with deals pipeline — Track leads and opportunities in a visual sales pipeline alongside your email marketing
- Multi-step automations — Build the complex if/then email sequences that made ActiveCampaign famous
- Landing pages — Build capture pages without a separate tool
- SMS marketing (1,000 credits included) — Text message sequences and campaigns
- Lead scoring — Score contacts based on email engagement, site behavior, and custom actions
- Facebook Custom Audiences — Sync your AC segments to Facebook for retargeting
- 25 user seats — Team access without paying per-user fees
For most SMBs using ActiveCampaign as their primary email + CRM automation platform, Plus at $49/month covers everything they need.
Pro Plan ($79/mo) — For Data-Driven Marketers
Pro unlocks AI-powered features and advanced reporting that matter as your list and campaigns scale:
- Predictive sending: AI determines the optimal send time for each individual contact based on their past engagement patterns
- Predictive content: AI-suggested email content variants
- Site personalization: Show different content to different visitor segments based on their AC profile
- Conversion attribution: Track which automations and emails actually convert to revenue
- Advanced segmentation: Deeper contact filtering and segment building
- 85 user seats
Pro is worth it when you have enough list volume and campaign volume to benefit from AI optimization — typically 10,000+ contacts with active campaigns sending millions of emails per month.
Enterprise Plan ($145/mo) — Large Organizations
Enterprise is built for larger organizations with compliance, security, or customization requirements:
- Custom reporting and custom objects
- Dedicated account manager and onboarding support
- HIPAA compliance (for healthcare organizations)
- Single Sign-On (SSO) and enterprise security controls
- Custom domain for tracking and sending
- 200 user seats
- Phone support
Hidden Costs to Watch Out For
- SMS credits: Plus includes 1,000 SMS credits; additional credits cost extra. Heavy SMS users can see significant overages.
- Transactional email: ActiveCampaign's built-in transactional email is separate from marketing email — it's powered by Postmark and may require a separate subscription for high-volume transactional needs.
- Onboarding/migration: Complex ActiveCampaign setups sometimes require a certified consultant — plan $500–$2,000+ for professional setup if you're migrating from another platform with complex automations.
- Annual billing requirement: While monthly billing is available, you pay 20–25% more. ActiveCampaign's promotional pricing typically requires annual commitment.
ActiveCampaign vs HubSpot Pricing
This is the most common comparison. Here's the honest breakdown:
| Use Case | ActiveCampaign | HubSpot | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic email marketing only | $15/mo (Starter) | $0 (Free tier) | HubSpot |
| Email + CRM pipeline | $49/mo (Plus) | $15/user/mo (Sales Starter) | Tie (similar feature set) |
| Email + CRM + full automation | $49–$79/mo | $100/user/mo (Pro) | ActiveCampaign |
| Marketing automation depth | Plus: $49/mo | Professional: $100/user/mo | ActiveCampaign (3x cheaper) |
| Free CRM starting point | 14-day trial only | Free forever | HubSpot |
| Large contact lists (100K+) | $650–$1,400/mo | Comparable (contact-based) | Comparable |
Bottom line: If you need marketing automation + CRM and budget is a constraint, ActiveCampaign Plus at $49/month delivers more automation depth than HubSpot's equivalent tier at $100/user/month. If you need a free starting point or primarily want inbound marketing tools, HubSpot wins.
Is ActiveCampaign Worth the Price?
ActiveCampaign is worth it for teams that value:
- Deep automation: The conditional logic, wait steps, goal tracking, and multi-path automation in ActiveCampaign is best-in-class at the Plus price point
- Combined email + CRM: Avoiding two separate tool subscriptions (email platform + CRM) saves money for teams that need both
- Lead scoring: Contact scoring based on email engagement, site behavior, and purchase history is powerful for B2B lead qualification
- 20–30% recurring affiliate commission: If you're evaluating it as an affiliate earner, ActiveCampaign's program is one of the better recurring ones in the email marketing space
ActiveCampaign is NOT worth it for: teams that only need simple email newsletters (use Mailchimp or Brevo), pure sales CRM without marketing (use Pipedrive or HubSpot), or ecommerce stores on Shopify (Klaviyo's native integration is stronger).
Frequently Asked Questions
ActiveCampaign starts at $15/month (Starter, 1,000 contacts, annual billing). The most popular Plus plan starts at $49/month. Pro starts at $79/month, Enterprise at $145/month. Pricing scales significantly with contact count — at 10,000 contacts, Plus is ~$125/month.
Yes — ActiveCampaign offers a 14-day free trial with full feature access on any plan tier. No credit card is required to start the trial.
The Plus plan at $49/month (1,000 contacts) is the best ActiveCampaign plan for most small businesses. It includes multi-step automations, CRM pipeline, landing pages, and SMS — the full feature set most SMBs need. Starter's automation limits make it insufficient for teams that chose ActiveCampaign specifically for automation.
Monthly plans can be cancelled anytime without penalty. Annual plans typically allow cancellation but without refund for remaining months — review the cancellation terms before committing to annual billing. Contact ActiveCampaign support for specific refund policies.
For basic email marketing, Mailchimp is cheaper — its free plan allows 500 contacts and 1,000 sends/month. However, Mailchimp's automation is far less powerful than ActiveCampaign's. For businesses that need real automation (conditional paths, lead scoring, CRM integration), ActiveCampaign Plus at $49/month delivers significantly more value than Mailchimp Standard at a comparable price.
Yes — this is one of the hidden costs. ActiveCampaign counts all contacts in your account toward your contact limit, including unsubscribed contacts. To avoid paying for unengaged contacts, regularly delete or archive unsubscribed and bounced contacts. This is a real cost driver many users miss when budgeting.
Bottom Line on ActiveCampaign Pricing
ActiveCampaign's pricing is competitive when you're buying it for the right reasons: deep automation + CRM in one platform at a price point that significantly undercuts HubSpot Professional. The Plus plan at $49/month is the starting point for anyone who wants the automation features ActiveCampaign is known for.
The traps to avoid: getting stuck on the underpowered Starter tier, not accounting for contact list scaling, and forgetting that unsubscribes still count toward your contact limit. Budget realistically, clean your list regularly, and you'll get strong value.
🔗 Related reading: ActiveCampaign Review · ActiveCampaign vs HubSpot · ActiveCampaign Alternatives · HubSpot Pricing Guide