In this article, we’ll go over a comprehensive break down of the ActiveCampaign pricing structure and the perks/features that you can expect from each plan.

We’ll answer the question “how much does ActiveCampaign cost per month?”.

The answer will depend on which feature you and your business needs.

Only then can you decide which ActiveCampaign pricing plan is the right fit for you

Let’s find out!

ActiveCampaign — What Is It?

ActiveCampaign is a cloud-based Internet marketing software that specializes in customer experience automation.

The company was first established by Jason VandeBoom (founder and CEO) in 2003 as a small business consultancy firm that caters to small to mid-sized businesses. 

Over the years, ActiveCampaign has evolved into a popular marketing automation platform thanks to its’ array of powerful and highly intuitive features — drag-and-drop automation workflows, detailed customer segmentation, split automation, integrated CRM, and many more.

Today, an ActiveCampaign login will give you access to the 12th most popular website/marketing platform on the Internet when it comes to marketing automation.

Cost of Signing up for ActiveCampaign

You would think that the pricing structure would be as straightforward as the ActiveCampaign logo. Unfortunately, that just isn’t the case at all. 

ActiveCampaign offers four types of subscription plans:

• A Lite Plan which starts at $9 per month or $108 per year
• A Plus Plan which starts at $49 per month or $588 per year
• A Professional Plan which starts at $129 per month or $1,548 per year
• An Enterprise Plan which starts at $229 per month or $2,748 per year

Note that the plans mentioned above are all paid yearly. That said, users have the option to pay on a monthly, albeit at a much higher starting cost:

• $15 per month for the Lite Plan
• $70 per month for the Plus Plan
• $159 per month for the Professional Plan
• $279 per month for the Enterprise Plan

As you may have already realized, you can save at least 21% if you sign up for a yearly plan or up to 42% off on the lower Lite plans.

As for the specific amount that you can expect to pay under each plan, well that would depend on the size of your list (number of contacts). A list of 2,500 contacts paid for yearly under the Professional plan would cost $129 per month. A bigger list made up fo 10,000 contacts under the same plan would cost $279 per month — you get the idea.

Of course, features are also an essential factor that weighs into the ActiveCampaign pricing structure. The features that your business needs will be different from others that are of a different niche or industry. You may not necessarily need all the bells and whistles that come with the higher-tier plans. That said, you’ll also want to be careful not to stifle your business’ growth by overlooking features that it desperately needs. 

Knowing exactly where you should be spending your marketing budget is key to cost-effective and profitable results. To do that, one has to obtain a good understanding of the ActiveCampaign pricing structure. Only then can you make some solid decisions about the features to get in your ActiveCampaign subscription (and which ones you can do without).

Let’s go ahead and take a closer look at each plan before you sign up for ActiveCampaign along with its’ specific pros and cons.

ActiveCampaign Lite Plan

Again, pricing for the ActiveCampaign Lite Plan begins at $15 per month or $9 per month if paid annually. If you do decide to pre-pay for 12 months, you can save up to 42% off your monthly subscription (for up to 1000 contacts).

The interesting thing to note is that the applicable discount under the annual Lite plan decreases as the number of contacts increases. For instance, Lite plan users with a list of 2,500 contacts will only get a 21% discount.

If you want to save on cost and remain at a particular payment threshold, then one strategy is to limit your list to a specific size. You can do this by deleting inactive contacts on your list every six months or so.

Pros

Lite is the starter plan for ActiveCampaign, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad place to start. Many marketers who’ve found success in ActiveCampaign started with the Lite Plan before upgrading to the higher-tier plans for better features.

Consider the following pros of starting out with the ActiveCampaign Lite Plan:

• Send unlimited ActiveCampaign emails.
• Access to a powerful autoresponder — the staple of an effective e-mail marketing campaign
• Automation — the fact that this feature is accessible on even the lowest entry-level plan makes ActiveCampaign a big boon for beginners.
• Access to subscription forms that marketers can use to set up lead magnets and collect leads

Cons

• No sales funnel or CRM (Customer Relations Management) tool
• No lead scoring option
• No custom Facebook audience integration
• NO SMS marketing
• ActiveCampaign branding on emails

Is the Lite Plan for you?

So now that we’ve gone over the pros and cons of choosing the Lite plan, the question remains— is it the right ActiveCampaign subscription for you? Well, that depends — if you’re a startup blogger or small business owner who is yet to begin building a list for improved conversions, then the Lite plan is an excellent place to start. 

The ActiveCampaign Lite Plan offers everything that you could need to start an email marketing campaign, including an email autoresponder and automation features. ActiveCampaign also supports integration tools like Zapier and Integromat that allows you to use third-party marketing tools — MailChimp, Slack, Gmail, Dropbox, etc.

The only time you’ll start running into some problems is when you start needing more advanced tools to grow your business. We’re talking sales pipelines/funnel building and CRMs. You might be able to get around this by jerry-rigging other marketing tools together. For instance, you can use Zapier as a quasi CRM software that transmits customer information to your ActiveCampaign workflows for setting off events for truly hands-off business experience.

Of course, depending on third-party tools has its’ risk. There’s always the chance that the integration could fail and the tools would stop working together. If that happens, it could bring your marketing campaigns to a standstill. That said, if your small business can do without the CRM feature for the time being, then you will find that the Lite plan’s automation features are more than adequate for growing your business.

To sum up, the ActiveCampaign Lite plan is ideal for users who are:

• Startups working on a limited marketing budget
• Bloggers looking to grow their list with newsletters
• Owners of small businesses looking to delve into email marketing to pitch products or services

ActiveCampaign Plus Plan

As you can see above, access to the ActiveCampaign Plus plan starts at $70 per month or $49 per month if you pre-pay for 12 months (30% off). Notice that the price jumps up significantly after the first 1000 contacts. If you’re only starting out with the Plus plan and would like to save on cost, it’s a good idea to drop inactive contacts off your list regularly.

The Plus plan is where ActiveCampaign starts to show its’ potential beyond that of an ordinary email marketing software, but a complete digital marketing solution. While the difference in cost is substantial ($108 for the annual Lite Plan versus $588 per year for the Plus Plan), keep in mind that marketing tools are an investment. If you’re looking to sign up or upgrade to the ActiveCampaign Plus plan, then it’s because you’re confident that you’ll be getting a good return on your investment.

So the real question is — do the features of the Plus Plan justify the increased cost? Let’s find out!

Pros

• No ActiveCampaign logo on all customer-facing applications — emails/newsletters, reports, SMS, etc. This is important for properly branding one’s product or service and maintain a consistent identity with customers and leads.
• You get all the features of the ActiveCampaign Lite Plan.
• Automation mapping — useful for business owners who’ve built long and complicated automation workflows. Mapping provides an overview of how your automation works and how well you’ve linked them together.
• Integrated CRM tool for drastically improving conversion rates by making sure that none of your leads goes to waste.
• A lead scoring tool that dramatically improves your chances of getting a lead to convert. You can assign a score to leads based on specific actions or responses. For example, you can add a score to leads who’ve opened your newsletters or downloaded your lead magnet. In the same way, you deduct a score on leads who’ve unsubscribed to your newsletters or haven’t opened your emails in days. You can then set specific thresholds for when you should prune a lead from your contact list or have your sales team contact them to seal the deal. As you might imagine, this lets you focus on leads with the highest chance of converting.
• Custom Facebook Audiences. This feature is a must-have for marketers who’ve invested a significant amount of capital on Facebook ads as it allows you to segment your audience carefully. Again, this feature will focus all your energy on leads with the highest chance of converting.
• An SMS messaging feature that enables users to pursue “warm” leads almost instantly. These leads have shown an interest in your product or service by doing things like downloading your lead magnet or subscribing to your newsletter. This makes them more likely to convert.

Cons

• The ActiveCampaign Plus plan is expensive. It cost more than five times as much as the Lite Plan.
• No site messaging feature. ActiveCampaign conversations pricing is only available at a higher tier.
• No access to predictive sending.
• No split testing automation feature.

Is the Plus Plan for you?

Despite the high cost, most marketers would agree that the ActiveCampaign Plus plan is the better option. The number of invaluable features available in the Plus plan has the potential to drive up enough conversions to cover the subscription cost several times over.

So is Plus the right ActiveCampaign plan for you? Well, if the Lite plan is for users looking to build a list of qualified leads through marketing automation, then the Plus plan is all about maximizing the value in those leads by utilising the CRM

The ideal users for the ActiveCampaign Plus plan include the following:

• Bloggers that want to squeeze every bit of value out of their list and setup sales funnel for products or services.
• Affiliate marketers who sell high-ticket items with a longer sale process
• Seasoned marketers who already have a good grasp of automation and looking to take their business to the next level
• Realtors who are looking for a robust CRM and social media marketing tool to streamline the extensive sales process for homes and commercial properties. 
• Startups with limited personnel where the advanced features of the Plus plan can prove incredibly helpful for raising productivity
• Marketers engaged in a niche or industry with sales cycles that are longer than most — weddings, luxury tours, Air BnBs, etc.
• E-Commerce business owners who are looking for an integration with Shopify and WooCommerce

ActiveCampaign Professional Plan

The cost for the ActiveCampaign Professional plan starts at $159 per month or $129 per month if paid annually (a discount of around 21%). One interesting thing to note is that the price doesn’t start to ramp up until you exceed 2,500 contacts. If you want the cheapest Professional plan, then you’d want to prune your list size to be just under 2,500 contacts.

As the second most expensive ActiveCampaign Plan on offer, the Professional plan offers all of the features of the Lite and Plus plan with the addition of machine learning AI powered functions like Win Probability, Predictive Content, and Predictive Sending.

The Professional plan is also where users start to gain access to the Site Messaging feature. This site add-on enables businesses to start offering live chat sessions to website users.

ActiveCampaign coins the Professional plan as their most popular offer with the best value. Is that truly the case? Let’s find out!

Pros

• VIP Customer Support
• Access to the Predictive Sending feature which allows you to send your marketing emails at the most opportune time. This feature uses machine learning to figure out the best time to send marketing messages with the best open rates for maximum engagement and conversion.
• A Predictive Content feature that uses machine learning to determine which type of content a prospect wants to see. You can set up to 4 versions of your marketing emails that differ in tone, wording, and length. Predictive content will then use artificial intelligence to serve the best version of your content; one that your targeted lead will find most engaging, which means higher chances of conversion.
• Access to a split-testing feature for automation workflows. This can prove extremely helpful for figuring out which version of your marketing automation yields the best return on investment.
• Access to Site Messaging features
• Free consultation and monthly training sessions

Cons

• The Professional Plan is a bump up in cost over the previous tier (Plus plan).
• Not for beginners. Users with a decent list size to take advantage of the machine learning features.

Is the Professional Plan for you?

So do the machine learning features mentioned above justify the cost of getting the professional plan? Well, that depends on whether or not you already have a large enough sample size to justify any investment in machine learning.

 As a rule of thumb, users of the Professional plan ought to already have a list comprised of at least 1000 to 5000 contacts. Any fewer than that and you won’t be able to take full advantage of any of the machine learning features.

The ideal users of the ActiveCampaign Professional plan include the following:

• Owners of large to medium-sized businesses 
• Organizations with a dedicated marketing team for integrating machine learning to their email strategy.
• Marketing professionals who’ve already amassed a large list and looking to squeeze every bit of value out of their leads with cutting-edge features.

ActiveCampaign Enterprise Plan

The ActiveCampaign Enterprise plan starts at a whopping $279 per month or $229 per month if paid annually. 

As the name suggests, the Enterprise Plan is intended for large organizations with dedicated departments for sales and marketing. Users get all the features of the Professional Plan plus a few more perks designed for Enterprise applications:

• Custom reports and mail server domains
• A dedicated account representative
• Phone support
• Free page design and social data services
• Guaranteed uptimes with SLA (Service Level Agreement)
• Unlimited user accounts 

Conclusion

So there you have it — everything you need to know about the ActiveCampaign pricing structure. If you want to learn more about what ActiveCampaign can do for your business, then you may want to check out our full ActiveCampaign review.

As you may have already realized, ActiveCampaign has one of the most complex pricing structures available. Hence, it’s essential to know precisely what you’re getting out of every tier and match your marketing requirements accordingly.