Email Marketing · alternatives
Alternatives to ActiveCampaign
20 email marketing tools sit alongside ActiveCampaign in this directory. Below is what separates each from ActiveCampaign on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 20
- With a free tier
- 11
- Cheaper to start
- -
- ActiveCampaign starts at
- Free
Why people look past ActiveCampaign
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. ActiveCampaign has a free tier. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Email marketing and automation for small business
- Publishes an entry price of $15/month, where ActiveCampaign does not.
- Sold on a freemium model rather than subscription.
Email, SMS, and CRM in one platform
- Sold on a freemium model rather than subscription.
Affordable email marketing
- Publishes an entry price of $9/month, where ActiveCampaign does not.
- Sold on a freemium model rather than subscription.
Email marketing built for creators and small business
- Publishes an entry price of Free, where ActiveCampaign does not.
- Sold on a freemium model rather than subscription.
Email marketing tool with a genuine free tier, priced by contact count once paid
- Sold on a Per month by contact tier once on a paid plan model rather than subscription.
Self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager that ships as a single Go binary
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee model rather than subscription.
Every ActiveCampaign alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ActiveCampaign (this page) | Free | Subscription | - | |
| AWeberEmail marketing and automation for small business | Free, then $15/month | Freemium | 3 | vs ActiveCampaign |
| BrevoEmail, SMS, and CRM in one platform | Free | Freemium | - | vs ActiveCampaign |
| EmailOctopusAffordable email marketing | Free, then $9/month | Freemium | 2 | vs ActiveCampaign |
| FlodeskEmail marketing built for creators and small business | Free | Freemium | 4 | vs ActiveCampaign |
| Zoho Campaigns | Free | Per month by contact tier once on a paid plan | 3 | vs ActiveCampaign |
| Listmonk | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs ActiveCampaign |
| Keila | Free, then €8/month | Per month by emails sent | 4 | vs ActiveCampaign |
| Shortwave | Free, then $30/month | - | 4 | vs ActiveCampaign |
| Resend | Free, then $20/month | Freemium | 3 | vs ActiveCampaign |
| Loops | Free | Freemium | 1 | vs ActiveCampaign |
| RD Station Marketing | Free, then $16/month | Subscription | 4 | vs ActiveCampaign |
| Amazon SES | On request | Per 1,000 emails sent, tiered by volume, no campaign features included | 3 | vs ActiveCampaign |
| Campaign Monitor | On request | Per month by contact tier and plan level | 4 | vs ActiveCampaign |
| SAP Emarsys | On request | Quote | 1 | vs ActiveCampaign |
| Attentive | On request | Quote | 1 | vs ActiveCampaign |
| Ortto | On request | Quote | 1 | vs ActiveCampaign |
| Sailthru | On request | Quote | 1 | vs ActiveCampaign |
| Sendy | $69/one-time | One-time purchase | 3 | vs ActiveCampaign |
| Moosend | On request | Per month by contact count | 4 | vs ActiveCampaign |
| Dotdigital | On request | Quote | 1 | vs ActiveCampaign |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the ActiveCampaign badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (11)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- AWeber , Free, then $15/month
- Brevo , Free
- EmailOctopus , Free, then $9/month
- Flodesk , Free
- Zoho Campaigns , Free
- Listmonk , Free
- Keila , Free, then €8/month
- Shortwave , Free, then $30/month
What you would be giving up
ActiveCampaign is most often brought in for businesses automating cross-channel campaigns (email, sms, whatsapp), marketing teams needing ai-driven lead scoring and automation. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If ActiveCampaign is broadly right and the question is cost, the ActiveCampaign pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Email Marketing category lists everything the directory holds, and best email marketing tools ranks them.
ActiveCampaign runs on cloud-based saas. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about ActiveCampaign alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to ActiveCampaign?
- 20 other email marketing tools are listed in this directory, led by AWeber, Brevo, EmailOctopus, Flodesk. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to ActiveCampaign?
- 11 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: AWeber, Brevo, EmailOctopus, Flodesk, Zoho Campaigns.
- Is there a reason to switch away from ActiveCampaign?
- Nothing in the data flags one. ActiveCampaign has a free tier. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from ActiveCampaign?
- ActiveCampaign is most often brought in for businesses automating cross-channel campaigns (email, sms, whatsapp), marketing teams needing ai-driven lead scoring and automation. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to ActiveCampaign?
- None of the email marketing tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these ActiveCampaign alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Email Marketing, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare ActiveCampaign against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against ActiveCampaign covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every email marketing tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Email Marketing category, 20 tools beside ActiveCampaign. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.