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Marketing · head to head

Kissmetrics vs Zoho Marketing Automation

Kissmetrics logo

Kissmetrics

Marketing

Customer analytics and behavioral data

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Zoho Marketing Automation logo

Zoho Marketing Automation

Marketing

Contact-count marketing automation priced well below the mainstream platforms, tightest with Zoho CRM

From
$19/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Kissmetrics has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Kissmetrics overages are added automatically to the next invoice rather than blocked, so exceeding an event allowance bills without a decision point; Zoho Marketing Automation pricing is by contact count, so an inactive or unengaged list costs the same as an active one, and nobody in the business has an incentive to prune it until the next tier boundary arrives.
  • They diverge on capability: Kissmetrics covers Customer analytics, Zoho Marketing Automation covers Journey builder.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kissmetrics and Zoho Marketing Automation actually diverge.

Attributes where Kissmetrics and Zoho Marketing Automation differ
AttributeKissmetricsZoho Marketing Automation
Starting priceFree$19/month
Pricing modelfreemiumPer month by contact count
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWebWeb, iOS, Android
Founded2009Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Marketing).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Kissmetrics

  • Customer analytics
  • Behavioral tracking
  • Cohort analysis
  • Funnel analysis
  • Salesforce
  • GDPR
  • Cloud deployment
  • Web support

Only in Zoho Marketing Automation

  • Journey builder
  • Lead scoring
  • Unlimited email sends
  • Landing pages and forms
  • Web behaviour tracking
  • Social campaigns
  • SMS and WhatsApp
  • Lead attribution and X-RAY

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Kissmetrics

  • Product analytics and user behavior trackingnot Zoho Marketing Automation
  • Event-based analyticsnot Zoho Marketing Automation
  • Data integration and reportingnot Zoho Marketing Automation

Zoho Marketing Automation

  • A B2B team already on Zoho CRM that wants scoring and nurture without paying for a separate platform and an integrationnot Kissmetrics
  • A business emailing its list frequently, where unlimited sends beats a competitor metering both contacts and emailsnot Kissmetrics
  • An Indian or emerging-market marketing team that would otherwise pay a US-dollar list price plus card forex feesnot Kissmetrics
  • A small team upgrading from plain newsletter sending to behaviour-triggered journeys without a five-figure annual commitmentnot Kissmetrics

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Kissmetrics

  • Overages are added automatically to the next invoice rather than blocked, so exceeding an event allowance bills without a decision point
  • The free plan allows 100,000 events a month
  • Per event rates fall with volume, from $0.20 per 1,000 events on Growth to $0.10 on Gold, so smaller customers pay double per event
  • The vendor states Growth, Silver and Gold are the identical product, so the paid tiers differ only in unit price and volume
  • Anything above 5 million events is custom priced

Zoho Marketing Automation

  • Pricing is by contact count, so an inactive or unengaged list costs the same as an active one, and nobody in the business has an incentive to prune it until the next tier boundary arrives.
  • The Enterprise plan caps users at 25, which is a hard ceiling for larger marketing organisations rather than an upgrade path.
  • Its value depends heavily on running Zoho CRM; used alongside Salesforce or HubSpot the integration is shallower and much of the scoring and attribution advantage disappears.
  • Zoho sells Campaigns, Marketing Automation and MarketingPlus as separate products with overlapping function, and buyers regularly purchase the wrong one and then migrate lists between them.
  • Support and deliverability tooling are basic next to dedicated senders, so sender reputation problems on a large list get less expert help than a specialist provider would give.

Pricing, plan by plan

Kissmetrics

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 100,000 events/month
    • Autocapture tracking
    • AI chat
  • Growth$99/month
    • Starting at 500k events
    • $0.20 per 1k events
    • Populations
  • Silver$null/month
    • $0.15 per 1k events
    • All Growth features
  • Gold$null/month
    • $0.10 per 1k events (at 5M+ events)
    • All Growth features

Zoho Marketing Automation

$19/month
  • Standard$19/month
    • Priced for 1,000 contacts, billed annually
    • Unlimited email sends
    • Unlimited social campaigns and signup forms
  • Professional$29/month
    • Priced for 1,000 contacts, billed annually
    • Contact scoring
    • Journey builder with reports
  • Enterprise$59/month
    • Priced for 1,000 contacts, billed annually
    • Lead attribution and X-RAY journey tracing
    • Landing page personalisation

Which should you pick?

Choose Kissmetrics if

  • You need customer analytics.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want behavioral tracking.
Kissmetrics review

Choose Zoho Marketing Automation if

  • You need journey builder.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want lead scoring.
Zoho Marketing Automation review

Questions people ask

Is Kissmetrics or Zoho Marketing Automation better?
Neither clearly leads. Kissmetrics starts at Free and Zoho Marketing Automation at $19/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kissmetrics or Zoho Marketing Automation?
Kissmetrics has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Kissmetrics and $19/month for Zoho Marketing Automation.
Does Kissmetrics or Zoho Marketing Automation run on more platforms?
Kissmetrics runs on Web. Zoho Marketing Automation runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Kissmetrics for free?
Yes. Kissmetrics has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Zoho Marketing Automation starts at $19/month.
What is Kissmetrics best used for?
Kissmetrics is most often used for product analytics and user behavior tracking, event-based analytics, data integration and reporting. Of those, product analytics and user behavior tracking and event-based analytics are not what Zoho Marketing Automation is typically brought in for.
What can Kissmetrics do that Zoho Marketing Automation cannot?
Kissmetrics covers Customer analytics, Behavioral tracking, Cohort analysis, Funnel analysis. Zoho Marketing Automation covers Journey builder, Lead scoring, Unlimited email sends, Landing pages and forms.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Kissmetrics: Does KISSmetrics have a free plan?

Yes, KISSmetrics offers a free plan with 100,000 events/month including autocapture tracking, dashboards, and core reports. No card required.

Source
Zoho Marketing Automation: How does it differ from Zoho Campaigns?

Campaigns is email sending and newsletters. Marketing Automation adds journeys, lead scoring, web tracking and CRM writeback. Buying Campaigns and outgrowing it is the common mistake.

Kissmetrics: What does KISSmetrics charge for paid plans?

Growth plan starts at $99/month for 500k events, charging $0.20 per additional 1k events. Silver and Gold tiers offer lower per-event rates at higher volumes.

Source
Zoho Marketing Automation: Are email sends limited?

No, sends are unlimited on all plans. Only contact count determines your tier, which is unusual at this price level.

Kissmetrics: Does KISSmetrics offer annual discounts?

Yes, annual plans receive 20% off monthly rates. Overage charges are automatically added to the next invoice.

Source
Zoho Marketing Automation: Is there a user limit?

Yes, up to 25 users on Enterprise, with lower limits below that. It is not designed for large marketing departments.

Zoho Marketing Automation: Can I pay in local currency?

Yes, Zoho publishes real local pricing in several markets including India rather than converting the US dollar figure at checkout.

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