Are you looking for a comprehensive ConvertKit vs. ActiveCampaign comparison?
If you’re choosing an email marketing service for your small business, you know many options. And it can be tough to decide which is right for your business.
In this ConvertKit ActiveCampaign post, we’ll compare two of the most popular email marketing services: ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign. We’ll go over the features of each, their pros and cons, and who each is best suited for.
By the end of this post, you should have a good idea of which platform is right for your business.
So let’s get started.
Introduction to ConvertKit vs. ActiveCampaign
When it comes to email marketing, getting a solution tailored to your business is crucial for success. After all, the whole point of marketing is to nurture relationships with your customers and prospects so you can eventually sell them a product or service.
Two of the most popular email marketing platforms on the market are ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign. Both services offer a wide range of features but differ in how they approach marketing.
About ConvertKit
ConvertKit is an email marketing software for professional bloggers, authors, and online businesses. It was founded in 2013 by Nathan Barry, a successful blogger and author who was frustrated with the existing marketing options.
ConvertKit has since become a popular email marketing software, with millions of customers and growing. It offers its users many features, including customizable email templates, a visual email designer, autoresponders, and comprehensive email tracking.
However, its focus on providing a simple and intuitive user experience sets it apart from its competitors.
ConvertKit is designed to be easy to use, even for beginners. This makes it an ideal platform for businesses that are just starting or don’t have much time to dedicate to complex marketing campaigns.
ActiveCampaign
Founded in 2003, ActiveCampaign is one of the longest-running email marketing tools on the market. It offers users various features, including marketing automation, segmentation, and a visual campaign builder.
ActiveCampaign is a popular choice for businesses of all sizes, from small to enterprise companies. Their feature-rich platform and commitment to innovation have made them a leader in email marketing.
ActiveCampaign also offers a wide range of integrations with popular business applications, making it easy to integrate into an existing workflow. ActiveCampaign is a powerful and user-friendly tool that can help small business streamline their marketing and sales processes.
ConvertKit vs. ActiveCampaign Comparison Factors
Now that I’ve given you a brief overview of each platform let’s compare them side-by-side on key features. My comparison will help you determine which tool fits your business best.
1. Features
Regarding features, both ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign offer a wide range of options. However, there are some critical differences between the two platforms.
ConvertKit Features
ConvertKit offers a wide range of features to its users. Some of the most notable features include:
- Automations. Email marketing automation is a crucial feature of ConvertKit. It allows users to create automatic email sequences triggered by certain events, such as subscribing to a list or making a purchase. This can save a lot of time for businesses that send out repetitive emails, such as welcome emails, sell digital products, or follow-up emails.
- Visual campaign builder. One thing that sets ConvertKit apart from its competitors is its visual email editor. This easy to use editor makes it easy to create and edit email campaigns, even for beginners.
- Email templates. Another great feature of ConvertKit is its email templates. These templates are designed to help businesses save time and create professional-looking emails.
- Sequences: When you need to automate a series of emails, ConvertKit’s sequences feature is here to help. You can create an email sequence and trigger it based on subscriber behavior, such as subscribing to a list or making a purchase.
- Broadcasts. Email broadcasts allow you to send one-off emails to your subscribers. Unlimited email broadcasts help announce sales or promote new products.
- Landing Pages and forms: ConvertKit offers a landing page builder that makes it easier to create and customize landing pages. You can also use ConvertKit’s forms to gather subscriber information, such as name and email address.
ActiveCampaign Features
ActiveCampaign also offers a wide range of features to its users. Some of the most popular ActiveCampaign’s features include:
- Automated campaigns. One of the most powerful features of ActiveCampaign is the ability to automate your email marketing campaigns. With automation, you can send targeted emails to your contacts based on their interactions with your business. For example, you can set up an automated campaign that sends a welcome email to new subscribers and then follows up with emails over the next few weeks. This is a great way to nurture your relationship with new contacts and turn them into customers.
- Segmentation. ActiveCampaign allows you to segment your contact list to send more targeted emails. Segmentation is important because it allows you to personalize your messages and improve your open and click-through rates. A/B testing. A/B testing is a split-testing of two versions of an email to see which performs better. This is a valuable tool for optimizing your email marketing campaigns.
- Funnels. Another powerful feature of ActiveCampaign is the ability to create marketing funnels. A funnel is a series of emails designed to lead a contact through your sales process. For example, you can create a funnel that sends a discount code to first-time buyers or offers a free trial to new subscribers.
- Sales and CRM features. ActiveCampaign sales and CRM features make it easy to manage your sales process from start to finish. With these features, you can track your leads, create quotes and proposals, and manage your deals.
- Landing pages. The ability to create unlimited landing pages is another excellent feature of ActiveCampaign. Landing pages are single-page websites designed to capture leads and convert them into customers.
- Smart autoresponder. One of the best features of ActiveCampaign is the smart autoresponder. With this feature, you can send automated emails triggered by specific actions, such as when a contact subscribes to your list or opens one of your emails. This is a great way to nurture your leads and convert them into customers.
2. Pricing options
Many marketers looking for marketing tools are on a tight budget. As such, pricing is always a key consideration when choosing a platform.
Both platforms are on the higher end of the pricing spectrum, but they offer flexibility in their pricing plans. So, let’s look at the pricing plans for each platform in more detail.
ConvertKit
ConvertKit uses the standard tiered pricing system with three different plans. Their pricing is based on the number of email subscribers you have.
- Free: This is a perfect plan for those who are just starting or have a small list of subscribers. The free plan includes all essential features, including customizable email templates and autoresponders.
- Creator: This plan is designed for marketers and content creators who want to grow their list. It starts at $9/month for up to 300 subscribers.
- Creator Pro: This is the highest tier plan for businesses with more extensive marketing needs. It starts at $25/month and includes everything in the Creator plan, plus additional features like advanced segmentation, Facebook custom audiences, and email deliverability optimization.
The best thing about ConvertKit is enjoying all its features despite your chosen plan. This is not always the case with other platforms, which often limit features on lower-priced plans.
They also offer a custom plan for enterprise users. You can contact the ConvertKit team to discuss a custom pricing plan if you have more subscribers.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign offers four different plans to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes. Their pricing system is reasonably versatile, with the ability to scale up or down depending on your needs.
They have an annual plan and offer a 15% discount if you pay annually. The monthly price is slightly higher but offers more flexibility.
For the Lite plan, pricing for ActiveCampaing starts at $29/month, which is limited to up to 500 contacts. Their plan gives you access to all the core marketing features. If you need more features, the Plus plan starts at $49/month and gives you access to advanced automation and segmentation.
The Professional plan starts at $149/month and gives you everything in the Plus plan, plus additional features like predictive sending and customer success manager.
Enterprise plans are available for businesses that need more than 25,000 contacts. If you need this plan, you will need to contact the ActiveCampaign team for a custom quote.
3. Integrations
Integrating with other tools and software is one of the most sort-after features in an email marketing platform. This allows you to automate your workflow and save time by managing all your marketing tasks from one central location.
ConvertKit has nearly 90 integrations that allow you to connect it with popular tools like WordPress blog, Shopify, and Squarespace. They also have integrations with payment processors like Stripe, SMS marketing, and PayPal, making it easy to set up a subscription-based business.
Their documentation is user-friendly and easy to follow, making it quick and easy to set up your integrations. Their team can assist you if you need to build custom landing page integrations.
ActiveCampaign has over 250 integrations that allow you to connect it with popular tools and software. The huge number of integrations can be overwhelming for some users. However, their team has put together some helpful documentation to guide you through the process.
Their API also allows for custom integrations if you need to connect ActiveCampaign with a tool that isn’t on their list.
4. Ease of use
Every tool and software has a learning curve. However, some platforms are easier to use than others. Regarding these platforms, ease of use is an essential consideration.
ConvertKit is designed for simplicity and usability for basic marketing. Its platform is easy to navigate, and its features are clearly labeled.
Their drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to create beautiful email newsletters, and their automation features are straightforward to set up.
Their team offers excellent customer support if you need help using any of their features. They have a comprehensive knowledge base with articles and tutorials on all platform aspects.
ActiveCampaign is a feature-rich platform that can be overwhelming for some users. However, their team has put together some helpful documentation to guide you through the process.
They offer excellent customer support if you need help using any of their features. Their team is quick to respond and always happy to help.
5. Customer support
One of the most important considerations when choosing a marketing platform is the quality of customer support. Any platform can encounter issues from time to time, so it’s essential to have a quick response team and always be happy to help.
ConvertKit offers excellent email support. Their team is quick to respond and always happy to help. They have a comprehensive knowledge base with articles and tutorials on all platform aspects.
Their team can assist you if you need help with any of their features or free migration.
On the other hand, the support you receive from ActiveCampaign is great. The customer support team is very responsive and willing to help with any issue you may have. A large library of resources is also available, including video tutorials, webinars, and a knowledge base.
They also provide one on one training sessions to get you up and run quickly. Overall, the customer support is excellent.
6. Deliverability
Marketers all over the world spend billions of emails every day. However, not all of those emails make it to the inbox. A large percentage of emails are sent to spam or bounced.
This is why deliverability is essential when choosing an email marketing platform. You need to ensure that your messages get through to your subscribers.
The two platforms have very different approaches to deliverability.
ConvertKit uses a system called “smart sending.” This means that they send your emails through multiple servers to increase the chances of deliverability.
ActiveCampaign, on the other hand, uses a single server. They believe that this gives them more control over deliverability and allows them to ensure that your messages get through to your subscribers.
7. Email Analytics & Reporting features
Email analytics is an essential tool for any marketer. It allows you to see how your subscribers are interacting with your emails. One can use this information to improve your email campaigns and increase conversions.
ConvertKit provides basic email analytics showing how many people opened your email and clicked on the links.
ActiveCampaign takes things a step further and provides detailed email analytics. Their platform shows you how many people opened your email and how many times they clicked on each link.
They also provide automation reporting and information on which links were most clicked and who unsubscribed from your list. This advanced reporting can be very valuable in improving your marketing campaigns.
ActiveCampaign also comes with a CRM, which you can use to track your subscribers’ interactions with your website.
8. Email Automations
Another important consideration when choosing an email marketing platform is the ability to automate sales processes. Email automation workflow can save you time and effort by automatically sending messages to your subscribers.
ConvertKit comes with a few basic email automation, such as welcome emails and abandoned cart emails. ActiveCampaign, on the other hand, has a much more comprehensive email automation system.
Their platform allows you to automate your emails based on various criteria, such as subscriber behavior, email engagement, blog post, and website activity.
This means you can create automation rules to automatically send highly targeted and personalized messages to your subscribers.
ActiveCampaign also allows an online marketer to create complex sales funnels with their email automation workflow system to help with lead scoring.
9. Spam & Design Testing
The internet is full of spam. Over 85% of all email is spam (What’s On the Other Side of Your Inbox – 20 SPAM Statistics for 2022 (dataprot.net)). This is why it’s important to have a platform that can help you avoid being marked as spam.
Both ActiveCampaign and ConvertKit have tools to help you design your emails, so they don’t end up in the spam folder. I personally prefer ActiveCampaign because they have a built-in Spam Score Checker that will test your email before sending it and let you know if there’s anything that could trigger spam filters. ConvertKit doesn’t have a similar tool, but they have excellent documentation on avoiding being marked as spam.
10. Registration forms
The ability to create custom opt in forms is important if you’re running an event or course. Being able to integrate these forms with any platform is also key.
ActiveCampaign has native integrations with many popular platforms like WordPress blog, Shopify, and WooCommerce. This makes it easy to create a registration form and add it to your website or online store. ConvertKit has integrations with these platforms and has an opt in form builder, but they’re not as seamless as ActiveCampaign’s.
The opt in forms themselves are also very different. ActiveCampaign’s forms are much more customizable and allow you to add conditional logic and custom fields. This means you can show or hide fields based on how someone responds to a question. ConvertKit’s forms are basic and have no advanced features like conditional logic.
ActiveCampaign vs ConvertKit: Which service should you choose?
The two platforms are very different. ConvertKit is an essential email software that’s great for beginners. ActiveCampaign is a more advanced platform better suited for businesses with more complex needs.
So, which one should you choose?
It depends on your specific needs. If you’re starting and need a simple platform to get started with, ConvertKit is a great choice. ConvertKit is also a good choice if you’re on a tight budget. But that doesn’t mean that ActiveCampaign is a bad choice. ActiveCampaign is a great platform for businesses that need more features and functionality.
If you’re looking for a more advanced platform with features like automation and a built in CRM tool, ActiveCampaign is the better option. No matter which platform you choose, you’ll be able to create great marketing campaigns to help you grow your business.
Active Campaign has a bit more to offer than Convertkit. However, the latter has a less expensive monthly price. If you are starting internet marketing, I recommend going with ConvertKit. Automation is important but not necessary when first starting. You can always upgrade later down the road.
As your business grows, you will want to take advantage of ActiveCampaign’s more complex features, such as sales funnels and CRM integrations. But for now, ConvertKit is a great place to start.
Frequently Asked Questions
The following are some frequently asked questions about Convertkit vs. Activecampaign:
What is ActiveCampaign best for?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, but ActiveCampaign is best for marketing funnels, email design, and complex automation. If you are looking to track CRM leads and sales funnel data, ActiveCampaign is a great choice.
How good is ConvertKit?
ConvertKit is a great platform for marketers and bloggers looking for a simple way to create and send email newsletters. The ease of use and intuitive interface make it a great choice for those just starting with basic email marketing.
Is ActiveCampaign the same as Mailchimp?
Both offer email marketing tools, but they are quite different. ActiveCampaign is geared towards full marketing automation, while Mailchimp is more focused on simplifying the email design process.
Is ActiveCampaign a good company?
Yes, ActiveCampaign is a great company. In addition to offering a powerful email marketing platform, they also provide excellent customer service and strongly commit to user privacy.
They have been in business since 2003 and serve millions of customers in different countries. They have unrivaled experience in the email marketing space and are constantly innovating to bring new features and functionality to their users.
Is ActiveCampaign worth the cost?
One of the most popular questions we see when people are considering using ActiveCampaign is whether it’s worth the price.
The simple answer is: it depends on what you need.
If you need a tool to help you automate your marketing, sales, and CRM efforts, then ActiveCampaign is an excellent choice. It’s also a great choice if you need a tool that will allow you to segment your audience and send targeted content to them.
However, if you’re only looking for a simple email marketing tool, ActiveCampaign may not be the best fit. Other tools on the market like ConverKit and Constant Contact offer similar functionality at a lower price point.
When it comes to ActiveCampaign, you get what you pay for. It’s a powerful tool that can help you grow your business, but it’s not the cheapest option on the market.
Who uses ConvertKit?
A blogger designed it for bloggers, and that’s still who it’s mostly used by. You also use it for other online businesses but bloggers and YouTubers will find the interface most intuitive.
Conclusion
When it comes to choosing an email marketing platform, it depends on your specific needs. ActiveCampaign and ConvertKit offer great features but are geared toward different audiences.
In this article, we’ve looked at the key differences between ActiveCampaign and ConvertKit. We have gone over each platform’s pricing, features, automation, and integrations. The goal has been to help you determine which platform is best for your business.
We hope this article has been helpful and that you now understand the two platforms better.
Brian Shelton is an entrepreneur, marketer, and life-long learner committed to helping businesses achieve impactful results. He founded Grow Predictably to provide tailored marketing strategies to generate predictable, profitable growth. With over a decade of experience in the industry, Brian has helped businesses, large and small. reach their goals and drive positive change in the world.