Hubspot and ActiveCampaign are two of the most popular CRM (customer relationship management) platforms. Both are great for managing customer data and communication but have different features and pricing plans.
Choosing the right marketing automation tool is essential to the success of your marketing campaigns. The wrong tool can lead to lost opportunities, wasted time and money, and an overall drop in productivity.
There are many marketing automation tools on the market, but two of the most popular are HubSpot and ActiveCampaign.
In this article, we’ll do a HubSpot vs ActiveCampaign comparison to help you decide which is the best tool for your business.
What is HubSpot?
HubSpot is a software application that helps companies manage their customer relationships. It provides a central place for storing customer data, tracking interactions, and managing communication.
The software includes tools for driving the marketing and sales process, as well as customer service and support.
HubSpot CRM is designed to help companies improve their customer relationships by providing a centralized, easy-to-use system for managing all aspects of customer relationships.
In addition, It includes features that help companies automate repetitive tasks, such as email marketing and lead generation.
As a result, HubSpot can help companies save time and money while improving their customer relationships.
What is ActiveCampaign?
ActiveCampaign is an all-in-one marketing platform that helps businesses attract more leads, close more sales, and improve customer relationships.
With ActiveCampaign, marketers can create beautiful email newsletters, automate their marketing efforts, and track their results in real-time.
ActiveCampaign also offers a wide range of features marketers can use to grow their customer base, including lead capture forms, customer segmentation, and advanced tracking.
Whether you’re just starting with marketing or looking for an advanced solution to take your business to the next level, ActiveCampaign has the tools you need to succeed.
Is Marketing Automation Important for Small to Medium-Sized Businesses (SMBs)?
Yes, marketing automation is important for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) for several reasons:
- Saves time and resources: SMBs often have limited resources, including time and staff, to devote to marketing. Marketing automation tools can help automate repetitive tasks such as lead nurturing, social media scheduling, and email marketing, freeing up time and resources to focus on other important aspects of the business.
- Improves efficiency: By automating marketing tasks, SMBs can achieve greater efficiency in their marketing efforts, enabling them to reach more potential customers and generate more leads and sales.
- Increases ROI: Marketing automation tools can help SMBs track the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns and adjust them in real-time, leading to a higher return on investment (ROI).
- Enhances customer experience: Marketing automation tools can help SMBs personalize their marketing messages and create targeted campaigns that resonate with their customers, leading to a better customer experience and higher customer satisfaction.
Overall, marketing automation is essential for SMBs looking to streamline their marketing efforts, reach more potential customers, and improve their bottom line.
The Main Difference Between Hubspot vs. ActiveCampaign
The two platforms have different focus areas. Hubspot is built around a CRM, while
ActiveCampaign is built primarily for email marketing. This means that Hubspot has more features for managing customer data and communication, while ActiveCampaign’s marketing tools are more robust.
Another key difference is in reporting. Hubspot offers more robust reporting views and reports than ActiveCampaign. This can be helpful if you need detailed data about your marketing campaigns.
Also, the user interface of Hubspot can be more challenging to use than ActiveCampaign. This is because Hubspot offers more features and options, which can overwhelm new users.
ActiveCampaign is more user-friendly, requiring less time to learn.
Finally, ActiveCampaign’s paid plans are generally less expensive than HubSpot’s. This is because ActiveCampaign only charges for the features you use, whereas HubSpot charges a flat rate for all features, regardless of whether you use them or not.
Strengths and Weaknesses
The following are the top strengths of HubSpot and ActiveCampaign:
HubSpot
ActiveCampaign
The following are the most common weaknesses users observed when using HubSpot and ActiveCampaign:
HubSpot
ActiveCampaign
It’s important to note that the strengths and weaknesses of ActiveCampaign and HubSpot can vary based on individual needs and preferences. It’s recommended to evaluate these platforms based on your specific requirements before making a decision.
Factors When Choosing Between Hubspot and ActiveCampaign
When choosing between Hubspot and ActiveCampaign, there are several factors to consider.
Here are some key considerations:
- Your business needs: What kind of features do you need? This will allow you to narrow down your options and choose the tool that offers the needed features.
- Your budget: How much can you afford to spend on a marketing automation tool? Is budget a problem, or do you have some flexibility?
- Your sales team skills: How familiar your team members are with marketing automation tools? If they’re not very familiar, you’ll want to choose a tool that is easy to use and doesn’t require a lot of training.
- The size of your customer base: If you have a large customer base, you’ll need a tool to handle a lot of data. These tools might limit you to a certain number of contacts or be more expensive.
- The complexity of your campaigns: If you have complex campaigns, you’ll need a tool that can handle a lot of data and offers robust reporting features.
With the above in mind, you’ll be able to choose the best automation tool for your business.
Features In Comparison
Any platform you use should have the features you need to succeed. Here’s a look at some of the key features offered by Hubspot and ActiveCampaign.
CRM tool
A CRM, or customer relationship management software, is a tool that helps businesses manage their customer relationships. It organizes customer data, tracks customer communication, and manages customer tasks.
Hubspot’s CRM is one of the most popular CRMs on the market. It offers multiple tools, including lead capture forms, contact management, task management, and sales automation.
It is designed to help companies improve their customer relationships by providing a centralized, easy-to-use system for managing all aspects of customer relationships.
In addition, It includes features that help companies automate repetitive tasks, such as email marketing and lead generation.
As a result, HubSpot can help companies save time and money while improving their customer relationships.
ActiveCampaign’s CRM is designed to help businesses capture more leads and close more sales. It includes lead capture forms, customer segmentation, and advanced tracking.
ActiveCampaign’s CRM platform is less robust than HubSpot’s, but it is more user-friendly and requires less learning time.
Email marketing
Email marketing is a process that helps businesses send newsletters, automated emails, and other promotional material to their customers. It is known that every $1 spent on email generates $36 (3600%) in return on investment (ROI).
ActiveCampaign main focus is email marketing, and it does a great job. It helps you design beautiful email templates, automate emails, personalize email, predict and track your results.
Marketers can create subscription forms and landing pages and monitor their results with ActiveCampaign. The customer experience of working on ActiveCampaign is easy and fun. You can also use ActiveCampaign to segment your email list, which allows you to send more targeted emails.
When it comes to Hubspot, its email tool is just a small part of its overall digital marketing software.
Hubspot’s primary focus is inbound marketing, a methodology that helps businesses attract customers through different channels, such as content marketing, SEO, social media, and email.
While Hubspot offers features that ActiveCampaign doesn’t have, such as life cycle stages and contact lists, its tools are not as robust.
ActiveCampaign vs Hubspot Pricing
ActiveCampaign’s pricing and straightforward to understand. Its plans are based on your requirements and the number of contacts you have.
The best thing about ActiveCampaings plans is the unlimited emails that provide flexibility and comfort for users, so they don’t have to worry about being charged extra.
The prices are also very affordable, starting at only $15/month.
They also offer a 14-day free trial, so you can try the platform before committing to a paid plan.
HubSpot’s pricing is a bit more complicated. Hubspot plans are based on three primary types of services: CRM, Marketing, Sales, and Customer Service.
Sales Hub
The HubSpot’s sales hub pricing is divided into three plans: The starter plan, which goes for $45 per month. Professional is set at $450 per month and Enterprise plan at $1200 per month. These three plans offer different features, and the price is set according to the need of the user.
Marketing Hub
- Starter – $45 per month. ( Contains support for forms, email marketing, live chat, and landing pages for lead generation. The maximum number of contacts – is 1000.)
- Professional – $800 per month. (Maximum number of contacts – 2000)
- Enterprise – $3200 per month. (Maximum number of contacts – 10000)
The marketing hub also has three plans: Starter, Professional, and Enterprise. All of these plans offer different features, and the price is set according to the need of the user.
The starter plan is $45 per month and best suits businesses with up to 1000 contacts.
The Professional plan is ideal for businesses with 2000 contacts and is priced at $800 per month.
The enterprise plan is perfect for businesses with up to 10,000 contacts and is priced at $3200 per month.
Customer service Hub
Hubspot has a customer service hub designed to help businesses provide excellent customer service. The pricing for this hub is also divided into three plans:
- The starter plan goes for $45 per month.
- The Professional plan goes for $360 per month.
- The Enterprise plan goes for $1200 per month.
Operations Hub
Hubspot’s Operation Hub is designed to help businesses with their operations. The pricing for this hub is divided into two plans:
- The Starter plan goes for $45 per month.
- The Enterprise plan goes for $720 per month.
It also has free tools that businesses can use to get started. However, these free tools are basic and don’t offer many features.
Hubspot also has Bundle plans which include all of the services offered. The pricing for these plans is as follows:
- Starter – $45 per month
- Professional – $1600 per month
- Enterprise – $4000 per month
The price of a product highly depends on the need of the user. If you want a more comprehensive tool that offers a wide range of features, then Hubspot would be the better option.
However, if you’re looking for a marketing tool, then ActiveCampaign would be a better choice.
Marketing Automation
Marketing automation uses software to automate marketing processes such as customer segmentation, customer data integration, and campaign management.
By automating these processes, marketers can save time and resources while delivering more personalized and targeted messages to their audiences.
Additionally, marketing automation can help to improve customer engagement by providing customers with relevant and timely information about their purchase journey.
As a result, marketing automation can be a powerful tool for driving sales and growth.
Hubspot’s marketing automation software is one of the best in the market. It offers a wide range of features that you can use to automate your marketing tasks, such as email marketing, social media, lead capture, and more.
It also allows for API integration, so you can connect it with other software that you’re using.
ActiveCampaign also has a marketing automation platform that you can use to automate your marketing tasks. It also provides for teams so that you can assign tasks to different team members.
Integration
Integrating your software with other tools is important as it allows you to automate tasks and workflows.
Hubspot integrates with over 1,000 different applications via API and Zapier. Some popular integrations include Salesforce, Google Sheets, Eventbrite, QuickBooks, Google Analytics and more.
ActiveCampaign also integrates with over 1,000 other applications via API and Zapier. Some popular integrations include Shopify, WordPress, BigCommerce, and more.
Hubspot and ActiveCampaign offer a wide range of integrations businesses can use to automate their workflows.
Ease of Use
One of the other factors to consider when choosing software is its easy use. Hubspot’s software is designed to be user-friendly and easy to use.
It offers many features, but they’re all organized intuitively and easy to navigate.
ActiveCampaign’s software is also designed to be user-friendly and easy to use. It offers many features, but they’re all organized intuitively and easy to navigate.
Both Hubspot and ActiveCampaign offer software that’s easy to use and navigate.
Users of both software find they can get started quickly and without hiccups.
Reporting
Marketers all over the world use reporting to track their progress and performance. Every software offers to report, but the question is, how comprehensive are the reports?
Hubspot’s reports are comprehensive and offer a lot of detail. You can track your progress, performance, and ROI with their reports.
The different types of services provide different types of reports.
ActiveCampaign’s reports are also comprehensive and offer a lot of detail. You can track your progress, performance, and ROI with their reports.
Depending on your needs, both Hubspot and ActiveCampaign offer comprehensive custom reporting that will help you track your progress and performance.
Email Deliverability
Email Deliverability is the ability of an email message to reach the recipient’s inbox.
Various factors can influence whether an email is delivered, including the sender’s reputation, the content of the message, and the security settings of the recipient’s email server.
To ensure that your messages are delivered, it is important to use a reputable email service provider to avoid spammy or unsolicited messages.
Both Hubspot and ActiveCampaign offer good email deliverability, but there have been some complaints about emails going to spam.
Marketers must carefully configure their email campaigns to avoid flagging their messages as spam.
Flexibility and scale
The ability of a tool to meet the needs of a small business just starting is essential, but so is its ability to scale up with you as your company grows.
Most marketers are looking for a tool that they can grow into, not out of.
HubSpot Sales offer users the ability to start with a free CRM that gives them the features they need to get started and then scale up to a paid subscription with more features as their business grows.
ActiveCampaign, on the other hand, has custom tools designed to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes.
Their pricing is based on how many contacts you have in your database, so you can start small and only pay for what you need.
As your business grows and you need more features, you can upgrade your subscription to get access to them.
Support
Everyone wants excellent customer support. The last thing you want is to be left in the dark when something goes wrong with your campaign.
The two companies offer different levels of support. HubSpot offers 24/7 phone, email, and live chat support for all users, regardless of their subscription level. They also have a comprehensive Knowledge Base that’s easy to search.
ActiveCampaign offers email support for all users and phone support for Enterprise users. They also have a comprehensive Knowledge Base that’s easy to search.
Depending on your needs, both Hubspot and ActiveCampaign offer great support. If you need phone support, Hubspot is the better option. If you’re okay with email support, then ActiveCampaign is a good choice.
Which One Should You Choose?
In the end, it depends on your needs and preferences. So, to answer the question, here are the main takeaways.
Choose Hubspot if…
- You are a marketer who needs comprehensive reporting and the ability to scale up as your business grows. Your business will also benefit from the 24/7 phone, email, and live chat support that Hubspot offers.
- You want to take advantage of Hubspot’s many features and integrate them into your full-funnel marketing strategy. Hubspot’s features are designed to work together to help you attract, engage, and delight your customers.
- Your business uses other HubSpot products, such as CRM or Sales tools. Hubspot’s email marketing tool integrates seamlessly with its other products, making it easy to manage your entire marketing strategy from one platform. With
If your budget is not a problem and you want to have all the features that email marketing software can offer, HubSpot is a great choice.
Choose ActiveCampaign if…
- It would help if you had a flexible tool that you could customize to meet the needs of your business. ActiveCampaign’s custom tools are designed to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes.
- You’re looking for email marketing features that offer many features at a lower price point. ActiveCampaign’s pricing is based on the number of contacts in your database, so you can start small and only pay for what you need.
- As your business grows and you need more features, you can upgrade your subscription to get access to them. You want a tool that integrates with your other software to run your business. ActiveCampaign integrates with over 250 apps and counting.
This allows you to choose the best tools for your business and have them all work together seamlessly.
FAQs
The following are the most frequently asked questions about Hubspot and ActiveCampaign.
Conclusion
Choosing between HubSpot and ActiveCampaign for your small business depends on your specific needs, budget, and the scale of your operations.
If comprehensive reporting, 24/7 support, and seamless integration with other tools of a complete marketing suite are your priorities, then HubSpot stands out.
This robust platform is particularly beneficial if budget is not a constraint and your business strategy aligns with HubSpot’s comprehensive inbound marketing approach.
On the other hand, if your focus is on high-quality email marketing and cost-effective pricing with flexibility to scale, ActiveCampaign is an excellent choice. It’s designed for businesses of all sizes with features you can customize according to your needs.
ActiveCampaign’s ability to integrate with over 250 apps ensures you can piece together the perfect system for your business.
So, evaluate your business needs thoroughly and then make an informed decision between these two excellent tools.
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.