# ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation and CRM platform rated 4.5/5 on G2 (13,500+ reviews) and 4.6/5 on Capterra. Profile: pricing, funding, leadership.

**Category:** Marketing automation / CRM platform  
**Vendor:** ActiveCampaign, LLC  
**Founded:** 2003  
**HQ:** Chicago, Illinois, US  
**Website:** https://www.activecampaign.com  


## About

ActiveCampaign is a cloud-based marketing automation, email marketing, and CRM platform founded in 2003 by Jason VandeBoom in Chicago, Illinois. The company started as a software consultancy before pivoting to a SaaS product focused on small business email marketing, and spent more than a decade bootstrapped before raising outside capital for the first time in 2016. That restraint shaped the product: ActiveCampaign is known for automation depth that punches above its price point, with a visual automation builder that rivals tools costing three to five times more. By 2026 the company serves more than 180,000 customers in 170+ countries and employs approximately 900 people. It raised a Series C in 2021 at a $3 billion valuation and remains private, headquartered in Chicago with offices in Indianapolis, Dublin, Sydney, and São Paulo. The product competes with Klaviyo in ecommerce email, with HubSpot in B2B marketing automation, and with Mailchimp in the SMB email segment.

## Ratings

| Source | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| G2 | 4.5/5 | 13,541 |
| Capterra | 4.6/5 | 2,427 |
| Gartner Peer Insights | 4.4/5 | 71 |
| TrustRadius | 8.5/10 | 904 |

## Funding

~$360M across 3 rounds (2016-2021)

| Round | Amount | Date | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Series A | $20M | 2016 | Silversmith Capital Partners |
| Series B | $100M | Jun 2019 | Susquehanna Growth Equity |
| Series C | $240M | Apr 2021 | Tiger Global Management (at $3B valuation) |

## Viability

Low-to-moderate risk. ActiveCampaign is a well-capitalized private company with $360 million in total funding, a $3 billion Series C valuation from 2021, and more than 180,000 paying customers. The product has been cash-flow positive for much of its history and the company is not dependent on continued VC funding to operate. The main risks are competitive pressure from Klaviyo (which owns ecommerce email) and HubSpot (which owns B2B mid-market), plus the general SaaS valuation compression since 2022 that makes an IPO or strategic exit at the 2021 valuation difficult. No immediate existential concern, but an independent path to public markets is harder than it looked in 2021.

## Pricing

ActiveCampaign prices by contact count and feature tier, not by user seat, which works well for teams that need unlimited user access but poorly for anyone with a large list. The Starter plan at $15/mo for 1,000 contacts is a genuine entry point, but it strips out CRM, SMS, and predictive sending. The Plus plan at around $49/mo for 1,000 contacts is where most marketers actually land, once they want lead scoring and CRM pipelines. At 10,000 contacts, Plus runs closer to $99-125/mo. The Enterprise plan unlocks SSO, custom reporting, and dedicated support, but pricing is custom and typically quoted starting around $145/mo for small contact counts.

| Plan | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | From $15/mo (1,000 contacts) | Solo operators and micro-businesses needing email automation without CRM |
| Plus | From $49/mo (1,000 contacts) | Growing teams needing CRM pipelines, landing pages, and lead scoring |
| Professional | From $79/mo (1,000 contacts) | Teams needing predictive sending, site personalization, and Salesforce integration |
| Enterprise | From $145/mo (custom) | Larger orgs needing SSO, custom reporting, dedicated support, and custom mail server domain |

## What reviewers say

_13,541 G2 reviews at 4.5/5 and 2,427 Capterra reviews at 4.6/5, plus Gartner and TrustRadius_

**Praised:**
- The visual automation builder is praised as the best in its price class, with conditional logic, wait steps, and goal tracking that most competitors charge significantly more to unlock
- Deliverability rates are consistently cited as excellent, with reviewers comparing favorably to Mailchimp and Klaviyo for inbox placement on cold and warm lists alike
- The 1-on-1 onboarding session included with every paid plan, even the $15/mo Starter, is called out by new users as a differentiator that accelerates time to first campaign

**Complaints:**
- The learning curve for the automation builder steepens quickly beyond basic sequences; new users without marketing ops experience report feeling overwhelmed within the first 30 days
- Reporting is functional but not deep; reviewers wanting cohort analysis, revenue attribution by source, or detailed A/B test statistics often end up exporting data to a BI tool
- Price increases at higher contact counts surprise users: the jump from 1,000 to 10,000 contacts roughly doubles or triples the monthly cost, and tiered pricing is not always clearly communicated during signup

## Compliance

- **SOC 2:** Yes (SOC 2 Type II)
- **GDPR:** Yes
- **HIPAA:** No (ActiveCampaign does not sign BAAs)
- **SSO:** Yes (Enterprise plan)

## Integrations

- Shopify
- WooCommerce
- WordPress
- Salesforce
- Zapier
- Slack
- Stripe
- Facebook Ads
- Google Analytics
- Calendly

## FAQs

### Does ActiveCampaign have a free plan?

No. ActiveCampaign does not offer a permanent free plan. A 14-day free trial is available without a credit card, covering the full platform. Paid plans start at $15/mo for up to 1,000 contacts on the Starter tier. For a free entry point in email automation, Mailchimp and the Freshdesk-adjacent Freshmarketer both offer limited free tiers.

### How does ActiveCampaign pricing work?

ActiveCampaign pricing is based on two variables: your contact count and your plan tier. The plan tier (Starter, Plus, Professional, Enterprise) determines which features you access. The contact count determines what you pay within that tier. A Plus plan for 1,000 contacts costs roughly $49/mo; the same Plus plan for 10,000 contacts runs closer to $99-125/mo. Users are billed monthly or annually, with annual billing saving approximately 20%.

### Is ActiveCampaign good for ecommerce?

It is competitive but not the category leader. ActiveCampaign handles abandoned cart flows, product blocks in email, Shopify and WooCommerce syncs, and revenue attribution. Where it falls short compared to Klaviyo is ecommerce-specific analytics depth and the native product recommendation engine. Teams running Shopify stores with more than $1M in revenue should compare both products directly; at lower volumes, ActiveCampaign's broader CRM and automation features often make it the better all-in-one.

### Is ActiveCampaign a public company?

No. ActiveCampaign is a private company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It raised approximately $360 million across three rounds, with the most recent being a Series C in April 2021 at a $3 billion valuation led by Tiger Global Management. As of mid-2026 the company has not announced IPO plans.

### Who is ActiveCampaign best for?

ActiveCampaign is strongest for SMB and lower-mid-market B2B and B2C teams (1-200 employees) that need serious marketing automation without the HubSpot price tag. It is a particularly good fit for coaches, agencies, course creators, and SaaS companies that run complex drip sequences and want CRM and email in one tool. Very large enterprises with advanced territory management or regulated-industry compliance requirements typically outgrow it.


## Sources

- [G2: ActiveCampaign reviews](https://www.g2.com/products/activecampaign/reviews): rating 4.5/5, 13,541 reviews, read live
- [Capterra: ActiveCampaign](https://www.capterra.com/p/148176/ActiveCampaign/): rating 4.6/5, 2,427 reviews, sub-scores, demographics
- [Gartner Peer Insights: ActiveCampaign](https://www.gartner.com/reviews/market/email-marketing/vendor/activecampaign/product/activecampaign): rating 4.4/5, 71 ratings
- [TrustRadius: ActiveCampaign](https://www.trustradius.com/products/activecampaign/reviews): score 8.5/10, 904 reviews
- [Crunchbase: ActiveCampaign](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/activecampaign): ~$360M total funding, Series C at $3B valuation, investor list
- [Wikipedia: ActiveCampaign](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ActiveCampaign): founding, founder, HQ, product history, funding
- [LinkedIn: ActiveCampaign company page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/activecampaign/about/): industry, company size, HQ, specialties, employee count
- [ActiveCampaign pricing page](https://www.activecampaign.com/pricing/): plan tiers, contact-count scaling, feature breakdown