ConvertKit vs. ActiveCampaign: The Email Automation Battle
59% of marketers report that email marketing is their biggest source of ROI, so it’s an integral part of any digital marketer’s journey.
Email marketing can bring amazing results, but choosing the right tool can be challenging.
Both ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign have an overall rating of 4.6/5 on Capterra, so it’s time to settle the draw.
That’s why we’vecarefully reviewed both ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign, so you can determine which tool takes the win.
Let’s get started!
1. What is ConvertKit?
ConvertKit’s logo
ConvertKit is an email marketing service provider (ESP) designed with content creators in mind.
It promises to provide the best value on the market and skyrocket deliverability rates.
The platform also helps users build landing pages and sell their offers.
With ConvertKit, you can gain email subscribers by creating landing pages or opt-in forms, using their templates, or customizing your own.
Let’s take a look at their features.
1.1. ConvertKit’s features
ConvertKit boasts an array of features, and they’re not just limited to email marketing.
The platform also promises to help users avoid ending up in the spam folder of their mailing list, with a 98% delivery rate, as well as a 30% open rate.
We’ll have to see how their features measure up to their promise.
Their features include:
Landing page builder — Free website hosting and build your landing page
Email automation — Automated email marketing and segmentation for users
Email designer and editor — Simple drag-and-drop editor
Commerce — Allows creators to sell digital products and services
Email sign-up forms — Users can collect email contact information on their website
Integrations — ConvertKit integrates with 90 other tools
Creator Pro and Advanced features — Get a link to a Sparkloop account, which allows users to reward their subscribers for growing their audience through referrals
Free migration — Migrate from another platform to ConvertKit for free with all their plans
ConvertKit offers the following support:
How-to guides
Technical tutorials
Video training
Live and on-demand workshops
1.2. ConvertKit’s pricing
ConvertKit’s pricing
ConvertKit offers an appealing set of features, but we have to ask the deciding question — how much will it cost?
Users have the option to choose between the Free plan (no credit card required), the Creator plan, and the Creator Pro plan.
All of their plans are priced for the standard amount of 1,000 subscribers, if you’ve got more contacts, you’d need to pay more.
The Free plan includes:
Manage up to 1,000 email subscribers
Email support
Ecommerce
Unlimited templates
The Creator plan is $29/month and offers:
Email support
Ecommerce
Templates
Free concierge migration from another platform
Automated sales funnels and sequences
The Creator Pro plan comes with a few more bells and whistles at $59/month,and users get access to:
Unlimited landing pages and forms
Send email broadcasts
Sell digital products and subscriptions
Email support
Free migration from another tool
Automated funnels and sequences
Facebook custom audiences
Newsletter referral system
Subscriber scoring
Advanced reporting
1.3. Pros and cons
Based on customer reviews, ConvertKit’s features come with some pros and cons:
Pros
Tag-based subscriber system
Access to email and live chat support
The simple automated workflows allow you to set rules to send emails
The interface is easy to use and navigate
The drag-and-drop sequence builder simplifies personalized automated emails
Email deliverability rate is above average
Cons
Expensive in comparison to competitors
Too simple and unappealing opt-in forms
Limited automations: They are basic compared to ActiveCampaign
Reporting doesn’t integrate with google analytics, and data is limited
Very limited A/B testing functionality
Few customization options for forms and email templates
1.4. Recommended if . . .
You don’t have much online marketing experience
You create, launch, and sell digital products
You don’t mind spending more as your subscriber list increases
You want a very simple email marketing solution and don’t mind limited customization
You use landing page builders and membership platforms that you can integrate with ConvertKit
1.5. Not recommended if . . .
You don’t create any form of online content (e.g. blogs, videos, podcasts, etc.)
You need very advanced email marketing automation and CRM features
If you sell physical products, you’d need to integrate with another ecommerce platform
You’re looking for a tool that provides a wide range of customizable options
You’re looking for a more affordable, all-in-one marketing solution
2. What is ActiveCampaign?
ActiveCampaign’s logo
ActiveCampaign offers software for customer experience automation, which combinesthe email marketing, marketing automation, sales automation, and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) categories.
Reviewers have praised ActiveCampaign for its powerful automation features, as well as additional tools such as CRM.
However,if you’re a beginner, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with the variety of options and settings.
2.1. ActiveCampaign’s features
In addition to email marketing, ActiveCampaign also offers some other useful features:
Marketing automation
Landing pages
Email segmentation
Free email templates
CRM and sales automation
Drag-and-drop email designer
Campaign and list reporting
Add live ecommerce data and even videos to your emails
Free phone, live chat, and email support
Over 850 built-in apps and integrations
Track where your contacts live or travel
2.2. ActiveCampaign’s pricing
ActiveCampaign pricing
All of ActiveCampaign’s packages have the option to be billed yearly for a 25% discount.
The platform also offers a 14-day free trial to test out their features.
Depending on how many subscribers you have, the price of the package increases — the pricing below is for 500 contacts.
The Lite plan will cost you $9/month, and itincludes the following features:
500 subscribers
Marketing automation
Unlimited email sending
Drag-and-drop editor
Subscription forms
Import leads
Segmentation
125+ email templates
The Plus plan comes at $49/month and offers everything in the Lite plan plus some useful extras:
1,000 subscribers
Custom branded forms and landing pages
SMS marketing
Facebook custom audiences
Conditional content
CRM with sales automation
Lead scoring
Mobile CRM app
ActiveCampaign’s most recommended plan is their Professional plan,which offers everything in the Plus plan and some advanced features:
Website personalization — Customize the look and design of your website
Predictive content — Data-driven content to target customersbased on their past interactions
Predictive sending — Makes sure your emails are being sent at the optimal time for each recipient
Marketing attribution — Insights that let you assign credit for a customer’s buying decisionto the correct sources
Conversion reporting — Measures the effectiveness of all touchpointsthat led up to a customer's conversion
Split automations — The split actionlets you make an offer until the offer sells out, and then send other contacts down a different automation path (useful for limited offers)
Site messaging — Site messagesreach your visitors when they're most engaged and target your website visitors with custom messages
Win probability —Predict which prospects are more likely to buyinto offers using win probability
ActiveCampaign also has an Enterprise plan for $229/month, and it provides users with everything the Professional plan offers, plus the following:
Custom reporting
Custom mail server domain
Custom domain
Unlimited email testing
Social data enrichment (updates each lead’s contact information)
Free design services (create a custom template or email design that incorporates your branding, logos, colors, and content that's unique to your specific needs)
Unlimited users
2.3. Pros and cons
As with every platform, ActiveCampaign has some great aspects and some inevitable downfalls:
Pros
Impressive deliverability rates
A good range of customized features for more advanced users
ActiveCampaign has excellent email segmentation
Thorough reporting of click-rates, geo-tracking, and page visits
The CRM is efficiently integrated with the automations, making organization easy
Free migration
Cons
There’s no free plan available, only a free trial
Overload of features might be too complicated
The cost of each plan increases significantly as your contact list increases
ActiveCampaign’s reporting has a learning curve
The opt-in forms are quite basic
The on-site chat feature is an add-on that isn’t included in the Lite plan
2.4. Recommended if . . .
You’re looking for a platform with more advanced and customized features
You need an email marketing tool that provides an in-depth and customized reporting feature
Filtering out traffic with email segmentation is important to you — ActiveCampaign does a great job with this
You don’t mind spending more as your contact list increases
You want powerful CRM automations
2.5. Not recommended if . . .
You don’t want to spend too much as your contact list scales
Advanced and customized features aren’t a necessity for your business — ActiveCampaign’s dashboard can be quite overwhelming
You want elaborate opt-in forms
You prefer starting with a free plan — ActiveCampaign only offers a free 14-day trial
You don’t have time to waste on trying to understand all the features and functionality — because there’s a steep learning curve
3. Which tool is the best?
Source: Tenor.com
Now that we’ve taken a good look at both platforms, it’s time to take our pick — it’s a close call, but we have a winner!
Both ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign’s pricing plans are based on contact list count rather than how many emails users send, and ActiveCampaign is slightly more expensive.
With this in mind, we’d have to go with ActiveCampaign over ConvertKit.
ActiveCampaign’s features take a clean sweep when it comes to email marketing automation, customization, and reporting.
If you’re just starting out with email marketing, ActiveCampaign’s features can be a little overwhelming at first.
However, it’s definitely worth taking the time to get accustomed to ActiveCampaign’s features.
Here’s how they stack up against ConvertKit:
ActiveCampaign’s many features make it easy to scale your online business — if you’re looking to scale, ConvertKit is simply too limited
With ActiveCampaign, there are over 125 well-designed email templates to choose from — ConvertKit only has 3
ActiveCampaign’s advanced automation rules and thorough reporting trump those of ConvertKit
Customizable opt-in forms with ActiveCampaign makes for a more personal experience
ActiveCampaign provides integration with over 250 apps whilst ConvertKit only integrates with 90
CRM is offered by ActiveCampaign — with ConvertKit you’d need more integration to successfully carry out your CRM
ConvertKit has a few creative limitations that just don’t warrant their high prices, so it’s worth paying a little more with ActiveCampaign to get the full house.
ActiveCampaign offers a pretty good deal as an email marketing service that will scale with your business.
But, if you’re searching for something that caters to all your marketing needs in one place, we’ve got a great alternative lined up!
4. Systeme.io as an all-in-one alternative
systeme.io’s logo
If you’re looking for a platform that streamlines your email marketing for a more affordable price than ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign, we’ve got you covered!
Systeme.io is an all-in-one platform for digital marketers that offers powerful email marketing and automation — with a whole lot more to offer!
4.1. Systeme.io’s features
All of systeme.io’s featurescater to beginners and more experienced entrepreneurs.
Our features include:
Email marketing — Set up email campaigns, and send unlimited emails
Sales funnels — Create funnels easily based on proven templates
Online courses — Build your course site, and manage your students
Website builder — Easily set up your website in under 10 minutes using our proven templates and drag-and-drop interface
Affiliate program — Create an affiliate program, and automate your affiliate payouts
Marketing automation — Save time and energy by automating your marketing
Evergreen webinars — Run pre-recorded, automated webinars to grow your audience and make more sales
4.2. Systeme.io’s pricing
systeme.io’s pricing
When it comes to pricing, it’s difficult to beat systeme.io’s incredible value for money!
Choose between our different price plans to cater to your specific needs:
Free plan at $0/month
Startup plan at $27/month
Webinar plan at $47/month
Unlimited plan at $97/month
All of our plans include the features listed above, as well as:
Email marketing is a breeze with systeme.io, and automated marketing has never been simpler.
5. Conclusion
Email marketing is the life force of any business, and having the right tool places you steps ahead of competitors.
After delving into what ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign have to offer, making the best decision to suit your business needs should be a whole lot easier.
Based on the features we’ve explored, ActiveCampaign seems to have the upper hand over ConvertKit.
But if you’re not entirely convinced, systeme.io’s all-in-one tool optimizes your email marketing and much more!
With systeme.io, you’ll be able tosend unlimited emails, automate your email sequences, and integrate your contact list into your sales funnel in minutes.
Sign up for our Freemium plan today, it’s free forever!
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© systeme.io. All rights reserved.