Mailchimp vs ActiveCampaign: Features, Pricing and Reviews Compared
- Starting price
- $13/mo · free plan
- Ease of use
- 8.6
- Functionality
- 8.8
- Value for money
- 6.8
- Customer support
- 7.3
Best for
- Small businesses and nonprofits sending newsletters and promotions to a modest list
- Shopify, WooCommerce and Squarespace stores that want abandoned-cart and product-recommendation emails
- Teams without a designer who need templates and a drag-and-drop editor that just work
- Starting price
- Quote
- Ease of use
- 7.3
- Functionality
- 7.8
- Value for money
- 5.9
- Customer support
- 7.6
Best for
- Small and mid-sized businesses running email and SMS automation
- Ecommerce teams connecting Shopify or WooCommerce to lifecycle messaging
- Marketers who want to combine campaigns with a lightweight CRM
Our verdict
Mailchimp comes out ahead at 80/100 versus ActiveCampaign at 72. Easy editor and a huge template library. Mailchimp is the better fit for small businesses that want a familiar, template-driven email tool. ActiveCampaign makes more sense if you need a 14-day free trial is available with no credit card required, so teams can test the full workflow first.
On Mailchimp: Mailchimp is still the easiest way for a small business to send a good-looking newsletter and run basic automations, and the template, form and landing-page tools are polished. It is no longer the cheap option: contact-based pricing climbs quickly, the free plan is small, and the automation depth on Essentials is thin. Choose it for ease and ecommerce integrations; choose Brevo or MailerLite if price per contact is the priority.
Features comparison
The 8 email marketing capabilities we check on every product, ordered by importance to buyers.
| Feature | Importance | Mailchimp | ActiveCampaign |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drag-drop editor | 90% | Included | Included |
| Automations | 84% | Included | Included |
| Segmentation | 78% | Included | Included |
| Signup forms | 69% | Included | Included |
| A/B testing | 61% | Included | Included |
| Landing pages | 47% | Included | Included |
| SMS | 39% | Included | Included |
| API access | 31% | Included | Included |
What stands out in each
Email builder and templates
A drag-and-drop editor with a large template library, brand kit, and generative AI for copy and layouts. Emails render reliably across clients, and the creative assistant produces usable designs for people without a designer.
Automations and Customer Journeys
Essentials covers single-trigger automations (welcome, abandoned cart, re-engagement). Standard unlocks the Customer Journey Builder with branching logic, delays and conditions, which is where Mailchimp becomes a real marketing automation tool.
Audience management and segmentation
Tags, groups and behavioural segments; Standard adds predictive segmentation (likely-to-buy, customer lifetime value) using ecommerce data. One audience per account is the recommended model, which simplifies pricing.
Ecommerce integrations
Native connections to Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and others pull order data into the audience for product recommendations, purchase-based segments and revenue reporting per campaign.
ActiveCampaignVisual automation builder
Users build multi-step journeys on a canvas with triggers, waits, and conditional branches. A library of more than 950 recipes gives teams a starting point. Automations with dead ends are flagged so they can be fixed before contacts get stuck.
Site and behavior tracking
Site tracking records visits and pages, and link tracking records clicks. These signals feed segments such as contacts who viewed pricing repeatedly. Behavior-based triggers let messages respond to what customers actually do.
Cross-channel messaging
Email, SMS, and WhatsApp can run in one journey, with a shared team inbox for two-way WhatsApp and SMS conversations. Cross-channel marketing is available from the Plus tier. SMS includes opt-in management and consent tools.
AI campaign and automation drafting
Users describe a goal, and the AI drafts an email campaign, automation, or dashboard for review. The AI also suggests segments and follow-ups. Changes go live only after the user approves them.
Pricing comparison
Mailchimp starts at $13/mo with a free plan; ActiveCampaign starts at Quote (Free trial). Plans are shown as the vendors publish them; the BSR Value subscore reflects what you get for the money.
Free
Up to 500 contacts and 1,000 sends a month with Mailchimp branding.
- 500 contacts
- 1,000 emails/month
- Basic templates
- Forms and landing pages
Essentials
Removes branding, adds scheduling, A/B testing and 24/7 email support.
- Remove Mailchimp branding
- A/B testing
- Scheduled sends
- Basic automations
Standard
Customer journeys, send-time optimisation, dynamic content and predictive segmentation.
- Customer Journey Builder
- Send-time optimisation
- Dynamic content
- Predictive segmentation
Premium
Advanced segmentation, multivariate testing, phone support and unlimited seats.
- Unlimited seats and roles
- Multivariate testing
- Advanced segmentation
- Phone and priority support
Prices scale with contact count, and unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts have historically counted toward the total. Monthly send limits apply per plan (for example 10x contacts on Essentials). Overages are billed automatically. Transactional email (Mailchimp Transactional) is a separate paid product.
Value for money: 6.8/10 · Monthly, Pay as you go credits, Cancel anytime · Vendor pricing page ↗
ActiveCampaignStarter
For getting your first automations live.
- Multi-step marketing automation
- AI-powered automation and campaign builders
- Email campaigns with 250+ pre-built templates
- 15 active business goals
Plus
For growing teams that want more personal messages.
- Cross-channel marketing
- Generative AI for content and images
- Landing pages and site messages
- 25 active business goals
Pro
For marketers who want AI to optimize every send.
- Predictive sending at each contact's best time
- Conditional content for individual contacts
- Advanced segmentation
- Attribution and conversion tracking
Enterprise
For larger teams with complex data and support needs.
- Single sign-on (SSO) and HIPAA support
- Premium segmentation and custom objects
- Premium CRM integrations like Salesforce
- Dedicated account team and uptime SLA
Pricing starts at $15 for accounts under 1,000 contacts, and annual plans bill once a year at a discounted rate. Pipelines and Sales Engagement are sold as CRM add-ons, with monthly pricing that scales with contact list size. Contact limits are not raised automatically, and mid-cycle upgrades are prorated.
Value for money: 5.9/10
Integrations comparison
9 integrations in common · 7 only in Mailchimp · 71 only in ActiveCampaign. Logos link to our review when we cover the tool.
Both connect to
Shopify
SquarespaceOnly ActiveCampaign71Which one is best for my use case?
Who each product is built for, who should look elsewhere, and the jobs it gets bought for, from our editorial review and the vendor's own customer profile.
Ideal for
- Small businesses and nonprofits sending newsletters and promotions to a modest list
- Shopify, WooCommerce and Squarespace stores that want abandoned-cart and product-recommendation emails
- Teams without a designer who need templates and a drag-and-drop editor that just work
Not for
- Lists over ~20,000 contacts, where per-contact pricing gets expensive
- Businesses that need SMS, WhatsApp and transactional email on one bill (Brevo does this)
- Marketers who need multi-branch automation on the lower tiers
Common use cases
Sells to: Freelancers, Small businesses, Nonprofits, Mid-size companies. Common industries: Ecommerce, Retail, Nonprofits, Creative and media, Hospitality, Education.
ActiveCampaignIdeal for
- Small and mid-sized businesses running email and SMS automation
- Ecommerce teams connecting Shopify or WooCommerce to lifecycle messaging
- Marketers who want to combine campaigns with a lightweight CRM
Not for
- Teams that need a free plan for ongoing use
- Organizations that need a self-hosted installation
- Sales-led teams that need only a standalone CRM
Common use cases
Sells to: Freelancers, Small businesses, Mid size businesses, Enterprises.
Support, training and setup
How you get help, how you learn the product, and how fast you can be running.
- Support score
- 7.3/10
- Ease of use
- 8.6/10Leads
- Support channels
- Email and chat (paid plans)
- Phone (Premium)
- Help center
- Onboarding specialist (Standard+)
- Training
- Documentation
- Video tutorials
- Webinars
- Mailchimp Academy
- Deployment
- Cloud / SaaS
- iOS app
- Android app
- Typical setup
- Same day
- Languages
- English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian
ActiveCampaign- Support score
- 7.6/10Leads
- Ease of use
- 7.3/10
- Support channels
- Email/Help Desk
- FAQs/Forum
- Knowledge Base
- Phone Support
- Chat
- Training
- In Person
- Live Online
- Webinars
- Documentation
- Videos
- Deployment
- Web
- Typical setup
- Not published
- Languages
- English, Português, Français, Italiano, Deutsch, Español
Security and reliability
Certifications and controls as published by each vendor. We list them; we don't audit them.
- Security
- GDPR
- Two-factor authentication
- SOC 2 (via Intuit)
- Data encrypted in transit and at rest
- Public API
- Yes
- Mobile apps
- iOS · Android
- Company
- Atlanta, GA · 1,000+ employees · founded 2001
ActiveCampaign- Security
- Single sign-on (SSO) on Enterprise
- HIPAA support on Enterprise
- Custom user permissions and access controls
- CAN-SPAM Compliance
- Opt-in management and consent tools for SMS
- Public API
- Yes
- Mobile apps
- None published
- Company
- 1,000+ employees · founded 2003
Pros and cons
Our editors' pros and cons for each product. No user reviews have been published for these products yet.
Pros
- Easy editor and a huge template library
- Integrates with almost every e-commerce and CRM platform
- Free plan to get started
Cons
- Costs rise steeply as the contact list grows
- Free plan has become very limited
- Phone support only on the top tier
ActiveCampaignPros
- A 14-day free trial is available with no credit card required, so teams can test the full workflow first.
- Automation recipes and AI drafting cut down on the time needed to launch the first campaign.
- Email, SMS, WhatsApp, CRM, and attribution reporting share one account and one contact record.
- The API, webhooks, Zapier, and more than 1,000 integrations connect it to an existing stack.
- Every plan includes AI credits, and the AI can be used to draft campaigns and reports from plain-language prompts.
Cons
- Cost rises as the contact list grows, since pricing scales with contact count.
- Predictive sending and conditional content require the Pro tier, and cross-channel marketing starts at Plus.
- Single sign-on and HIPAA support are limited to the Enterprise tier.
- Full pipeline management and sales engagement features require paid CRM add-ons.
Full side-by-side table
Mailchimp leads in 6 of 7 rows where they differ. Green marks the leader in each row.
ActiveCampaign 72Leads 1 of 7 rows · Best for small and mid-sized businesses that want AI-drafted email, SMS, and WhatsApp automation with a CRM| Feature | Mailchimp Best for small businesses that want a familiar, template-driven email tool | ActiveCampaign Best for small and mid-sized businesses that want AI-drafted email, SMS, and WhatsApp automation with a CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| BSR score | 80 | 72 |
| Ease | 8.6 | 7.3 |
| Features | 8.8 | 7.8 |
| Value | 6.8 | 5.9 |
| Support | 7.3 | 7.6 |
| Pricing | ||
| Starting price | $13/mo | Quote |
| Free plan | Included | Not included |
| Free trial | — | Free trial |
| Features | ||
| Features included | 8 / 8 | 8 / 8 |
| Drag-drop editor | Included | Included |
| Automations | Included | Included |
| A/B testing | Included | Included |
| Landing pages | Included | Included |
| SMS | Included | Included |
| Segmentation | Included | Included |
| Signup forms | Included | Included |
| API access | Included | Included |
| Details | ||
| Biggest strength | Easy editor and a huge template library | A 14-day free trial is available with no credit card required, so teams can test the full workflow first. |
| Biggest weakness | Costs rise steeply as the contact list grows | Cost rises as the contact list grows, since pricing scales with contact count. |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android | Web |
| Best fit | 1–50 users | Freelancers, Small businesses, Mid size businesses, Enterprises |
Not a match?
Other email marketing software we list, ranked by BSR score.
Mailchimp vs ActiveCampaign: FAQs
Is Mailchimp better than ActiveCampaign?
Mailchimp scores 80/100 against ActiveCampaign's 72, a 8-point lead. Easy editor and a huge template library. ActiveCampaign is the better pick if a 14-day free trial is available with no credit card required, so teams can test the full workflow first matters more to you.
Which is cheaper, Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign?
Mailchimp has the lowest starting price at $13/mo and offers a free plan. ActiveCampaign starts at Quote. Per-user pricing, annual discounts and add-ons change the real total, so price out your actual seat count.
Which has more features?
Mailchimp covers 8 of the 8 email marketing features we track.
Do Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign integrate with the same tools?
Both connect to Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Squarespace, QuickBooks Online and 4 more. Only Mailchimp lists Wix, Stripe, Salesforce; Only ActiveCampaign lists WishList Member, Gravity Forms, Airtable.
How this comparison was made
Each product was scored on the same four subscores (Ease, Features, Value, Support) from the vendor's published pricing and documentation, our editorial review, then combined into a 100-point BSR score. Hands-on tested: Mailchimp. Feature checks use one list per category; plans, integrations, support and security come from what each vendor publishes and are refreshed when listings change. Green marks the leader in a row. Sponsored placements are labeled elsewhere on the site and never touch a comparison. Full methodology →