ActiveCampaign Alternatives: 5 Marketing & CRM Tools Worth Comparing
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Why teams go looking for an ActiveCampaign alternative
ActiveCampaign’s automation builder is genuinely good, which is why our own review of it rates it well for the teams it fits. The reasons teams start comparing alternatives usually come down to two specific structural details that only bite after signup: Pipelines — ActiveCampaign’s CRM and deal-tracking layer — is sold as a separate add-on on every single tier rather than bundled into the price, and the Starter and Plus plans are both capped at one user login, which becomes a real problem the moment a second person needs to build or edit a campaign.
A small services team that signed up for ActiveCampaign’s Plus plan to get automation and a sales pipeline in one place is a common version of this story. The automation side works exactly as advertised, but a few weeks in, someone realizes the “CRM” they thought was included is actually a separate line item they’d need to add, and the founder is still the only person who can log in and edit a sequence because the plan only issues one seat. None of that makes ActiveCampaign a bad product — it means it’s worth checking whether an alternative removes that specific friction rather than assuming a switch fixes anything by default.
Three things worth checking before you switch
1. Whether CRM is actually bundled, or still an add-on somewhere else. Some tools in this category fold marketing, CRM, and pipeline tracking into one base price. Others split them the same way ActiveCampaign does, just under different tier names. Checking the pricing page for the word “add-on” next to CRM or sales features, rather than assuming “all-in-one” branding means everything is included, avoids repeating the exact problem that sent you looking.
2. How many users the entry-level plan actually allows. A one-user cap is easy to miss when signing up solo and expensive to discover later, once a teammate needs their own login. Free and entry-paid tiers vary a lot on this — some allow a single seat, others allow a full small team — and it’s worth checking against how many people will actually need to log in, not just how many need access today.
3. Whether the automation depth you’re actually using would survive the move. ActiveCampaign’s automation builder is one of the deeper ones in this category. A team using a handful of straightforward sequences (welcome series, abandoned-signup follow-up) usually won’t notice a lighter automation builder elsewhere. A team running complex multi-branch, multi-trigger automations will feel that gap more on some of the alternatives below than others.
How the alternatives compare on price
| Tool | Entry paid price | CRM included in base price? | Free tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| ActiveCampaign | Starter: $15/mo billed annually (1,000 contacts) | No — Pipelines is a separate add-on on every tier | No — 14-day trial only |
| EngageBay | Basic: $13.79/user/mo billed annually ($14.99 monthly) | Yes, from the free plan up | Yes — up to 15 users, 250 contacts |
| HubSpot | $20/mo per seat (Starter Customer Platform) | Free CRM covers core contact/deal tracking | Yes — up to 2 users, 1,000 contacts |
| Zoho CRM | $14/user/mo (Standard, billed annually) | Yes | Yes — up to 3 users, forever free |
| Freshsales | $9/user/mo (Growth, billed annually) | Yes | Yes — up to 3 users, unlimited contacts |
| Keap | $299/mo flat (2 users included, +$39/mo per extra user) | Yes | No — free trial only |
ActiveCampaign is the only tool in this table that both caps its entry tiers at one user and sells CRM separately from the base price — the other five bundle CRM in from the start, and four of the five have a genuine free tier rather than a time-limited trial. That combination is exactly what sends teams looking, but the right pick still depends on which specific friction is the actual dealbreaker.
The one worth a closer look
EngageBay
What it’s for: teams leaving ActiveCampaign specifically because CRM shouldn’t be a separate line item, or because more than one person needs to log in without upgrading past the entry plan — EngageBay bundles CRM, email marketing, live chat, and helpdesk into every tier including free, with room for up to 15 team members before paying anything.
Pros
- CRM and pipeline tracking are included on every plan, including free — no separate add-on the way Pipelines works on ActiveCampaign
- The free plan supports up to 15 team members, directly solving the one-user limit on ActiveCampaign’s Starter and Plus tiers
- No credit card required to start on the free plan, so the switch can be tested with real contact data before any commitment
Cons
- The free plan’s 250-contact cap is tight, and a team with an active list will outgrow it faster than the generous 15-user allowance suggests
- Automation depth on the entry tiers is lighter than ActiveCampaign’s — the Growth tier is where more advanced automation and A/B testing appear, a real jump in price from Basic
- A team relying on ActiveCampaign’s more advanced multi-branch automation workflows may find EngageBay’s automation builder less capable at any tier
Also worth knowing about
HubSpot offers the most widely recognized free CRM in the category (2 users, 1,000 contacts, core contact and deal tracking), with a much larger ecosystem of integrations than any tool here — but marketing, sales, and service each live in their own paid “Hub” once a team outgrows the free tier, which can add up to more than one subscription.
Zoho CRM and Freshsales both bundle CRM into a genuinely low entry price ($14/user/mo and $9/user/mo respectively, billed annually) with permanent free tiers for up to 3 users — a fit for a team that wants CRM-first software rather than EngageBay’s marketing-plus-CRM-plus-helpdesk bundle.
Keap breaks from per-seat pricing entirely with a single $299/month plan that bundles CRM, invoicing, and marketing automation — priced well above everything else here, but a genuine fit for a business that wants one contract instead of choosing between tiers.
All six tools, including a deeper look at Zoho CRM and Freshsales, are compared from a CRM-first angle in our EngageBay review, which covers the same group with a different starting point.
Which one fits your situation
Leaving because CRM shouldn’t be a separate add-on: EngageBay, Zoho CRM, and Freshsales all include it in the base price; EngageBay’s free tier is the most generous starting point of the three.
Leaving because only one person can log in on the entry plan: EngageBay’s 15-user free tier solves this most directly among the options here.
Want CRM-first software without EngageBay’s marketing-plus-helpdesk bundle: Zoho CRM or Freshsales, both at a lower per-seat paid price than EngageBay’s Basic tier.
Want everything — CRM, invoicing, and automation — in one contract without comparing tiers: Keap, at a price point well above the rest of this list.
Automation depth matters more than bundled CRM: it may be worth staying on ActiveCampaign and simply adding Pipelines as the add-on, rather than switching tools entirely — none of the alternatives here fully match its automation builder.
Common questions
Is there an ActiveCampaign alternative that includes CRM in the base price? Yes — EngageBay, Zoho CRM, Freshsales, and Keap all build CRM and deal-pipeline tracking into their standard plans. ActiveCampaign is the outlier here: Pipelines, its CRM and deal-tracking layer, is sold as a separate add-on across every tier rather than included in the Starter, Plus, Pro, or Enterprise price.
Which alternative allows more than one user on its cheapest plan? ActiveCampaign’s Starter and Plus tiers are both limited to a single user login. EngageBay’s free plan supports up to 15 team members, HubSpot’s free CRM allows 2 users, and Zoho CRM and Freshsales both allow up to 3 users on their free tiers — all of them ahead of ActiveCampaign’s one-user cap on its two cheapest paid plans.
Is there a free-forever alternative to ActiveCampaign, not just a free trial? EngageBay, HubSpot, Zoho CRM, and Freshsales all have a genuine free tier with no time limit and no credit card required to start. ActiveCampaign and Keap both rely on time-limited free trials instead — 14 days for ActiveCampaign — so a permanent free tier is a real point of difference for a team that wants to test with live data before committing to a paid plan.
Which alternative is cheapest for a small team on a paid plan? Freshsales has the lowest paid entry price in this comparison at $9/user/month billed annually. EngageBay’s Basic plan runs $13.79/user/month annually but pairs with a free tier generous enough (15 users, 250 contacts) that many small teams can delay paying at all. Keap sits well above the rest of the group at $299/month for a single bundled plan.
Do these alternatives match ActiveCampaign’s automation depth? ActiveCampaign’s automation builder and segmentation are deep and were built as the product’s core feature, so a team relying on complex multi-branch automation may find the alternatives here lighter in that specific area. What they trade back is CRM and pipeline tracking bundled into the same price ActiveCampaign charges for email and automation alone — the right tradeoff depends on whether automation depth or bundled CRM is the bigger gap in the current setup.
Where to start
The fastest way to tell whether switching solves anything is naming the specific friction first — CRM sold separately, a one-user cap, or automation depth you’re not actually using — and checking that one thing against the alternative before comparing everything else about it.
EngageBay’s free plan needs just a work email and no credit card to start, which is enough to invite the rest of the team in and see whether bundled CRM and a wider seat count actually close the gap that sent you looking for an ActiveCampaign alternative in the first place.