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Marketing Automation

ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp

Which marketing automation tool is right for you? Compare features, pricing, and user reviews to make the best choice.

A

ActiveCampaign

4.611,000 reviews

Small to mid-sized businesses and ecommerce brands that want powerful, flexible marketing automation (email-first) with strong segmentation and workflow capabilities, and optionally a built-in CRM for sales follow-up.

Starting at From ~$15/month (Lite) for 1 user (billed monthly; pricing scales by contacts)
M

Mailchimp

4.0100 reviews

Small to mid-sized businesses, creators, and ecommerce brands that want an all-in-one email marketing and automation platform with strong templates, broad integrations, and contact-based scaling.

Starting at From $13/month (Essentials; pricing varies by contacts)

Side-by-Side Comparison

FeatureActiveCampaignMailchimp
PricingFrom ~$15/month (Lite) for 1 user (billed monthly; pricing scales by contacts)From $13/month (Essentials; pricing varies by contacts)
G2 Rating4.6 (11,000 reviews)4.0 (100 reviews)
Capterra Rating4.64.5
Best ForSmall to mid-sized businesses and ecommerce brands that want powerful, flexible marketing automation (email-first) with strong segmentation and workflow capabilities, and optionally a built-in CRM for sales follow-up.Small to mid-sized businesses, creators, and ecommerce brands that want an all-in-one email marketing and automation platform with strong templates, broad integrations, and contact-based scaling.

Pros & Cons

ActiveCampaign

Pros

  • + Very capable automation and segmentation for the price compared with many enterprise tools
  • + Large integration ecosystem and solid API/webhooks for connecting data and events
  • + Good balance of email marketing + automation + (optional) CRM in one platform
  • + Mature feature set for lifecycle marketing (nurture, onboarding, win-back, lead scoring on higher tiers)

Cons

  • Pricing scales with contact count and can rise quickly as lists grow or advanced tiers are needed
  • Learning curve for building and maintaining complex automations and data hygiene
  • Some advanced features (attribution, predictive, SSO, dedicated support) are gated behind higher tiers

Mailchimp

Pros

  • + Easy-to-use campaign builder and strong template library
  • + Broad integration ecosystem and widely supported by third-party tools
  • + Solid automation/journey capabilities for common lifecycle campaigns
  • + Good reporting and deliverability tooling for SMB use cases

Cons

  • Costs can rise quickly as contact lists grow due to contact-based pricing
  • Some advanced automation/segmentation features are gated to higher tiers
  • List/audience management and billing can be confusing when using multiple audiences or duplicates