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Marketing Automation

MailerLite vs ActiveCampaign

Compare with for 10 people.

MailerLite
85%
match · $130/yr
ActiveCampaign
66%
match · $180/yr

MailerLite is the better fit.

It has a free plan you can start on today.

How we work out the match
What matters most?
Fine-tune

What you'd pay

Entry plan for 10 people, billed yearly where offered. Prices checked Oct 2026.

MailerLite
Comfort
Smaller bill
Flat price, whole team$10.80
× 12 months$129.60
Per year
$1.08 per person / mo
$130

Starting price; rises with usage

ActiveCampaign
Starter
Flat price, whole team$15.00
× 12 months$180.00
Per year
$1.50 per person / mo
$180

Under 1,000 contacts; rises with contacts

Choose a tool

MailerLite

From $10.80Free plan
G2 4.6 · 1,109 reviews

Small businesses that want a low monthly bill, a real automation builder on the entry paid plan, and landing pages or a simple website in the same account.

ActiveCampaign

From $15
G2 4.4 · 14,813 reviews

Small businesses with a sales process or long customer journeys that need branching, behavior-based automation and are willing to pay for it.

Side by side

MailerLiteActiveCampaign
PricingFree (250 subscribers); paid from $10.80/month (Comfort, 500 subscribers, annual)No free plan; from $15/month (Starter, 1,000 contacts, annual) or $19/month (monthly)
G2 Rating4.6 (1,109 reviews)4.4 (14,813 reviews)
Best ForSmall businesses that want a low monthly bill, a real automation builder on the entry paid plan, and landing pages or a simple website in the same account.Small businesses with a sales process or long customer journeys that need branching, behavior-based automation and are willing to pay for it.

Pros and cons

MailerLite

Pros

  • Comfort is the cheapest plan here with real automation at 500 and 2,500 subscribers ($12 and $33 per month, billed monthly)
  • Comfort allows 50 automations with up to 100 steps each
  • Email A/B testing is included even on the Free plan
  • 14-day trial of premium features with no credit card

Cons

  • The Free plan was cut to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails per month on June 16, 2026
  • No SMS or transactional email inside MailerLite plans; those run through MailerSend, a separate product
  • Comfort caps monthly sends at 10x your tier, so heavy senders need Power
  • Existing customers moved to the new prices at their next renewal

ActiveCampaign

Pros

  • Deepest automation in this list once you are on Plus or higher
  • Segmentation and contact scoring grow with each tier
  • Transactional email add-on available on every plan
  • Wide integration list, from Zapier and Calendly to ad platforms

Cons

  • No free plan, and the smallest priced tier is 1,000 contacts
  • Starter caps each automation at 5 actions and the account at 25,000 contacts
  • Most expensive tool here at 10,000 contacts ($189/month on Starter, monthly)
  • SMS needs Plus or higher, and CRM pipelines cost extra

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