CourseEmailStack

ActiveCampaign

Deepest automation, once the list pays for itself

The most capable automation builder on this list. There is no free tier at all, only a 14-day trial.

4.4G214,791 reviews2.7Trustpilot1,433 reviews

Is ActiveCampaign right for you?

Where you sellConnects directly to all four of the course platforms our readers sell through: Teachable, Kajabi, Podia, Thinkific. Weighing it against the others that connect? Best email marketing for Teachable sorts every platform here into direct, Zapier only, and no connection found.

Use ActiveCampaign if

  • Your course already earns enough that a monthly bill from day one is not the problem.
  • You sell physical things as well, through a shop like Shopify.
  • You have outgrown "send everyone the same five emails" and want different people to get different things.

Don't use ActiveCampaign if

  • You want new subscribers to get a welcome email automatically, and you are not ready to pay. MailerLite does that for free.
  • You have no budget yet. There is no free plan here at all, only a trial. MailerLite is free to 250.
  • You want to be certain you can take your list and leave. Their terms cut off access to your contacts when you cancel.

See ActiveCampaign pricingHow we test. Figures checked 9 September 2026.

The details that decide it

The things that bite six months in, read off ActiveCampaign's own pages. Where we could not read a page reliably, the row is left out rather than guessed at.

Do the emails actually arrive?deliverability
Cites EmailToolTester, an outside tester, ranking it first of 16 platforms at 94.2% inbox placement. That is a third-party benchmark rather than a self-reported number, which is rarer than it sounds. Source
What else it costs
No setup fees, but your monthly sends are capped at 10 times your contact count on Starter and Plus, 12 times on Pro. The cheapest plan also ships "Limited segmentation" rather than the standard kind. Source
Getting your list back outHard to leave
Read this before you sign up. Their terms say that on cancellation "you will not have access to or be able to restore any Contact Data". Export your list before you cancel, not after. Source

What other people scored ActiveCampaign

Not our scores. These are the public ratings on two review sites that have no connection to us, read on 6 September 2026. Each one links to the page it came from, so you can check it and read the reviews there.

  • Reviewers disagree about this one. It scores 4.4 on G2 and 2.7 on Trustpilot. Read a page of each before you decide, because one of those audiences is having a different experience to the other.

We do not average these into one number. A blend would be our figure wearing someone else's authority, and it would hide it when two sets of customers disagree. Scores move, so treat the date above as the age of the reading, not a promise about today.

ActiveCampaign, answered

Does ActiveCampaign have a free plan?
Not one we could confirm. Their pricing page showed 14-day trial only when we checked on 9 September 2026. The cheapest paid plan is Starter at A$23/mo.
Can ActiveCampaign send an automated welcome sequence on the free plan?
No. No free plan exists. If an automated welcome sequence is the thing you need on day one, MailerLite allows it free.
What does ActiveCampaign cost once the free plan runs out?
The entry paid plan is Starter at A$23/mo, billed annually; priced to us in AUD. Prices on every platform here move with list size, so treat that as the floor rather than the bill.
What is the catch with ActiveCampaign?
Starter caps you at 5 actions per automation, which a real welcome sequence will hit.

ActiveCampaign against one other

Already down to two? These go straight to the head-to-head.

Moving to or from ActiveCampaign

A page for each move we have the research to answer: what does not come with you, and what to do first.

Compare it against the rest

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