Grow Your Business with Customer Experience Automation
ActiveCampaign is a customer experience automation platform combining email marketing, marketing automation, and CRM. Known for its powerful automation capabilities, it helps businesses automate personalized customer journeys across email, SMS, and other channels.
Patterns extracted from real user feedback — not raw reviews.
Users report being charged $1,500-$2,600 even after receiving written cancellation confirmation from support. One user was charged days after being told their account was 'fully closed.' Getting refunds requires extensive effort and bank disputes.
As of November 2025, ActiveCampaign charges for entire contact list - including unsubscribed, bounced, and unconfirmed contacts. This is considered unfair as most ESPs only charge for active, emailable contacts.
When you upgrade plans, you're essentially locked in. Attempting to downgrade means paying MORE than your current rate or losing access entirely. Users feel trapped into giving increasingly more money as their needs change.
Key features are unbundled and cost extra. Conversations (live chat) requires additional payment. As tiers go up, costs become prohibitive for smaller businesses. Advanced features locked behind expensive plans.
Users report support was fast when they first joined but now takes days for responses. It's 'next to impossible to get through to a person.' Companies are charged $79 extra just to have a phone call with support.
Users complain about formatting glitches with odd font shifts, color changes, and spacing issues. The editor doesn't allow mobile emails to be formatted separately. Campaigns look different than designed.
Users express frustration with automations not working as configured. Template issues, formatting problems, and unexpected behavior create unreliable marketing campaigns. Debugging automations is difficult.
While powerful, the platform has a steep learning curve. Segmentation gets confusing fast. Contact list management is not simple. Creating and editing campaigns is harder than it should be.
Users report AI features don't work as advertised. Functionality is buggy and unreliable. Promised AI assistance fails to deliver expected value.
Help documentation and tutorial videos are outdated compared to current interface. This makes onboarding harder than necessary. Users waste time figuring out changes on their own.
Users report slowdowns when working with large contact lists or complex automations. Performance degrades as data grows. Some features become nearly unusable with big datasets.
Integration with third-party tools requires additional effort and technical knowledge. Setup can be complicated. UTM tracking through forms isn't easy to implement properly.
Industry-leading marketing automation capabilities
ActiveCampaign's automation is considered best-in-class. Visual workflow builder makes complex customer journeys manageable. Triggers, conditions, and actions cover nearly any scenario.
Built-in CRM included with email marketing
Unlike most email platforms, ActiveCampaign includes a full CRM. Track deals, manage sales pipelines, and connect marketing to sales in one platform. Good for businesses wanting unified view.
Advanced segmentation and personalization
Segmentation options are extensive. Create dynamic lists based on behavior, tags, custom fields, and more. Personalization goes deep with conditional content and dynamic blocks.
Strong email deliverability
ActiveCampaign invests in deliverability infrastructure. Generally good inbox placement rates. Provides tools and guidance to maintain sender reputation.
Extensive integration marketplace
Connects with 900+ apps including Shopify, WordPress, Salesforce, and more. Native integrations plus Zapier support cover most business tools.
Flexible site tracking and attribution
Track website behavior and attribute conversions to specific campaigns. See which touchpoints drive results. Helpful for optimizing marketing spend.
Users: 1 user
Storage: Not specified
Limitations: 1 user, basic features only, no landing pages, no CRM, limited automation
Users: 3 users
Storage: Not specified
Limitations: Limited CRM, basic reporting, some automation triggers locked
Users: 5 users
Storage: Not specified
Limitations: Phone support costs $79 extra. Some enterprise features locked.
Users: 10+ users
Storage: Not specified
Limitations: Expensive for what you get. Custom pricing means less transparency.
Businesses with complex automation needs
Automation capabilities are industry-leading. If you need sophisticated customer journeys, ActiveCampaign delivers. Worth the complexity for advanced use cases.
Marketing teams
Powerful automation but complex to master. Good for experienced marketers who can utilize advanced features. Budget must accommodate scaling costs.
Sales teams needing CRM + email
Built-in CRM is useful for sales-marketing alignment. However, dedicated CRMs like HubSpot or Pipedrive offer more sales features. Good middle-ground option.
E-commerce stores
Has e-commerce features but not as specialized as Klaviyo or Omnisend. Better for businesses needing CRM + marketing than pure e-commerce email.
Businesses needing to cancel or downgrade
ActiveCampaign has severe billing issues. Users report being charged after cancellation, difficulty getting refunds, and inability to downgrade plans. Consider this lock-in before signing up.
Small businesses with tight budgets
Pricing escalates quickly with contact growth. New billing charges for ALL contacts including unsubscribed. Smaller businesses find costs prohibitive as they scale.
Teams needing reliable phone support
Getting live help is 'next to impossible.' Phone support costs $79 extra. Email support that used to be fast now takes days. Choose HubSpot if support is critical.
Marketing beginners
Steep learning curve and confusing segmentation. Not beginner-friendly. Outdated documentation makes onboarding harder. Consider Mailchimp or MailerLite for simpler experiences.
Common buyer's remorse scenarios reported by users.
Received written confirmation that account was 'fully closed.' Three days later, charged over $1,500. ActiveCampaign refused initial refund requests. Had to dispute with bank.
Upgraded to Plus for a campaign, then tried to go back to Starter. Told it would cost MORE to downgrade than current tier. Felt trapped into paying higher rates indefinitely.
After November 2025 policy change, suddenly paying for contacts who unsubscribed years ago. List cleaning became urgent to avoid inflated bills. Feels like retroactive price increase.
Support was responsive when first signed up. Over years, response times went from hours to days. Couldn't get live help when critical issue arose. Wished had chosen platform with better support.
Built complex automation that looked right but didn't work as expected. Debugging tools were inadequate. Spent hours on something that should have been straightforward. Support was slow to help.
Sent campaign that looked perfect in preview but had formatting glitches in recipient inboxes. Font shifts and color changes made brand look unprofessional. Editor bugs weren't caught before send.
Scenarios where this product tends to fail users.
Cancellation confirmation means nothing. Users report charges continuing after written confirmation. Refunds require bank disputes. Expect a fight to actually stop payments.
Costs jump significantly. Starter tier becomes $90-110/month, Plus $160-200/month, Pro $320-400/month. With new billing for ALL contacts, actual bills often higher than expected.
Phone support costs $79 extra. Getting through to a person is 'next to impossible.' Email support takes days. Critical issues during campaigns can't be resolved quickly.
Temporary upgrades become permanent traps. Downgrading costs MORE than staying at higher tier. Once upgraded, you're essentially locked in forever.
Automations may not work as configured. Debugging tools are limited. Support is slow. What should be straightforward fixes can take hours or days.
Steep learning curve for newcomers. Segmentation is confusing. Documentation is outdated vs current interface. Onboarding is harder than alternatives.
HubSpot
Businesses switch for better support and unified platform. Gain: excellent support, free CRM, all-in-one marketing. Trade-off: more expensive at scale, can be complex.
Mailchimp
Users switch for simpler experience and brand recognition. Gain: easier interface, huge template library, familiar. Trade-off: less powerful automation.
MailerLite
Budget-conscious businesses switch for significant savings. Gain: much lower cost, good automation, modern interface. Trade-off: fewer advanced features.
Brevo
Users switch for pay-per-email pricing. Gain: charges per email not contacts, multi-channel support. Trade-off: less advanced automation.
GetResponse
Businesses switch for better value with similar features. Gain: scalable pricing, good automation, funnel builder. Trade-off: slightly less sophisticated automation.
ConvertKit
Creators switch for simpler creator-focused platform. Gain: designed for creators, easier to use. Trade-off: less CRM functionality.
