ActiveCampaign vs. Mailchimp: 2026 Comparison
Updated June 9, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Written by Alejandra Aranda
Content Analyst
Edited by Lindsay Page
Editor
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- Introduction
- Comparison Snapshot
- Pricing Comparison
- Reviewers Perspective
- Key Features Comparison
- Bottom Line
- Other Popular Comparisons
Recent verified reviews come from small businesses (89%) in the marketing, health, and computer software industries.
Pros:
- Comprehensive sales funnel creation
- Supports business growth
Cons:
- Frequent performance issues
- Basic landing page builder
Pros:
- Efficient client communication
- Comprehensive email marketing
Cons:
- Spam filtering issues
- Restrictive usage limits
20,069 verified reviews evaluated
241 features analyzed
365 integrations considered
Comparison Snapshot
Starting Price
$15.00
Starting Price
$13.00
Pricing Comparison
Starting Price
$15.00 / month
Starter
$15.00 / month
Plus
$49.00 / month
Pro
$79.00 / month
Enterprise
$145.00 / month
Starting Price
$13.00 / month
Free
$0.00 / month
Essentials
$13.00 / month
Standard
$20.00 / month
Premium
$350.00 / month
ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp both offer free trials and tiered pricing plans but differ in approach. Mailchimp provides a completely free plan that is ideal for beginners, while ActiveCampaign does not offer a free plan and focuses on advanced features with their starting plan.
ActiveCampaign starts at $15/month, emphasizing automation and CRM features even in lower tiers. Mailchimp begins at $13/month for the Essentials plan, expanding on...
its Free plan with A/B testing, catering to gradual scaling. Mailchimp's higher-tier plans start at $20/month, offering advanced features as businesses grow. ActiveCampaign's plans start at $49/month, providing automation, with the Enterprise plan at $145/month for large organizations. Users appreciate Mailchimp's free plan for small businesses but note costs can rise quickly. ActiveCampaign is praised for comprehensive features at competitive prices, though users mention rising costs with larger contact lists and price hikes without added features.
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Reviewers Perspective
Ease of Use
ActiveCampaign Reviewers Rating
"user interface is fantastic and simplifies accessing various tools and reports"
5.0
Mailchimp Reviewers Rating
"managing your campaigns and analysing reports is a breeze"
3.0
Both ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp's positive reviews mention the software's intuitive and user-friendly interface, which simplifies campaign creation. Users are also satisfied with both platforms' ease of navigation and integration capabilities.
In addition, ActiveCampaign users appreciate different platform elements:
- Customization options
- In-depth triggers for automations
- Helpful support and training resources
On the other hand, Ma...
ilchimp reviewers highlight, regarding its ease of use: - Campaign designer - Customizable templates - Detailed analytics and reporting tools - Continuous updates and improvements On the negative side, some users of both ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp find the interfaces not very intuitive, making it difficult to navigate through the platforms. ActiveCampaign users mention that the interface can be slow, laggy, which can hinder productivity. On the other hand, Mailchimp users report that they feel frustrated by frequent changes to the user interface, and they also say that the initial setup and learning curve can be challenging.Value for Money
ActiveCampaign Reviewers Rating
"All-in-one platform for email marketing, automation, and sales"
4.0
Mailchimp Reviewers Rating
"their pricing can become expensive as your business grows"
5.0
ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp have received mixed reviews from users regarding the affordability and features available in each pricing plan. In general, reviewers from both platforms value the flexibility of the pricing plans.
However, there are some differences that set the tools apart in terms of value.
ActiveCampaign's value for money
Some of the elements that reviewers appreciate the most are:
- Comprehensive suite of tools:...
Customer Support
ActiveCampaign Reviewers Rating
"Support told us it was working, yet there was no warning that we were at risk..."
2.0
Mailchimp Reviewers Rating
"good customer support team that are answerable to all questions in a short time"
5.0
ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp offer users multiple customer support channels. Both platforms have a live chat available, email support, phone support (exclusive to Premium users in the case of Mailchimp, and only for sales inquiries in case of ActiveCampaign), onboarding services, and self-service resources, such as articles, tutorials, and FAQs.
Positive reviews about customer support:
Both ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp positive user fee...
Expert Analysis of Features
Email campaign management
ActiveCampaign Feature Rating
4.53 / 5
Mailchimp Feature Rating
4.60 / 5
ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp have tools for users to manage multiple email marketing campaigns.
Here’s what ActiveCampaign users like about this feature:
Segment, track, and automate follow-ups
The visual editor and pre-built templates
Here’s what Mailchimp users like about this feature:
Customization, segmentation, and automation options
Analytics and reporting tools for campaigns
Integration with other platforms
Multiple mailing lists
Some users experience issues with email campaign management on both platforms:
ActiveCampaign users note that reporting and analytics could be more detailed, and there are occasional issues with deliverability and customer support responsiveness.
Mailchimp users wish for more AI-driven features to further streamline campaign creation.
Email campaign management for ActiveCampaign: Of the 125 reviewers who gave detailed accounts of their use of email campaign management, 98% rated this feature as important or highly important.
Email campaign management for Mailchimp: Of the 513 reviewers who gave detailed accounts of their use of email campaign management, 98% rated this feature as important or highly important.
Email marketing
ActiveCampaign Feature Rating
4.70 / 5
Mailchimp Feature Rating
4.66 / 5
ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp offer robust email marketing capabilities to help users with customer communications and campaigns.
Here’s what ActiveCampaign users like about this feature:
Drag-and-drop email builder
Pre-made templates and sequences
Here’s what Mailchimp users like about this feature:
Automated sequences
Integration with other platforms
Drag-and-drop builder
Pre-defined templates
Platform's analytics
Some users experience issues with email marketing on both platforms:
ActiveCampaign users mention the limited design templates and occasional issues with campaign delivery timing.
Mailchimp users find the customization options limited and wish for more flexibility in template design.
Email marketing for ActiveCampaign: Of the 51 reviewers who gave detailed accounts of their use of email marketing, 98% rated this feature as important or highly important.
Email marketing for Mailchimp: Of the 197 reviewers who gave detailed accounts of their use of email marketing, 98% rated this feature as important or highly important.
Contact database
ActiveCampaign Feature Rating
4.36 / 5
Mailchimp Feature Rating
4.37 / 5
ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp offer tools to organize their contact data, which allows segmentation and targeting.
Here’s what ActiveCampaign users like about this feature:
Import, organization, and update contact information functions
Essential for maintaining customer relationships
Here’s what Mailchimp users like about this feature:
Easy segmentation and targeting
Import and export functions
Custom fields creation
List management
Data integrity and compliance
Some users experience issues with contact database on both platforms:
ActiveCampaign users find the automation workflows complex and the CRM functionality somewhat limited.
Mailchimp users prefer to maintain their own databases due to concerns about account access and data security.
Contact database for ActiveCampaign: Of the 62 reviewers who gave detailed accounts of their use of contact database, 97% rated this feature as important or highly important.
Contact database for Mailchimp: Of the 239 reviewers who gave detailed accounts of their use of contact database, 94% rated this feature as important or highly important.
Bottom Line:
ActiveCampaign excels in automation, CRM, and email marketing capabilities. Users like its powerful workflows, segmentation, and campaign tools. Downsides include a clunky interface, limited reporting, and rising costs. It's ideal for growing teams needing advanced automation, but may overwhelm beginners.
Mailchimp offers an intuitive interface and strong email marketing, automation, and analytics. Users love its ease of use and free plan, but criticize limited customization, support, and scalability. It’s powerful for beginners, though growing businesses may face pricing and feature constraints.
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Sources
Our independent and objective research is based on market demand signals along with analysis of our proprietary data, including product information, verified user reviews, and advisor conversations with buyers. We did not consider client status when selecting products in this list.
Product descriptions: In our descriptions of each featured product, we included the following details:
Most valued features: Our research team analyzed verified email marketing software reviews on Software Advice to identify each product’s highest-rated features (among features with at least 5 reviews). We then summarized user sentiment using real reviews for each feature.
Review excerpts: Review excerpts are passages extracted from longer reviews written by verified reviewers. We obtain these excerpts by applying an algorithm that considers factors including, but not limited to, length, sentiment, topic coverage, and thematic relevance. Excerpts represent user opinion and do not represent the views of, nor constitute, an endorsement by Software Advice or its affiliates. Excerpts are trimmed for brevity.