Fazlur Rahman
Quick Answer
ActiveCampaign pricing in 2026: 4 plans, all priced by tier plus contact count. Starter $15 per month annual ($180/year) with 1 user and 1,000 contacts. Plus $49 per month annual ($588/year) with 1 user and unlimited automation. Pro $79 per month annual ($948/year) with 3 users, predictive sending, and 200 business goals. Enterprise $145 per month annual ($1,740/year) with 5 users, SSO, and HIPAA. WhatsApp add-on plans Core/Advanced/Premium. SMS from $21 per month; Transactional Email from $15 per month. As of November 2026, ActiveCampaign bills all contacts including unsubscribed (ActiveCampaign official; PCMag; CostBench, July 2026).
Last verified: Sep 16, 2026.
At a glance
- Starter: $15/mo annual ($180/yr, 1 user, 1K contacts)
- Plus: $49/mo annual ($588/yr, 1 user, unlimited automation)
- Pro: $79/mo annual ($948/yr, 3 users)
- Enterprise: $145/mo annual ($1,740/yr, 5 users)
- WhatsApp add-on: Core/Advanced/Premium plans
- SMS: From $21/mo (1K credits)
- Transactional Email: From $15/mo (10K emails)
The four ActiveCampaign tiers
ActiveCampaign is organized into four tiers, each stepping up through users, contacts, and advanced features. Starter at $15 per month annual ($180/year) includes 1 user, 1,000 contacts, 5 actions/automation, basic email marketing — suitable for solo founders and small lists. Plus at $49 per month annual ($588/year) includes 1 user, unlimited automation, landing pages, CRM pipelines, and predictive content. Pro at $79 per month annual ($948/year) includes 3 users, predictive sending, conditional content, attribution, 200 business goals, and advanced reporting (ActiveCampaign official pricing, July 2026).
Enterprise at $145 per month annual ($1,740/year) includes 5 users, SSO, HIPAA compliance, custom objects, 200 business goals, dedicated IP, and priority support. Each tier adds more users, contacts, and advanced features. The pricing rewards scale and feature breadth (ActiveCampaign official; PCMag, July 2026).
Side-by-side: ActiveCampaign tier comparison
| Tier | Annual | Users | Best for | Key features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $15/mo ($180/yr) | 1 | Solo founders | 5 actions/automation, basic email |
| Plus | $49/mo ($588/yr) | 1 | Small teams | Unlimited automation, landing pages, CRM |
| Pro | $79/mo ($948/yr) | 3 | Mid-market | Predictive sending, conditional content, attribution |
| Enterprise | $145/mo ($1,740/yr) | 5 | Large teams + regulated industries | SSO, HIPAA, custom objects, dedicated IP |
WhatsApp add-on plans
ActiveCampaign's WhatsApp add-on is sold in three plans: Core (3 users, 2 WhatsApp lines), Advanced (5 users, 5 lines), and Premium (8 users, 5 lines with SSO). Pricing is quote-based for each plan. WhatsApp messaging costs are billed separately at Meta's published rates (currently ~$0.005-$0.09 per message depending on country) (ActiveCampaign official pricing, 2026).
WhatsApp is a high-engagement channel for ecommerce and customer service in markets like Brazil, India, and Mexico. The Premium plan with SSO is positioned for enterprises with regulated compliance needs. ActiveCampaign's WhatsApp integration is one of the more mature in the email marketing platform category (CostBench, July 2026).
November 2026 pricing change
As of November 2026, ActiveCampaign charges for all contacts including unsubscribed and bounced contacts. Previously, the platform only charged for active contacts. This is a significant pricing change for customers with large databases where many contacts had unsubscribed (ActiveCampaign official pricing, July 2026).
Customers with 30% unsubscribed profiles effectively pay 30% more for the same engaged-contact base. ActiveCampaign recommends list-cleaning and re-engagement campaigns to keep suppression rates low. The change mirrors Klaviyo's February 2025 change to bill all profiles. This trend of billing suppressed contacts is becoming standard in the email marketing platform category (CostBench; ActiveCampaign official, July 2026).
CRM Pipelines and sales automation
ActiveCampaign CRM Pipelines is a Plus-tier-and-above feature that provides a Kanban-style deal management view with drag-and-drop stages, deal value tracking, win probability, and revenue forecasting. Pipelines integrate with the automation engine — when a deal moves to a new stage, automated actions trigger (e.g., notify sales rep, send follow-up email, create task). For sales-led teams, Pipelines is a meaningful capability beyond standard email marketing (ActiveCampaign official pricing, July 2026).
ActiveCampaign positions itself as the SMB and mid-market automation specialist with deeper workflow capabilities than Mailchimp or Klaviyo. For SMB and mid-market teams that need advanced automation and basic CRM, ActiveCampaign is often the right answer. For ecommerce brands, Klaviyo dominates; for B2B enterprise marketing automation, HubSpot and Marketo dominate (ActiveCampaign official; CostBench, July 2026).
How ActiveCampaign compares to Mailchimp
ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp in 2026: ActiveCampaign is the automation specialist with deeper workflow capabilities and CRM pipelines; Mailchimp is the generalist with broader features and a longer track record. ActiveCampaign Starter $15 per month vs Mailchimp Essentials $13 per month — comparable entry pricing. ActiveCampaign is positioned for SMB and mid-market teams that need advanced automation; Mailchimp is positioned for generalist email marketing with broader reach (ActiveCampaign official; Mailchimp official, July 2026).
For ecommerce, Klaviyo dominates. For B2B marketing automation, HubSpot and Marketo dominate. For SMB automation, ActiveCampaign leads. The decision often comes down to whether advanced automation (ActiveCampaign wins) or generalist reach (Mailchimp wins) is the priority. Both platforms now bill all contacts including unsubscribed, which is a meaningful industry trend (ActiveCampaign official; PCMag; CostBench, July 2026).
What enterprise buyers should do next
Three actions for organizations evaluating ActiveCampaign in 2026.
- Get a 14-day free trial. ActiveCampaign offers 14-day free trials on Professional tier with no credit card required. The trial unlocks full Pro features including automation, predictive sending, and conditional content.
- Audit your active contact count. Since November 2026, suppressed profiles count toward billing. Clean inactive profiles before renewing or upgrading to avoid paying for unreachable contacts.
- Test the CRM Pipelines feature. If sales automation is required, the Pipelines feature on Plus-tier-and-above is a meaningful capability beyond standard email marketing.
What to watch next
Three near-term datapoints. First, ActiveCampaign's AI feature roadmap — predictive sending and conditional content are key differentiators and ActiveCampaign is investing aggressively in AI features. Second, the email marketing platform consolidation — Mailchimp, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, and HubSpot are all investing in AI features and integration depth. Third, the WhatsApp Business platform evolution — Meta is evolving WhatsApp Business API pricing and ActiveCampaign's WhatsApp integration will need to adapt (ActiveCampaign official; PCMag; CostBench, July 2026).
