ActiveCampaign and HubSpot are both popular, top-of-the-line customer relationship management (CRM) platforms that also offer sales and marketing automation features. Which is better for your business’ email marketing?
The answer, inevitably, is: it depends (but, if you’re a small business, it’s probably Active Campaign). In this article, we‘ll compare the two platforms and give you information about each to help you make the right decision.
Can’t you just give me a quick answer?
Every business’ needs are different, which means there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. To share my bias, I first used HubSpot about 10 years ago. For the past several years, our agency has exclusively used ActiveCampaign. However, we recently had a new client who had committed to HubSpot before talking to us, and I agreed to help her. After experiencing HubSpot’s latest and greatest iteration, I’m still inclined to say that ActiveCampaign is generally the better option for small to mid-sized businesses predominantly looking for an email marketing solution.
So, if you wanted a quick answer, there it is. Now, let’s dig into some details to help you make the right choice for your needs and budget.
What do ActiveCampaign and HubSpot have in common?
- Simple, easy-to-use interface
- Strong automation capabilities
- Plenty of templates
- Wide range of sales and marketing capabilities
- Functional, intuitive email builder
What are the main differences between ActiveCampaign and HubSpot?
- HubSpot is built around a CRM and CMS; ActiveCampaign is built around email marketing.
- HubSpot offers a free CRM; ActiveCampaign does not (although it does offer a free trial).
- When it comes to paid plans, ActiveCampaign is generally less expensive than HubSpot.
- On certain plans, HubSpot can act as a content management system (CMS); with ActiveCampaign you’ll need to use integrations to achieve similar functionality.
- In fact, HubSpot is your one-stop platform for all things marketing; ActiveCampaign is one app in your marketing tech stack.
- ActiveCampaign’s email split testing and list segmentation are simpler to use.
Why HubSpot isn’t always the best choice for small businesses
Let me start by saying HubSpot is a powerful platform. It’s packed with features, has a clean interface, and can handle complex workflows. But as someone who’s been using it recently, I have some thoughts (read: frustrations) to share.
Here’s my list of gripes (related to email and otherwise):
Pricing confusion
HubSpot’s pricing is partially based on marketing contacts vs. non-marketing contacts. Sounds simple? It’s not. Keeping contacts in the right “status” is neither intuitive nor automatic, and changes only update monthly. Annoying, to say the least. Worse, the distinction between marketing and non-marketing contacts doesn’t match up with subscribed vs. unsubscribed, which adds even more confusion.
Pricing upgrades that feel like a trap
You think you’ve got what you need, only to realize you need to upgrade—again. It feels like a game of nickel-and-diming. If you build your website on HubSpot, switching to another platform becomes even more of a hassle, locking you into their ecosystem.
Automation overload
HubSpot offers too many ways to trigger automated emails. While flexibility is great, it can get overwhelming fast. Users end up losing track of what’s being sent, and finding the culprit email requires some detective work.
Ad management disconnect
Managing ads through HubSpot means they don’t show up in native ad managers, like Google Ads or Facebook. It’s a frustrating disconnect when you need a full picture of ad performance.
Significant upskilling
HubSpot is not small-business-owner-friendly. You basically need to be HubSpot certified to understand it. If you’re not willing to spend hours learning the platform, you might struggle.
Poor app integrations
For all its bells and whistles, HubSpot doesn’t integrate well with other apps, which is ironic for a tool that markets itself as an all-in-one solution.
You may also be interested in: Our 14 best apps for small business owners
The D-day test
What’s the point of sending carefully-crafted emails if they’re disappearing into cyberspace? You need them to land in your target reader’s inbox. EmailToolTester has been monitoring the deliverability of the top email marketing providers for a number of years.
Here are the latest scores:
| HubSpot | ActiveCampaign | |
| Overall Deliverability Rate | 77.7% | 94.2% |
That’s a big difference!
Not built for small businesses
HubSpot positions itself as an all-in-one platform, but it’s not. While it shines for larger organizations with big budgets, small businesses can find it overwhelming, expensive, and overly complex for their needs.
How do they differ in pricing?
Because ActiveCampaign and HubSpot don’t offer apples-to-apples packages, it’s impossible to definitively say that one is cheaper than the other. However, there are some key differences to bear in mind:
Freebies
HubSpot offers a very generous Free CRM plan, but ActiveCampaign only offers a 14-day free trial. HubSpot’s free plan allows you to send up to 2,000 promotional emails monthly to your contacts.
Pricing structure
ActiveCampaign’s plans and pricing are based on the features you require and the number of contacts you have. All plans come with unlimited emails. Packages start at $15/month for 1,000 contacts, and increase incrementally on a sliding scale as you add more.
HubSpot’s pricing structure is separated into Marketing, CRM & Sales, and Service; each of which has various tiers with prices ranging from less than a hundred dollars to thousands of dollars.
Cost to email 1,000 contacts
HubSpot’s Marketing Starter plan includes 1,000 contacts and 5,000 emails for $20/month. If you have 1,000 contacts on ActiveCampaign’s Starter Plan, it will cost you $15/month, with a 10x contact limit (max 10,000 emails).
Hidden costs
With HubSpot’s higher-tier packages (Professional and Enterprise), customers are required to pay onboarding fees that run into the thousands. ActiveCampaign has similar onboarding and support features, but they are already built into the package prices, so no additional onboarding costs apply.
When should I use HubSpot?
To be fair, HubSpot does have a massive feature set, from email automation to CRM tools and even a CMS. It’s great for businesses with complex sales pipelines, detailed marketing needs, or teams who can dedicate time and money to mastering the platform and making use of the entire HubSpot ecosystem. HubSpot also pulls in your social media management and, as mentioned above, paid ads. People like that they don’t need to jump between apps. But, for many small businesses, it’s just too much.
When should I use ActiveCampaign?
If you’re a small to mid-sized business looking for an email marketing and automation solution, we recommend looking no further than ActiveCampaign. We use it for all our clients because it’s affordable, easy to use, and has everything we need to maximize the impact of our email campaigns.
You’ll need a different app for social media management; we generally manage our clients’ paid ads within the native ad platform. To dig deeper on this topic, check out our 14 best apps for small business owners.
You may also be interested in: How to integrate ActiveCampaign with WordPress
Final thoughts comparing ActiveCampaign vs HubSpot
In summary, ActiveCampaign is an email specialist, whereas email is part of HubSpot’s suite of comprehensive sales and marketing products. Both platforms should give you everything you need if you’re planning to do a lot of email marketing with your CRM. However, if you need more than HubSpot’s Free CRM plan, the platform’s paid plans ramp up quickly. For small businesses looking to scale, ActiveCampaign’s plans are more affordable, and the email marketing features are just as good as (if not better than) HubSpot’s.
And if the whole idea of email design, automation, and managing contact lists and segmentation sounds like something you just don’t have the capacity for right now, let the team at Brighter Messaging help you get the right email messages in front of the right people. Get in touch to discuss your email marketing needs.
