At a glance
ActiveCampaign
- Free plan
- No free plan. A 14-day trial with no card, capped at 100 email sends.
- Paid plans from
- $15 a month (Starter, 1,000 contacts, billed yearly)
- Best for
- Businesses that will pay from day one for multi-step automation
- Skip it if
- You want a free plan, or you only send a simple newsletter
Prices checked 2026-10-21 · Sources
Quick answer
ActiveCampaign is a paid tool for automation. It has no free plan, only a 14-day trial with 100 email sends. At 1,000 contacts, Starter costs $15 a month billed yearly, Plus $49 and Pro $79. Starter limits each automation to 5 actions and has no landing pages, so most people who choose ActiveCampaign for its automations will want Plus or Pro. It's worth paying for if automation is the reason you need an email tool. If you mainly send a newsletter, Kit, MailerLite and Mailchimp all let you start free.
Is there a free plan?
No. ActiveCampaign offers a 14-day free trial instead:
- no credit card needed, but you must verify your email
- Professional-plan features, with as many contacts as you need
- only 100 email sends in total
- 1 user, and test emails can only go to your own address
- no SMS, no custom domain for landing pages and no preference center
If you let the trial run out, you aren't charged. You only pay if you upgrade yourself.
Sources: free trial capabilities, plans overview, cancel your account.
What it costs
ActiveCampaign charges by contacts. Prices in USD per month, billed yearly, as shown on the pricing page:
| Contacts | Starter | Plus | Pro | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $15 | $49 | $79 | $145 |
| 2,500 | $39 | $95 | $149 | $255 |
| 5,000 | $79 | $145 | $205 | $375 |
| 10,000 | $149 | $189 | $375 | $589 |
Source: www.activecampaign.com/pricing, checked 2026-10-21. Prices change; the vendor's page is the final word.
The pricing page shows these as monthly prices billed yearly. It doesn't show month-to-month prices, so we don't list them.
- Monthly sends: 10 times your contact limit on Starter and Plus, 12 times on Pro and 15 times on Enterprise. At 1,000 contacts that's 10,000, 10,000, 12,000 and 15,000 emails a month.
- Users: 1 on Starter and Plus, 3 on Pro, 5 on Enterprise.
- What each plan adds: Starter has multi-step automation, but with up to 5 actions per automation. Plus adds landing pages, cross-channel marketing and AI content generation. Pro adds predictive sending, conditional content, advanced segmentation and attribution. Enterprise adds single sign-on, HIPAA support and a dedicated account team.
- Starter is only for new customers and goes up to 25,000 contacts.
- Commit yearly, pay monthly: in some regions you can get up to 10% off by paying monthly on a yearly commitment.
Sources: ActiveCampaign pricing, plans overview, send limits, cancel your account.
Catches to know
- Unsubscribed contacts count on new accounts. For accounts created on or after November 3, 2025, every contact counts toward your limit, whatever its status. Older accounts count only active contacts (contact limit).
- Sending past your limit costs extra. ActiveCampaign doesn't stop your emails. It charges $0.005 per email over your monthly limit. If you reach three times your limit, sending turns off until next month (send limits).
- Growing past your contacts means moving up a band. ActiveCampaign says you upgrade to the next contact band or plan, with no penalty and no lockout (pricing FAQ).
- Downgrades go through support. To move to a lower plan or contact limit, or remove an add-on, you have to contact the Customer Experience team. "Commit annually, pay monthly" plans also need support to cancel, and the cancellation takes effect at the end of the yearly term (cancel your account).
- Refunds only through the 30-day guarantee. The standard policy is no partial or full refunds. A first-time paying customer can get a full refund by cancelling within 30 days of purchase and asking support, citing the 30-Day Money Back Guarantee. It excludes SMS and WhatsApp credits, paused accounts and anyone who files a chargeback, and ActiveCampaign can end the offer at any time (refund policy, guarantee terms).
- No free address for your footer. You have to add your own physical address (a business address, home address or P.O. box), which appears in every campaign and automation email (physical address).
ActiveCampaign vs Kit, MailerLite and Mailchimp at a glance
| ActiveCampaign | Kit | MailerLite | Mailchimp | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | None (14-day trial, 100 sends) | Up to 10,000 subscribers | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month | 250 contacts, 500 emails a month |
| Automations without paying | Trial only | None | 3, up to 5 steps each | None (preview only) |
| Cheapest plan with automations | $15 (Starter, 1,000, billed yearly) | $39 (Creator, 1,000) | Free | $13 (Essentials, 500) |
| Around 1,000 contacts | $15 Starter / $49 Plus (yearly) | $39, or $33 yearly | $19, or $17.10 yearly | $26.50 Essentials (up to 1,500) |
| Free footer address | No | Yes, Kit's shared address | No | No |
Sources: ActiveCampaign pricing, Kit pricing, MailerLite pricing, Mailchimp pricing. More detail in our Kit, MailerLite and Mailchimp reviews.
Who should pick ActiveCampaign, and who should skip it
Pick ActiveCampaign if automation is why you need an email tool: behavior-based journeys, conditional content or predictive sending (Pro), or cross-channel messages (Plus and up). You should be happy to pay from the start and to commit to a year for the prices above.
Skip ActiveCampaign if you want a free plan, you only send a regular newsletter (Kit Free covers up to 10,000 subscribers), or you want a full trial before you pay: 100 sends isn't much to judge it by.
FAQ
Does ActiveCampaign have a free plan?
No. It has a 14-day free trial with no credit card, Professional-plan features, 1 user and up to 100 email sends.
How much is ActiveCampaign?
At 1,000 contacts, billed yearly: Starter $15 a month, Plus $49, Pro $79 and Enterprise $145. At 5,000 contacts: $79, $145, $205 and $375. Prices checked October 21, 2026.
What happens if I send more emails than my plan allows?
Sending keeps going and you pay $0.005 per extra email. If you reach three times your monthly limit, sending stops until the next month.
Do unsubscribed contacts count toward my ActiveCampaign limit?
For accounts created on or after November 3, 2025, yes: all contacts count. For older accounts, only active contacts count.
Can I get a refund from ActiveCampaign?
Only under the 30-Day Money Back Guarantee for first-time paying customers: cancel within 30 days of purchase and ask support. Otherwise ActiveCampaign's policy is no refunds.
What changed
- 2026-10-21: Rewritten from ActiveCampaign's official pricing and help pages. It replaces an earlier draft.
Sources
All accessed 2026-10-21 (America/New_York).
- ActiveCampaign pricing, plan cards and FAQ: https://www.activecampaign.com/pricing (1,000, 2,500, 5,000 and 10,000 contacts; USD; billed yearly)
- ActiveCampaign, "Free trial capabilities": https://help.activecampaign.com/hc/en-us/articles/218789987-Free-trial-capabilities
- ActiveCampaign, "Overview of ActiveCampaign plans": https://help.activecampaign.com/hc/en-us/articles/14251311251356-Overview-of-ActiveCampaign-plans
- ActiveCampaign, "About email send limits and overage fees": https://help.activecampaign.com/hc/en-us/articles/10918125380764-About-email-send-limits-and-overage-fees
- ActiveCampaign, "Do unsubscribed, unconfirmed, or bounced contacts count against my contact limit?": https://help.activecampaign.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000337324-Do-unsubscribed-unconfirmed-or-bounced-contacts-count-against-my-contact-limit
- ActiveCampaign, "How do I cancel my account?": https://help.activecampaign.com/hc/en-us/articles/218790117-How-do-I-cancel-my-account
- ActiveCampaign, "Refund Policy": https://help.activecampaign.com/hc/en-us/articles/218253598-Refund-Policy
- ActiveCampaign, "Money Back Guarantee Terms and Conditions": https://www.activecampaign.com/legal/money-back-guarantee-terms-and-conditions
- ActiveCampaign, "Add a physical address to your ActiveCampaign account": https://help.activecampaign.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006817360-Add-a-physical-address-to-your-ActiveCampaign-account
- Kit pricing (checked 2026-10-19): https://kit.com/pricing
- MailerLite pricing (checked 2026-10-21): https://www.mailerlite.com/pricing
- Mailchimp pricing (checked 2026-10-21): https://mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/