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Most buyers should pick ActiveCampaign.
Choose ActiveCampaign for marketing automation, segmentation and email campaigns, especially if you can stay within its contact limits. Its listed starting price is $15/month for 1,000 contacts, billed annually. Choose ClickFunnels if you need sales funnels, checkout, courses and CRM in one platform; it starts at $81/month billed annually, with 10,000 contacts on Launch. Neither offers a free plan. Our our review scores favor ActiveCampaign overall, while ClickFunnels lists more explicit support options on higher plans.
01Side by side
| ActiveCampaign | ClickFunnels | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $15/month annual; 1,000 contacts | $81/month annual; $97 monthly |
| Free plan | No; 14-day free trial | No; trial not published |
| Best for | Email marketing automation and segmentation | Funnels, online selling, courses and CRM |
| Core strength | Automated campaigns, testing and reporting | Sales funnels, checkout and course building |
| Learning curve | Review ease score: 6.5/10 | Review ease score: 5/10 |
| Integrations/data | Integrations not published; 1,000 contacts at entry | Integrations not published; 10,000 contacts at entry |
| Team/seat costs | 1 seat: $15–$49; 3: $79; 5: $145 | 2 seats: $97; 5: $197; 10: $297 monthly |
| Support | Support details not published on the vendor's site | Standard on Launch; priority/live chat on Scale+ |
ActiveCampaign Choose ActiveCampaign if
- Choose ActiveCampaign if email automation is your main need.
- Choose ActiveCampaign if you want automated testing and reporting.
- Choose ActiveCampaign if its 1,000-contact entry tier fits.
ClickFunnels Choose ClickFunnels if
- Choose ClickFunnels if you need funnels and checkout together.
- Choose ClickFunnels if courses and memberships matter to your sales flow.
- Choose ClickFunnels if you want CRM alongside your funnels.
02Pricing compared
ActiveCampaign starts at $15/month for 1,000 contacts, billed annually. Its monthly, non-annual rates are not published and run higher. Starter allows up to 25,000 contacts; higher plans list more automation depth, seats or sends, but contact-list growth can raise the bill. There is no free plan, and the listed free trial is 14 days.
ClickFunnels starts at $81/month billed annually on Launch, or $97 month to month. Launch includes 10,000 contacts and 50,000 emails per month. Scale is $164/month annually or $197 monthly; Optimize is $248 annually or $297 monthly. Dominate is sold only as an annual $5,997 charge. Neither product has a free plan. On listed entry prices, ActiveCampaign costs less; ClickFunnels includes a much higher starting contact allowance.
03Features and depth
These products solve different problems. ActiveCampaign is built around marketing automation: its Active Intelligence layer is described as drafting campaigns and automations from a brief, auditing accounts weekly, testing email and SMS sends, and preparing reports. It also lists automatic audience segmentation and drafts for email, SMS, WhatsApp and ads. SMS, WhatsApp and other add-ons are listed, but their prices are not published.
ClickFunnels puts the sales path in one platform. Its listed tools include funnel and page building, checkout, split testing for funnels or email campaigns, courses and communities, plus CRM and marketing automations. The homepage describes a drag-and-drop editor. Higher plans specify more workspaces, contacts, emails and courses; Scale also lists webhooks and full API access. Choose ActiveCampaign for campaign automation and segmentation. Choose ClickFunnels when checkout, funnels and course delivery are part of the job. Our review scores are 6.8 for ActiveCampaign and 6.1 for ClickFunnels.
04Ease of use and learning curve
Our review scores rate ActiveCampaign’s ease of use at 6.5 and ClickFunnels’ at 5; these scores are not a substitute for your own workflow assessment. ActiveCampaign’s AI campaign drafts and account audits are intended to reduce manual marketing work, but the product’s automation and segmentation focus still means you need to define what you want campaigns to do.
ClickFunnels’ drag-and-drop editor may make page building more approachable, but its wider scope spans funnels, checkout, CRM, email and courses. That is more ground to configure if you only need email automation. If you need both the selling flow and course delivery in one system, that breadth may be useful rather than extra complexity.
Questions people ask
What is better than ClickFunnels?
For email campaigns, marketing automation and segmentation, ActiveCampaign is the better fit of these two, and its listed annual starting price is lower. ClickFunnels is the stronger match if you need funnels, checkout, courses and CRM together. The right choice depends on which job you need the platform to handle.
Is ActiveCampaign a good CRM?
ActiveCampaign is positioned primarily as marketing automation software, not as an all-in-one funnel and CRM platform. Enhanced CRM is listed as an add-on, but its price is not published. ClickFunnels includes CRM and automations in its platform description, so compare the actual CRM requirements before choosing.
Is ClickFunnels still relevant?
ClickFunnels remains a fit for businesses that want to build sales funnels and combine checkout, courses, email campaigns and CRM. Its listed Launch plan starts at $81/month billed annually and includes 10,000 contacts. If your main need is marketing automation and segmentation, ActiveCampaign may suit the job better.
How much does ActiveCampaign cost a month?
The listed Starter price is $15/month for 1,000 contacts when billed annually. The monthly, non-annual rate is not published and is described as higher. ActiveCampaign also lists a 14-day free trial, but no free plan. Costs can change as your contact count grows.