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It's a split decision.
Choose ActiveCampaign if you need marketing automation, audience segmentation, and campaign workflows; its annual-billed Starter plan starts at $15 per month for 1,000 contacts, with no free plan. Choose PlanPlus Online for personal planning, tasks, goals, and CRM, especially if its free plan fits your needs. Essentials is listed at $13.16 per user monthly with annual billing. PlanPlus’s free-plan terms are not published here, and Team CRM starts at $385 monthly for five licenses. These products solve different jobs, so there is no universal winner.
01Side by side
| ActiveCampaign | PlanPlus Online | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $15/month for 1,000 contacts, billed annually | $13.16/user/month, billed annually |
| Free plan | No free plan | Free plan listed; terms not published |
| Best for | Marketing teams automating campaigns and segmentation | Individuals and teams organizing tasks, goals, and CRM |
| Core strength | Marketing automation and engagement-based segmentation | Planning tools combined with contact and task management |
| Learning curve | Not stated on the vendor's site | Not stated on the vendor's site |
| Integrations/data | Segments audiences using engagement data | Integrations available; email and calendar services supported |
| Team/seat costs | $79/month for three seats, billed annually | Team CRM: $385/month for five licenses |
| Support | Support details not published | Support details not published |
ActiveCampaign Choose ActiveCampaign if
- Choose ActiveCampaign if marketing automation is your main job.
- Choose ActiveCampaign if you need engagement-based audience segmentation.
- Choose ActiveCampaign if you can work within contact-based annual pricing.
PlanPlus Online Choose PlanPlus Online if
- Choose PlanPlus Online if you want planning tools alongside CRM.
- Choose PlanPlus Online if a free plan matters; check its terms first.
- Choose PlanPlus Online if you need a team CRM with five licenses.
02Pricing compared
ActiveCampaign’s Starter plan is $15 per month for 1,000 contacts when billed annually. It includes one user, 10,000 email sends a month and 500 AI credits; there’s no free plan, but a 14-day free trial is listed. The Plus plan is $49 per month for 1,000 contacts, also billed annually. Monthly non-annual rates are not published, and the listed price can rise as your contact count grows.
PlanPlus Online’s Essentials plan is $15.95 monthly or $13.16 per user per month with annual billing. It has a free plan, but its terms are not published here. Team CRM starts at $385 per month for five licenses; annual pricing is available by contacting support. Additional-user pricing and ActiveCampaign add-on prices are not published. Compare the billing units: ActiveCampaign’s listed prices are per 1,000 contacts, while Essentials is per user.
03Features and depth
These products solve different jobs. ActiveCampaign is the marketing automation option: its feature description says Active Intelligence can draft campaigns and automations from a brief, build engagement-based segments, and automatically test email and SMS sends. It also describes weekly account audits and automated reporting. The Starter plan has five actions per automation; Plus and higher list unlimited automation triggers and actions. SMS, WhatsApp and other add-ons have no published prices, so don’t assume every channel is included in the plan price.
PlanPlus Online centers on personal planning and team productivity. It combines contact management with tasks, calendar, notes, goal tracking and weekly or daily planning. Its task tools include ABC-123 prioritization and separate daily from unscheduled tasks. Team CRM adds a customizable sales process and CRM implementation, with integrations available. The published feature information does not list campaign automation, email sends or audience segmentation for PlanPlus. Choose it for planning and CRM, not as a like-for-like marketing automation replacement.
04Ease of use and learning curve
The available information doesn’t include setup tests or user research, so we can’t say which is easier to learn in practice. The feature lists do suggest different kinds of work. PlanPlus brings tasks, calendar, notes and goals into a planning system; its Essentials plan is described as a single-user productivity system, while Team CRM is built for teams.
ActiveCampaign has more marketing-specific controls to consider, including contact limits, automation actions, goals, sends and AI credits. Starter allows five actions per automation, while Plus and higher list unlimited triggers and actions. That extra depth may suit a marketer managing campaigns, but it also means more plan limits to check. PlanPlus’s free-plan terms are not published, so confirm what it includes before treating it as a low-risk way to switch.
Questions people ask
Which should I choose, ActiveCampaign or PlanPlus Online?
Choose ActiveCampaign if you need campaign automation, audience segmentation and marketing workflows. Choose PlanPlus Online if your priority is personal planning, task and goal management, or CRM. They target different jobs, so the better fit depends on whether you’re replacing a marketing platform or a planning system.
Does PlanPlus Online have a free plan?
Yes, the published pricing information lists a free plan for PlanPlus Online, but its terms and limits are not published here. Check what features, users or usage limits it includes before relying on it as a free replacement. ActiveCampaign lists no free plan, but offers a 14-day trial.
How much does ActiveCampaign cost compared with PlanPlus?
ActiveCampaign Starter is $15 per month for 1,000 contacts with annual billing. PlanPlus Essentials is $13.16 per user monthly with annual billing, or $15.95 month to month. The billing units differ, so compare your contact count and number of users, not just the starting prices.
Can PlanPlus Online replace ActiveCampaign for marketing automation?
The published PlanPlus feature information covers contacts, tasks, calendars, planning and CRM, but does not list campaign automation, email sends or audience segmentation. ActiveCampaign lists those marketing capabilities. If automated campaigns are central to your workflow, PlanPlus is not shown here as a like-for-like replacement.