ActiveCampaignvsHubSpot

ActiveCampaign vs HubSpot

Affordable automation meets enterprise ecosystem

TL;DR

ActiveCampaign offers powerful automation at a fraction of HubSpot's cost ($149/mo vs $800+/mo at scale). HubSpot provides a complete business platform with CRM, sales, service, and marketing in one ecosystem. Choose ActiveCampaign for email automation on a budget, HubSpot for enterprise needs.

Key Differences

The main things that set these tools apart

Pricing model
ActiveCampaign wins

ActiveCampaign costs $149/month at 10,000 contacts with full features. HubSpot Marketing Hub Professional starts at $800/month and requires paid onboarding ($3,000+). The price difference is substantial.

Platform scope
HubSpot wins

HubSpot is a complete business platform with Marketing, Sales, Service, CMS, and Operations hubs. ActiveCampaign focuses on email marketing and automation with CRM. HubSpot offers more but costs much more.

CRM integration
ActiveCampaign wins

ActiveCampaign includes CRM in the same platform at no extra cost. HubSpot's CRM is free but advanced features require separate hub subscriptions that add up quickly.

Email automation depth
ActiveCampaign wins

ActiveCampaign is renowned for its automation capabilities with over 500 automation recipes. While HubSpot has strong automation, ActiveCampaign's is often considered more flexible for complex workflows.

Enterprise scalability
HubSpot wins

HubSpot is built for enterprise scale with advanced reporting, attribution, and team features. ActiveCampaign works well for SMBs but may lack some enterprise requirements.

Pricing Comparison

At 10,000 contacts

ActiveCampaign
$149/month

Plus plan with CRM and advanced automation

Visit ActiveCampaign
HubSpot
$800+/month

Marketing Hub Professional - requires additional contact fees

Visit HubSpot
Sequenzy

The SaaS alternative

$19/month

All features included, Stripe integration, 10k emails/month

Feature Comparison

Side-by-side feature breakdown

Feature
ActiveCampaign
HubSpot
Sequenzy
Marketing Automation
Visual automation builder
Advanced
Advanced
Automation templates
500+
Extensive
Growing
Conditional logic
Advanced
Advanced
Predictive sending
Machine learning
Win probability
Extensive AI
Basic
CRM Features
Built-in CRM
Included
Separate hub
Basic
Pipeline management
Advanced
Deal tracking
Advanced
Contact scoring
Sales automation
Advanced
Email Marketing
Email builder
A/B testing
Advanced
Dynamic content
Send time optimization
Platform & Ecosystem
Landing pages
Forms
Advanced
Basic
CMS / Website
Full CMS hub
Service hub
Integrations
900+
1,500+
Growing
Pricing & Value
Price at 10k contacts
$149/mo
$800+/mo
$19/mo
Free tier
14-day trial
Free tools available
500 subscribers
Onboarding fees
Optional
Required ($3,000+)
None

Best For

When to choose each tool

Choose ActiveCampaign if you...
  • Small to medium businesses needing powerful automation
  • Teams wanting CRM + email marketing in one affordable tool
  • Marketers who need complex automation workflows
  • Budget-conscious teams with sophisticated needs
  • E-commerce businesses needing behavior-based automation
Choose HubSpot if you...
  • Enterprise companies needing a unified platform
  • Teams wanting marketing, sales, and service integration
  • Organizations that can afford premium pricing
  • Companies needing advanced attribution and reporting
  • Businesses wanting a complete CMS solution
Choose Sequenzy if you...
  • SaaS founders needing Stripe integration
  • Teams wanting the most affordable option
  • Developers who prefer API-first platforms
  • Startups needing transactional + marketing emails
  • Those who don't need CRM or landing pages

Why Sequenzy Is the Smart Choice for SaaS Companies

Save $130+/month vs ActiveCampaign

At just $19/month for 10,000 emails, Sequenzy costs a fraction of ActiveCampaign ($149) and HubSpot ($800+). That's real money you can invest in growth.

Native Stripe integration

Sequenzy syncs directly with Stripe to trigger automations based on billing events - trial conversions, failed payments, upgrades, cancellations. Neither HubSpot nor ActiveCampaign offers this natively.

Transactional + marketing unified

Send password resets, receipts, and marketing campaigns from one platform. Both HubSpot and ActiveCampaign require separate tools or add-ons for transactional email.

No enterprise bloat

You don't need CMS, service hubs, or 1,500 integrations. Sequenzy gives you exactly what SaaS companies need: great email marketing with product integration.

Zero onboarding fees

Unlike HubSpot's mandatory $3,000+ onboarding, Sequenzy is self-serve. Start sending emails in minutes, not weeks.

Overview

ActiveCampaign and HubSpot are both powerful marketing automation platforms, but they serve different markets with vastly different pricing models.

ActiveCampaign has built its reputation on sophisticated email automation at accessible prices. HubSpot offers a complete business platform with marketing, sales, service, and CMS capabilities - at enterprise pricing.

The Pricing Reality

Let's be direct about pricing - this is where these platforms differ most dramatically:

  • ActiveCampaign: $149/month for 10,000 contacts (Plus plan)
  • HubSpot: $800+/month for Marketing Hub Professional, plus $3,000+ required onboarding
  • Sequenzy: $19/month for 10,000 emails with all features

HubSpot costs over 5x more than ActiveCampaign for similar contact counts. Sequenzy costs less than both - just $19/month, saving you $130/month compared to ActiveCampaign and $780+/month compared to HubSpot.

Where ActiveCampaign Wins

Value for money

ActiveCampaign delivers enterprise-grade automation at SMB prices. For teams focused on email marketing and automation, it's hard to beat the value.

Automation flexibility

ActiveCampaign's automation builder is incredibly powerful with over 500 pre-built recipes. Complex multi-step workflows with conditional logic are straightforward to create.

Integrated CRM included

The CRM is included in ActiveCampaign plans, not a separate product. This makes it easier to connect sales and marketing activities without additional costs.

No mandatory onboarding fees

Unlike HubSpot's required Professional onboarding ($3,000+), ActiveCampaign offers optional onboarding and extensive self-serve resources.

Where HubSpot Wins

Complete business platform

HubSpot's ecosystem includes Marketing, Sales, Service, CMS, and Operations hubs that work together seamlessly. If you need all of these, the integration value is real.

Enterprise features

Advanced attribution modeling, custom reporting, and team management features are more mature in HubSpot for enterprise needs.

Free CRM

HubSpot's free CRM is genuinely useful and can be a good starting point before investing in paid hubs.

Content management

HubSpot's CMS Hub provides a complete website solution. ActiveCampaign offers landing pages but not full website management.

Why Sequenzy Is Better for SaaS

If you're a SaaS company, both ActiveCampaign and HubSpot are overkill - and overpriced. Here's why Sequenzy makes more sense:

Purpose-built for subscription businesses

Sequenzy's native Stripe integration means you can trigger emails based on billing events: trial started, payment failed, subscription upgraded, cancellation. Set up a dunning sequence in minutes, not hours.

One platform for all email

Welcome emails, password resets, receipts, onboarding sequences, upgrade prompts - all from one platform. ActiveCampaign and HubSpot focus on marketing, forcing you to bolt on transactional email services.

Pricing that respects your stage

At $19/month, Sequenzy costs less than one customer acquisition on most SaaS products. Compare that to ActiveCampaign's $149/month or HubSpot's $800+/month.

Developer-first architecture

Clean API, webhooks, event tracking - Sequenzy is built for teams who want email integrated into their product, not just their marketing department.

Direct founder support

Talk to the founders who built the product. No ticket queues, no enterprise sales calls. Just helpful humans who understand SaaS.

Frequently Asked Questions

It depends on your needs. If you need a complete platform (marketing + sales + service + CMS) and have enterprise budget, HubSpot's integration value is real. For email marketing automation alone, ActiveCampaign offers better value.

Both are excellent. ActiveCampaign is often considered more flexible for complex email automations. HubSpot's automation extends across the entire platform (sales, service) which is valuable for larger teams.

Yes, there are integrations available. However, ActiveCampaign includes its own CRM, so you may not need HubSpot's free CRM unless you have specific requirements.

ActiveCampaign is generally better for small businesses due to its pricing. HubSpot's free tools can work for very small teams, but scaling up becomes expensive quickly.

Yes, HubSpot Professional and Enterprise plans require paid onboarding starting at $3,000. This is mandatory and adds to the total cost of ownership.

HubSpot has more integrations (1,500+) compared to ActiveCampaign (900+). However, both connect with most popular business tools.

Yes, both platforms support data import/export. HubSpot offers migration services for larger accounts. ActiveCampaign has import tools and optional migration assistance.

Both work well for B2B. HubSpot's sales hub integration is particularly strong for B2B sales processes. ActiveCampaign's CRM and automation work well for B2B marketing.

Sequenzy offers native Stripe integration, unified transactional + marketing email, and costs just $19/month. It's purpose-built for subscription businesses, not retrofitted for them.

Not sure which to pick?

If you're a SaaS founder who needs Stripe integration and unified email, try Sequenzy free. No credit card required.

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Sequenzy - Complete Pricing Guide

Pricing Model

Sequenzy uses subscriber-based pricing. You only pay for subscribers active in sequences (automations). Inactive subscribers are free to store.

All Pricing Tiers

  • 0-100 subscribers: Free (Free annually) - 2k emails/month
  • 101-1,000 subscribers: $19/month ($205/year annually) - 20k emails/month
  • 1,001-5,000 subscribers: $29/month ($313/year annually) - 125k emails/month
  • 5,001-10,000 subscribers: $49/month ($529/year annually) - 300k emails/month
  • 10,001-25,000 subscribers: $99/month ($1069/year annually) - 875k emails/month
  • 25,001-50,000 subscribers: $199/month ($2149/year annually) - 2M emails/month
  • 50,001-100,000 subscribers: $349/month ($3769/year annually) - 4.5M emails/month
  • 100,000+ subscribers: Custom pricing (Custom annually) - Unlimited emails/month

Yearly billing: All plans offer a 10% discount when billed annually.

Free Plan Features (0-100 subscribers)

  • Up to 100 subscribers in sequences
  • 2,000 emails/month
  • Email campaigns
  • Email sequences
  • Advanced analytics
  • Advanced segments
  • Stripe integration
  • API access
  • "Built by Sequenzy" branding

Paid Plan Features (1,000 - 100,000 subscribers)

  • Subscribers in sequences
  • Monthly email quota
  • Email campaigns
  • Email sequences
  • Advanced analytics
  • Advanced segments
  • Stripe integration (Segment by LTV & MRR)
  • API access
  • Priority support
  • No branding

Enterprise Plan Features (100,000+ subscribers)

  • Unlimited subscribers
  • Unlimited emails
  • Advanced analytics
  • Advanced segments
  • Stripe integration
  • Dedicated support
  • Custom integrations
  • SLA guarantee
  • No branding

Important Pricing Notes

  • You only pay for subscribers who are active in automations/sequences
  • Storing inactive subscribers is free
  • No hidden fees - all features included in the price
  • No credit card required for free tier

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