TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Act-On

    Score8.1 out of 10
    Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
    Act-On is an adaptive marketing platform designed to drive personal and purposeful multi-channel marketing. Its foci are inbound and outbound marketing, for enabling a tighter alignment with sales and turning data into actionable insights.

    $900

    per month

    ActiveCampaign

    Score8.6 out of 10
    N/AActiveCampaign is presented as an AI-first marketing platform for marketers, agencies, and entrepreneurs. It uses Active Intelligence for goal-aware automation and personalized experiences across email, SMS, and WhatsApp. ActiveCampaign integrates with 950+ apps and generates insights to optimize every workflow.

    $180

    per year (single user)

    Pricing
    Act-OnActiveCampaign
    Editions & Modules
    Professional
    $900
    per month
    Enterprise
    $2,000+
    per month
    Starter
    $15
    per month (billed annually)
    Pro
    $49
    per month (billed annually)
    Plus
    $79
    per month (billed annually)
    Enterprise
    $149
    per month (billed annually)
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Act-OnActiveCampaign
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional DetailsThe Professional package starts at 2,500 active contacts, 3 marketing users, 50 sales users and 30,000 API calls per day. The Enterprise allows for much more customization, the package starts at 2,500 active contacts, 6 marketing users, 100 sales users and 30,000 API calls per day. Annual contract required for all packages.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Act-OnActiveCampaign
    Considered Both Products
    Act-On
    Chose Act-On
    To improve the system, Act-On is developing custom reports and workflows. It is incredibly flexible as well as functionally sound and reliable. The other features that our team enjoys the most are the features such as all contacts. Creating landing pages and web forms is a snap …
    Incentivized
    Chose Act-On
    Many more, too^^^

    The best after any free one. Once a company has a budget it's time for Act-On.
    Incentivized
    ActiveCampaign
    Chose ActiveCampaign
    ActiveCampaign has a lot more capabilities and features than Act-On, for a much better price. We used Act-On at the bare minimum, only using it to send out newsletters that we built in HTML. With ActiveCampaign, we are now using conditional content, contact tags, automations, …
    Incentivized
    Chose ActiveCampaign
    We switched over to ActiveCampaign mainly because of cost savings. As we have gotten to use the service, I have noticed ActiveCampaign is more intuitive, provides a wealth of helpful information and resources, and is generally more pleasant to use. The customer support with …
    Incentivized
    Chose ActiveCampaign
    ActiveCampaign is one of the most robust marketing automation platforms available today and allows us to integrate with virtually all other marketing tools in our tech stack. When vetting a marketing automation software to support our clients, we did not like that other larger …
    Incentivized
    Chose ActiveCampaign
    ActiveCampaign is the budget option, no doubt. There isn't a single other tool even near it in price that offers anywhere near the level of tools that ActiveCampaign offers.

    However, just because it's really inexpensive, don't let that lead you to think its a "cheap" tool. They …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    16 Answers
    98%
    Would buy again
    492 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    16 Answers
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    471 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    16 Answers
    98%
    Happy with the feature set
    493 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    15 Answers
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    454 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    15 Answers
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    458 Answers
    Features
    Act-OnActiveCampaign
    Email & Online Marketing
    Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Act-On Software and ActiveCampaign
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    8.3
    124 Ratings
    7% above category average
    ActiveCampaign
    8.7
    690 Ratings
    12% above category average
    WYSIWYG email editor7.6123 Ratings8.4609 Ratings
    Dynamic content8.2102 Ratings8.7541 Ratings
    Ability to test dynamic content8.1102 Ratings8.4490 Ratings
    Landing pages8.2118 Ratings7.6358 Ratings
    A/B testing8.1106 Ratings8.4400 Ratings
    Mobile optimization8.3113 Ratings9.2549 Ratings
    Email deliverability reporting8.3123 Ratings8.6658 Ratings
    List management8.7122 Ratings8.8677 Ratings
    Triggered drip sequences8.698 Ratings10.0596 Ratings
    Lead Management
    Comparison of Lead Management features of Act-On Software and ActiveCampaign
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    8.2
    124 Ratings
    5% above category average
    ActiveCampaign
    8.3
    543 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Lead nurturing automation8.5113 Ratings8.6509 Ratings
    Lead scoring and grading8.4113 Ratings8.5371 Ratings
    Data quality management8.2112 Ratings8.6417 Ratings
    Automated sales alerts and tasks7.8104 Ratings8.8366 Ratings
    Lead segmentation and distribution00 Ratings6.919 Ratings
    Campaign Management
    Comparison of Campaign Management features of Act-On Software and ActiveCampaign
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    7.5
    84 Ratings
    1% above category average
    ActiveCampaign
    9.0
    390 Ratings
    20% above category average
    Calendaring6.88 Ratings8.8311 Ratings
    Event/webinar marketing8.283 Ratings9.1293 Ratings
    Social Media Marketing
    Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Act-On Software and ActiveCampaign
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    7.3
    75 Ratings
    2% below category average
    ActiveCampaign
    6.8
    295 Ratings
    9% below category average
    Social sharing and campaigns7.373 Ratings7.2262 Ratings
    Social profile integration7.367 Ratings6.4257 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Act-On Software and ActiveCampaign
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    7.5
    124 Ratings
    2% above category average
    ActiveCampaign
    8.2
    652 Ratings
    11% above category average
    Dashboards7.6118 Ratings8.0623 Ratings
    Standard reports7.6122 Ratings8.4611 Ratings
    Custom reports7.493 Ratings8.2397 Ratings
    Platform & Infrastructure
    Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Act-On Software and ActiveCampaign
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    7.7
    117 Ratings
    2% above category average
    ActiveCampaign
    8.7
    511 Ratings
    14% above category average
    API8.277 Ratings8.6409 Ratings
    Role-based workflow & approvals8.578 Ratings8.6278 Ratings
    Customizability7.698 Ratings7.6437 Ratings
    Integration with Salesforce.com8.569 Ratings9.097 Ratings
    Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM7.038 Ratings9.964 Ratings
    Integration with SugarCRM6.930 Ratings9.559 Ratings
    Third-party software integrations7.58 Ratings7.840 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Act-OnActiveCampaign
    Small Businesses
    Vbout
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Vbout
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Bloomreach
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Bloomreach
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Iterable
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Iterable
    Score8.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Act-OnActiveCampaign
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.9
    (229 ratings)
    8.6
    (703 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.9
    (112 ratings)
    10.0
    (27 ratings)
    Usability
    8.2
    (44 ratings)
    9.3
    (66 ratings)
    Availability
    9.1
    (14 ratings)
    9.1
    (5 ratings)
    Performance
    8.2
    (13 ratings)
    7.3
    (5 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.3
    (39 ratings)
    1.3
    (42 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    8.7
    (4 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.3
    (16 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.6
    (22 ratings)
    10.0
    (16 ratings)
    Configurability
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    6.4
    (4 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    6.4
    (2 ratings)
    9.1
    (4 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    1.0
    (5 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    6.4
    (4 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    7.3
    (4 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Act-OnActiveCampaign
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Act-On
    We often have quick turnaround time requests, and Act-On's new composer is great because it is easy to make an email look great in desktop or mobile views. This has been a huge time-saver for us! We have benefited from using Act-On for many years and are accustomed to where everything is and how to use it. For the new accounts we train, we will sometimes hear that the organization of where things are could be improved.
    Incentivized
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    ActiveCampaign
    I've been using ActiveCampaign since around 2018-2019 and I've always been satisfied with the software. It's simple to use, connects with the other tools I use and makes it easy for me to duplicate automations, email templates and workflows as I need to. On top of that, any time I've had an issue (which I think is around twice in the past 5/6 years), the customer service has always been super helpful and my issue has been resolved quickly.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Act-On
    • The templates are easy to use and set up campaigns.
    • It's simple to use, and the email editor features a drag-and-drop interface.
    • It's easy to set up a drip campaign or a series of scheduled emails.
    • It has the flexibility of having a variety of scheduling options and the use of user experience automation.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ActiveCampaign
    • Collects and filters emails from various lead magnets exceptionally well (especially if a user wants to re-sign up to the same lead magnet and go through it again, they can)
    • Super easy to use email creation that is aesthetically pleasing and user friendly
    • Easy email sequences and user classification from a large range of opt in trigger options
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Act-On
    • The designer tools, especially for emails, were often difficult to use. The formatting of the text would be all over the place and change / refuse to change at random. Moving boxes around was shifty and sometimes nearly impossible. It just wasn't customizeable enough. No "undo" functionality either.
    • The only way to collect information expansively over time (there's a term Act-On uses for it, I can't recall) where it adds questions to the form each time a user fills it out, is if the person were to fill out the same form multiple times. I know this does happen for some websites/resources, but as a company that wanted to collect new information each time someone filled out any form, regardless of the resource or the URL, that was simply not an option, and that doesn't really make a lot of sense. I know it's not really possible to track someone but if they filled out the first part of the form and then it added new questions to answer, and then they submitted and got through the gating, that would actually be helpful.
    • There was no "trash can" of sorts in case you deleted something by mistake. This could be so stress-inducing if it was a major project. My coworker did this once, contacted Act-On, they couldn't even recover it.
    Incentivized
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    ActiveCampaign
    • It took me a while to get to understand where to find things, and I used a free online course from a consultant who specialises in AC to help me get the foundations set up more easily. That said, there were lots of onboarding workshops, which were good. It just felt like it required a lot of different angles of learning to just get started.
    • The customer support took longer than other software to get back to me via email, though once I found the chat option for my most recent query, that was fast.
    • I've ended up switching to another programme where more software is more naturally integrated, and the AC equivalent is included in the price, along with many other types of software. However, design-wise, ActiveCampaign is much better.
    • I also had a problem with a form used on my WordPress website, which has a BuddyBoss platform - the colours on the form would be overridden by colour choices for the website, so they were hard to read (pink text on purple background instead of the gold text it was meant to be)
    • I couldn't always find the templates I was looking for or how to access them for automation-based emails. I think when I used it, there was a new type of template for newsletters that weren't available for automations, so I had to recreate it, which added time.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Act-On
    It's my single biggest asset in my current role. With limited resources, its enabled Anachron to punch well above our weight marketing wise and although we're still at the beginning of our journey I know the system can scale with us
    Read full review
    ActiveCampaign
    I am committed at the moment. Rebuilding the automations I have would be a huge time drain. Plus the cost of learning a new system and the risk to deliverability of porting a 6,000 person list to a new platform. Also, AC offers everything I need ast a reasonable (but a little high) price. So, why not a 10? Because, early 2023, AC dropped a massive 2x price hike on long-term customers. They knew few would shift, so this feels like a cynical cash grab and left a bad taste, If they do something like this again, this camel will have a broken back.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Act-On
    It's a great tool for our business, and we get a fantastic ROI on it every year based on wins for customer service and automation responses. It's save projects, repaired salesperson/customer relationships and generated new sales and interest yearly. We really wouldn't hesitate to recommend this platform at all.
    Incentivized
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    ActiveCampaign
    ActiveCampaign has been the easiest marketing automation software we have ever used. They provide tips throughout the entire process of anything you are building. Their support team through LIVE CHAT has been extremely fast and helpful. The monthly meetings provided with the enablement team has helped us through several large and urgent needs.
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    Reliability and Availability
    Act-On
    I have always found them quick to respond to my query by web inquiry. In those instances when I call, I have always reached help quickly. They are conscientious and skilled in discussing my concern and finding a solution to my problem. Other tech organizations should use Act-On as a model for top-notch customer service.
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    ActiveCampaign
    I haven't experienced application errors or unplanned outages at all. Active Campaign is ultra reliable and I would not be using them if that were the case. Also, the helpful emails they send are welcomed and informative, and present very practical tips and guidance for using the platform. They're always demonstrating new features and I'm thankful for that.
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    Act-On
    Great for the most part. Sometimes there are little lags, but that's likely because I'm requesting to see a lot of data at one time.
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    ActiveCampaign
    Oh my gosh, Active Campaign's performance gets an A+++ in my book. The pages load quickly and so do the reports. I haven't noticed any slowdowns when it's integrating with other programs and it performs excellently on all levels.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Act-On
    Since we start using Act-on for ourselves and our clients, we have been supported very well. Often we need to integrate with legacy systems and we find the support team on our side during the whole endeavor. Always asking if they can help us further, always willing to do a better job. The support of Act-On is one of the main differentiators
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    ActiveCampaign
    This might be the best part. The chat support lady offered to make a video to help me solve my problem. I worked in customer service for years and I've never done that, lol. So, if they're offering things like that, I can only imagine that they'd be able to handle most any issue you throw at them.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Act-On
    Dan D. was great. He took the time to understand how I needed the program to run, and was very flexible to our special CRM setup.
    Read full review
    ActiveCampaign
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    Act-On
    Act-On had a lot of resources, and their staff was great at answering any questions I had to make sure we got started on the right foot. Looking back, I would have preferred some additional training sessions since we didn't have any previous experience with Marketing Automation and best practices.
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    ActiveCampaign
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Act-On
    What impressed me most is that Act-On showed full committment in making our implementation successful, even when it required additional support from their team. This gave me a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings. Most other software software vendors are not anywhere close to being this responsive and effective
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    ActiveCampaign
    Very satisfied with our implementation in our professional medical practice, allowing us to be on top of client service, and not miss out on crucial information and insights. Marketing is often neglected in professional practices and ActiveCampaign solved this problem with aplomb.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Act-On
    Act-On is easier to use than Marketo, but not as visually appealing and user-friendly as HubSpot. It's much better than Pardot, as Pardot feel clunky every step of the way. SharpSpring is comparable because of its price point but surpasses Act-On in its tools and intuitive interface. We selected Act-On because of the pricing model and thought all things would be close to parity with other options. It depends on the team you have. If you have developers and a marketing team that knows some html/css, you can get by with Act-On.
    Incentivized
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    ActiveCampaign
    I moved to ActiveCampaign from Mailchimp. Admittedly, I was using the free version of Mailchimp, but I had numerous episodes of subscriber data NOT being added to Mailchimp, despite using API to integrate with my mailing list. Obviously, I couldn't pay for clicks and not capture subscriber data, so I had to find something else. ActiveCampaign has been 100% reliable in testing.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Act-On
    Before I feel like I need more features, the Act-On customer service reps are contacting me telling about new features as part of my account.
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    ActiveCampaign
    My web designer told me about Active Campaign and although I don't recall which platform I had before, I LOVE Active Campaign and its user friendliness. The transition was seamless and I've never had a problem with functionality or server failure.
    Active Campaign provides so many features, and makes it easy for non-techies to maneuver around the site with ease. They capture information and put it in an easy-to-read format.
    At this point, I don't think I'd ever use any other platform!
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Act-On
    • With the Automated Series, we were able to put in place campaigns that generated revenue that took no time to continue running once set up. This was a positive feature allowing employees to work on another project while the campaign ran on their own.
    Incentivized
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    ActiveCampaign
    • I haven't monetized my list yet so no clear ROI but great from a list-building perspective
    • The software is not cheap so at times I feel like I may not be getting the most out of the product because I'm not using all of the features
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    Act-On Screenshots

    Screenshot of the Automated Journey Builder. Here, users can personalize customer interactions from awareness to loyalty.Screenshot of the Analytics Dashboard. This is used to compare performance over time, filter by segment, and export report components.Screenshot of the Email Composer. Here is where users design emails optimized for desktop and mobile with a drag and drop builder.

    ActiveCampaign Screenshots

    Product screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshot