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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Act-On

    Score8.9 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

    Ceros Studio

    Score8.7 out of 10
    Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
    Ceros Studio is a content marketing software platform that enables designers and marketers to create interactive web content, without the need for coding or developers.

    $36,000

    per year

    Outgrow

    Score7.5 out of 10
    Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
    Outgrow enables marketers to create calculators, recommendations, quizzes and polls to better acquire, qualify, and monetize leads. Outgrow is designed so marketers can build these tools without a developer or a designer in minutes. Common Examples of interactive content that you can build with Outgrow include: ROI calculators Cost Calculators Sales lift calculators Graders Knowledge tests Fun quizzes Product recommendations

    $22

    per month per user

    Pricing
    Act-OnCeros StudioOutgrow
    Editions & Modules
    Professional
    $900
    per month
    Enterprise
    $2,000+
    per month
    Annual Subscription
    36,000
    per year
    Freelancer Plan
    $22
    per month per user
    Freelancer Pro
    $45
    per month per user
    Essentials Plan
    $115
    per month for 3 users
    Business Plan
    $720
    per month
    Enterprise Plan
    Custom Pricing
    Agency Plan
    Custom Pricing
    per Client
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Act-OnCeros StudioOutgrow
    Free Trial
    NoNoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesYesYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    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.—Outgrow also offers the option to build interactive content including calculators, quizzes, recommendations, polls and graded tests for clients. Pricing varies based on the number of experiences built and the complexity of each experience.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Act-OnCeros StudioOutgrow
    Considered Multiple Products
    Act-On
    No answer on this topic
    Ceros
    No answer on this topic
    Outgrow
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    16 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Would buy again
    8 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    16 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    7 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    16 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    8 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    15 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    8 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    15 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    88%
    Implementation went as expected
    7 Answers
    Features
    Act-OnCeros StudioOutgrow
    Email & Online Marketing
    Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Act-On Software and Ceros Studio and Outgrow
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    8.3
    124 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Ceros Studio
    -
    Ratings
    Outgrow
    -
    Ratings
    WYSIWYG email editor7.6123 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Dynamic content8.2102 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ability to test dynamic content8.1102 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Landing pages8.2118 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    A/B testing8.2106 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile optimization8.3113 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Email deliverability reporting8.3123 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    List management8.7122 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Triggered drip sequences8.698 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Lead Management
    Comparison of Lead Management features of Act-On Software and Ceros Studio and Outgrow
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    8.2
    124 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Ceros Studio
    -
    Ratings
    Outgrow
    -
    Ratings
    Lead nurturing automation8.5113 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Lead scoring and grading8.4113 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Data quality management8.2112 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Automated sales alerts and tasks7.8104 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Campaign Management
    Comparison of Campaign Management features of Act-On Software and Ceros Studio and Outgrow
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    7.5
    84 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Ceros Studio
    -
    Ratings
    Outgrow
    -
    Ratings
    Calendaring6.88 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Event/webinar marketing8.383 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Social Media Marketing
    Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Act-On Software and Ceros Studio and Outgrow
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    7.4
    75 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Ceros Studio
    -
    Ratings
    Outgrow
    -
    Ratings
    Social sharing and campaigns7.473 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Social profile integration7.367 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Act-On Software and Ceros Studio and Outgrow
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    7.5
    124 Ratings
    0% below category average
    Ceros Studio
    -
    Ratings
    Outgrow
    -
    Ratings
    Dashboards7.6118 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Standard reports7.6122 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Custom reports7.493 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Platform & Infrastructure
    Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Act-On Software and Ceros Studio and Outgrow
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    7.7
    117 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Ceros Studio
    -
    Ratings
    Outgrow
    -
    Ratings
    API8.277 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Role-based workflow & approvals8.578 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizability7.698 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration with Salesforce.com8.569 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM7.038 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration with SugarCRM6.930 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Third-party software integrations7.58 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content Creation
    Comparison of Content Creation features of Act-On Software and Ceros Studio and Outgrow
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    -
    Ratings
    Ceros Studio
    8.0
    4 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Outgrow
    6.2
    32 Ratings
    23% below category average
    Ideation00 Ratings10.03 Ratings7.031 Ratings
    Approval workflows00 Ratings4.03 Ratings6.517 Ratings
    Content collaboration00 Ratings9.04 Ratings5.025 Ratings
    Network for content licensing/production00 Ratings9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content Publishing
    Comparison of Content Publishing features of Act-On Software and Ceros Studio and Outgrow
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    -
    Ratings
    Ceros Studio
    5.7
    4 Ratings
    31% below category average
    Outgrow
    6.8
    38 Ratings
    14% below category average
    Content hub00 Ratings9.03 Ratings5.527 Ratings
    Forms / Gated content00 Ratings3.03 Ratings7.032 Ratings
    Embedded CTAs00 Ratings8.04 Ratings6.134 Ratings
    Content distribution00 Ratings4.03 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Content promotion00 Ratings8.03 Ratings7.030 Ratings
    Content automation00 Ratings2.02 Ratings6.025 Ratings
    Content Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Content Reporting & Analytics features of Act-On Software and Ceros Studio and Outgrow
    Feature
    Act-On Software
    -
    Ratings
    Ceros Studio
    3.7
    4 Ratings
    66% below category average
    Outgrow
    6.3
    39 Ratings
    16% below category average
    Audience profiling and targeting00 Ratings1.02 Ratings6.629 Ratings
    Closed-loop tracking and reporting00 Ratings1.04 Ratings6.530 Ratings
    Content performance analytics00 Ratings5.03 Ratings5.535 Ratings
    Campaign optimization dashboard00 Ratings2.03 Ratings5.528 Ratings
    Competitive analytics00 Ratings9.72 Ratings7.31 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Act-OnCeros StudioOutgrow
    Small Businesses
    Vbout
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Contently
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Contently
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Bloomreach
    Score9.2 out of 10
    CoSchedule Marketing Suite
    Score10 out of 10
    CoSchedule Marketing Suite
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Iterable
    Score8.2 out of 10
    PathFactory
    Score8.3 out of 10
    PathFactory
    Score8.3 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Act-OnCeros StudioOutgrow
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.9
    (229 ratings)
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    7.5
    (42 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.9
    (112 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.3
    (44 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    Availability
    9.1
    (14 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    8.2
    (13 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.3
    (39 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.4
    (4 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    8.7
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.3
    (16 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.6
    (22 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    6.4
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Act-OnCeros StudioOutgrow
    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
    Read full review
    Ceros
    Ceros is fantastic for companies who can afford it. It's not ideal for startups who don't have the budget for it. If your company or agency is interested in creating interactive content, but you don't have the skill sets in-house to develop or code them properly, Ceros is for you
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Outgrow
    Well suited: When you want (potential) customers to quickly determine if your product or service is right for them. I noticed that we could make a very honest calculation tool that shows how quickly our car sharing service is beneficial to customers. These types of calculations are difficult to convey in text. Less appropriate: The length of your calculation has to be in line with what the engagement people have with your product or service. We want to determine if a shared car is interesting, so we don't want 10+ questions. But if you're selling a house you can include more questions.
    Read full review
    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
    Ceros
    • Easy to use and adopt user interface. If you know basic Photoshop, you can use this.
    • Encouraging roadmap - the product has gotten better every year. The company obviously listens to client feedback.
    • Smart, dedicated client team - always checking in, comes with new ideas, generally nice people. We always love our meetings with them!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Outgrow
    • Outgrow provides a comprehensive knowledge base, which allows you to quickly become adept at using their platform.
    • They don't make any assumptions. When your quiz or calculator is ready to go live, they offer you an in-depth checklist of ideas to promote it.
    • They ensure that you have a high degree of creativity.
    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
    Read full review
    Ceros
    • A direct to consumer model
    • Price point is high, but understandably
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Outgrow
    • The UI is a bit elaborate, it seems a bit too much when I want something basic
    • The results emails were a bit confusing to setup but support was great in getting this fixed
    • Only one Admin can use the basic service
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Ceros
    No answers on this topic
    Outgrow
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Read full review
    Ceros
    No answers on this topic
    Outgrow
    It is a no code platform that makes content creation very easy with pre-built templates and strong lead generation tools. However, customisation options are limited , complex logic can be tricky and better content organisation is needed for a large scale use. Overall, it's user friendly but needs improvement in scalability and flexibility.
    Read full review
    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.
    Read full review
    Ceros
    No answers on this topic
    Outgrow
    No answers on this topic
    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.
    Read full review
    Ceros
    No answers on this topic
    Outgrow
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Read full review
    Ceros
    Our CSMs have always been 100% and their support team typically responds within an hour or two. Their design/build team also worked with us on perfecting several experiences and are always mindful of how a project is going. One of their designers didn't really understand one of our requests and the project took more rounds of revisions than in previous projects, but they rectified the issue and the project came out well in the end. That outcome probably only happened in the time it did due to our CSM consistently checking in and getting feedback throughout the project - unfortunately, not something that happens enough with all our partners.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Outgrow
    Support is very responsive and is quick to respond to questions and problems. Outgrow sometimes changes their pricing and plan structures and add/remove options without properly relaying the info to customers. They could do a better job with communications and being upfront with the pricing plans people sign up for.
    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
    Ceros
    No answers on this topic
    Outgrow
    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.
    Read full review
    Ceros
    No answers on this topic
    Outgrow
    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
    Read full review
    Ceros
    No answers on this topic
    Outgrow
    No answers on this topic
    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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    Ceros
    Ceros takes what would be difficult to accomplish in the Adobe suite of products and makes it easy. When it comes to user experience, user interface and customization options, Ceros is a much better alternative than Adobe. However, Adobe is the trusted name and some may be more comfortable with Adobe products
    Incentivized
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    Outgrow
    The previous tools we used had no ability to make numerical calculators and limited logic jump features within surveys (if someone answers question one a particular way, skip question two, etc.) and more limited ability to direct people toward different outcomes based on how they answered questions in the surveys. Many of them didn’t have native integrations with Marketo either. These were critical features that we needed so we decided to switch to outgrow.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Read full review
    Ceros
    No answers on this topic
    Outgrow
    No answers on this topic
    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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    Ceros
    • Increased win rate during presentations.
    • Elevated content appearance.
    • Engaged audience more.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Outgrow
    • Outgrow has helped me sell more life insurance through the use of interactive calculators.
    • Outgrow has helped me attract more referral partners thus helping my agency grow.
    • Outgrow saved my agency money because I was able to cancel subscriptions to other services which offered fewer features.
    Read full review
    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.

    Outgrow Screenshots

    Screenshot of Results Page of a Calculator with Lead Generation form and CTAScreenshot of Analytics Tab: Funnel Visualization of a Completed QuizProduct screenshot