Act-On Software vs. Customer.io

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Act-On
Score 8.5 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
Customer.io
Score 9.1 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
Customer.io is a customer engagement platform that enables marketers to build sophisticated automated messaging campaigns. With access to real-time behavioral data, users can create personalized and relevant messages to engage and retain customers. This includes sending emails, push notifications, SMS, in-app messages, and more through a visual building experience. Built for scale, Customer.io boasts users among over 5,300 companies, sending over 17 billion messages per year.N/A
Pricing
Act-On SoftwareCustomer.io
Editions & Modules
Professional
$900
per month
Enterprise
$2,000+
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Act-OnCustomer.io
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
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.Essentials: For startups and small teams engaging customers on their mobile and web apps. - Up to 5,000 profiles*, Send Emails, Push, In-App, and SMS, Visual Workflow Builder, Segmentation, Two Workspaces, Email Support, Customer Community Premium: For high-growth companies looking for greater control over their messaging outcomes. - Everything in Essentials, Custom Data + Message Volume, Premium Product Features, Additional Workspaces, 90-day Onboarding Program, Premium Email & Chat Support, Managed Deliverability, Dedicated IPs, Parcel Pro Licenses, HIPAA Compliance Enterprise: For at-scale companies looking to create world-class customer experiences. - Everything in Premium, Managed Infrastructure*, Customer Success Manager, Quarterly Success Reviews, Technical Account Manager*, Audit Logging & Data Governance*, Parcel Business Licenses, Migration Support*, *Available by consultation.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Act-On SoftwareCustomer.io
Considered Both Products
Act-On
Chose Act-On
Mailchimp is a joke in my opinion. Super manual and feels too sparse. Not designed by programmers. ConvertKit is even worse. Super limited templates for a company that...is selling email templates. Shitty integration options.
Chose Act-On
Act-On pairs better with our internal CRM and provides exactly what we need. The price is better, and the working relationship with Act-On has traditionally been a good one.
Chose Act-On
We chose Act-On for its ability to support our customers within a single account. The Marketing Network is a huge benefit to our business and the offerings we provide to our customers. In previously working with Hubpsot and Salesforce, we found the support to be lacking - often …
Chose Act-On
Everything is better with Act-On Software. The landing pages, the email editing, the reporting, the campaigns, and the automated programs are just a few things I love more than Constant Contact. It's by far the best ESP out there and any sales company not using it is making a …
Chose Act-On
It's got way more bells and whistles, and we really just trust it more. Sure the Dynamics automated platform could help us, but we chose not to use it as Act-On Software sold us on their ease of use. We haven't regretted our decision and are now in the 6th (or maybe 7th) year …
Chose Act-On
Superior in every way at a competitive cost.
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 …
Chose Act-On
Act-On has been committed to improving the system and performance through customized reports and workflows to motivate customers and track their progress and participation.
Chose Act-On
We investigated heavily into automation platforms prior to purchasing. Act-On was easily the stand out because:
  1. Interactive reporting. Getting behavioral data and other analytics is critical for us making the educated decisions we need for our business to continue to succeed.
  2. Enh…
Chose Act-On
Hootsuite allows me to add a month's worth of content to all of our social media platforms at one time. My problem with Act-On is it would not connect our accounts and when it did it would not use the company account. It would only use my personal account. Hootsuite also gives …
Chose Act-On
We have been evaluating HubSpot and Zoho CRM. These 2 are more expensive and more robust. These include more of the sales side interactions like pipelines, tasks, marketing emails, etc. Our team uses ACT as more of a Rolodex then a tool. Because we do have an outside ticket …
Chose Act-On
Acton does really well in ease of setup, quality of support, and also does a decent job in dashboard creation. These features are something that drove us to opt for Act-on.
Chose Act-On
I am a relatively new HubSpot user and have only used a few different things on there but so far, the UI/UX is much more pleasant, seems more organized, seems more capable in general. I had heard rave reviews about HubSpot from my former coworkers who were using Act-On with me, …
Chose Act-On
I think that if you're just starting out in email marketing, you'll probably navigate to a tool like MailChimp. When you've gotten a good base of what the industry is and you want to do a little bit more, then you'll upgrade to Hubspot and then to Act-On. I feel like Act-on is …
Chose Act-On
I would select Act-On over competitors in the marketing space. While it can be used for sales outreach, I would not select it as a sales tool.
Chose Act-On
Act-On is the scrappy little program that could. One of the biggest problems of the larger ESP and ABM services is that companies have to meet a high standard with their other software and IT in order to use them. I think this is a big failing on their part, considering that …
Chose Act-On
We used to use a combination of SugarCRM and Inbox25, but we moved to a Microsoft platform and had to go to a compatible platform. Act-On was the perfect fit since it was compatible with both Sugar CRM and Dynamics CRM, which made our change over and integration relatively …
Chose Act-On
Many more, too^^^

The best after any free one. Once a company has a budget it's time for Act-On.
Chose Act-On
Act-On has a much more hands-on customer support focus than any of the other companies that we have worked with that do similar things. They also have a really easy to use platform (however I know they all do). It's one of those products that you feel good when you are using it.
Chose Act-On
A colleague used iContact but it did not offer us the ability to build content as efficiently as ActOn. In addition, the survey, landing page and automated program functionality was not available or not as advanced.
Chose 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 …
Chose Act-On
We like to know a variety here, and we know multiple marketing automation platforms to help provide the best direction to our clients. We need to provide the know-how in many different use cases. Sometimes, Act-On isn't always the best solution for a company's needs. Marketers …
Chose Act-On
Act-On was decided upon by the Marketing and Operations team. I am part of the Development team and was consulted on the aspects of reporting. However, our Marketing/Operations team were very pleased with the way you could personalize and create your own emails and campaigns …
Customer.io
Chose Customer.io
Generous startup program plan which was one of the main drivers of us choosing it - additionally, it offers ample of features. For anyone from engineering, marketing or sales - this was super intuitive so no knowledge transfer was necessary.
Chose Customer.io
I have tried multiple email marketing software, including MailChimp, ConvertKit, CustomerIO, and HubSpot, but I really liked how CustomerIO solved our problem. They were all somehow solving our problem, but lacked a few things here and there. For instance, ConvertKit’s forte is …
Chose Customer.io
There are so many ways to seamlessly connect all your tech together so the data stays consistent. I like their pricing model of charging per user vs data stored, like Iterable and Braze do. I also think their marketing is so good and the content they put out are actually …
Chose Customer.io
Customer.io offers push notifications, email building process in much much better, and the workflow building is way more intuitive.
Chose Customer.io
Customer.io is easier to use and offers better bang for the buck.
Chose Customer.io
Klaviyo doesn't have all the integrated options that Customer.io has. Braze has all the same features, but have a different pricing model (pay only for users that logged in and not for everything in the account), so depending on the company's needs it might be more suitable.
Chose Customer.io
Pardot has a clunky, outdated interface and capabilities, making it highly challenging to work with. On the other hand, Customer.io has been the opposite and it's one of the easiest tools to work on in our entire tech stack.
Chose Customer.io
because the functonalities and how it is integrated with our Redshift database
Chose Customer.io
Customer.io had the best suite of features and - most importantly for us - was willing to sign a BAA with us so we could maintain HIPAA compliance. Mailchimp was fine but we felt Customer.io had a cleaner interface and was easier for general marketers who aren't dedicated email …
Chose Customer.io
Customer.io has in my opinion more robust features for comms campaigns vs some of the other tools available on the market that have other focuses primarily and then have CRM tacked on. We've also found Customer.io to be more easy to integrate with the tech stack of our business …
Chose Customer.io
Customer.io is much more comprehensive and powerful. It takes some getting used to but once you understand how it works, you have a ton of control when it comes to email marketing.
Chose Customer.io
I found Customer.io much easier to navigate than any of the other email platforms out there, and the pricing is MUCH better as well.
Chose Customer.io
Customer is much more flexible and enables a greater amount of personalization.
Chose Customer.io
Customer.io is one of the tools we use or suggest based on the situation. Customer.io is in a place between basic email marketing and marketing automation (in my opinion). And suits well with clients who wants to advance or start with marketing automation.

It's easy, the price …
Chose Customer.io
We used Autopilot in the past. It worked well but the integration wasn't very good, considering they only used cookies. We have a very complex system right now to be able to track every customer, and it was expensive but worth it. Autopilot worked very well when we were …
Chose Customer.io
I think Customer.io is a unique product. Most of the other email marketing products you'll find are more B2B focused and don't provide a good solution for high volume emails at a low price. If you're a B2C company, I can't think of any email product I'd rather use than …
Chose Customer.io
We do still use Hubspot, but their email automation is very native and fixed within Hubspot. We needed something that was going to collect our events and integrate 2-ways with Segment in order to effectively send the campaigns we desired. There are so many events in our app …
Chose Customer.io
Customer.io was really the first pure, full-featured drip email program on the market and as far as I know, it's still the simplest and best overall for that specific function. SendGrid has also added drip campaign features, but I would seriously evaluate Customer.io against …
Features
Act-On SoftwareCustomer.io
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
8.2
Ratings
7% above category average
Customer.io
-
Ratings
WYSIWYG email editor7.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Dynamic content8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Landing pages8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
A/B testing8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile optimization8.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting8.30 Ratings00 Ratings
List management8.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences8.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
8.2
Ratings
5% above category average
Customer.io
-
Ratings
Lead nurturing automation8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Data quality management8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks7.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaign Management
Comparison of Campaign Management features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
7.5
Ratings
2% above category average
Customer.io
-
Ratings
Calendaring6.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Event/webinar marketing8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
7.3
Ratings
0% below category average
Customer.io
-
Ratings
Social sharing and campaigns7.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Social profile integration7.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
7.5
Ratings
2% above category average
Customer.io
-
Ratings
Dashboards7.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports7.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports7.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
7.7
Ratings
3% above category average
Customer.io
-
Ratings
API8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based workflow & approvals8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizability7.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Salesforce.com8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with SugarCRM6.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Third-party software integrations7.50 Ratings00 Ratings
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Act-On SoftwareCustomer.io
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PFL Direct Mail Platform
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Score 9.0 out of 10
Dialpad Support
Dialpad Support
Score 9.1 out of 10
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User Ratings
Act-On SoftwareCustomer.io
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.9
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(0 ratings)
9.2
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.3
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.7
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.6
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
6.4
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Act-On SoftwareCustomer.io
Likelihood to Recommend
If you have MS Dynamics CRM, this is the automation platform for you and your operations. Act-On Software easily syncs with dynamics, and we've never had a problem with this since we set ours up years ago. If you use a different CRM, I'd check to see if other options might make more sense. Having that ability for the systems to seamlessly talk is critical.
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This tool is well-suited for companies looking to run email marketing campaigns or send out newsletters regularly to their users/customers. The workflow setup is especially useful for companies who want to send specific emails based on user behavior - i.e. they've not logged in recently, have bought a specific product, haven't opened any emails, etc. This could also be useful for freelancers like me since you can create different workspaces within Customer.io. I have configured it this way to handle email marketing for a few of my clients, and the software keeps everything organized and separate. This might not be the best tool for small businesses, considering the price. It may be better to start out with a cheaper email marketing tool, and then if/when necessary, scale-up with a tool like Customer.io.
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Pros
  • 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.
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  • Ease of use, a good tool for non programmers, or not so tech savvy people.
  • Great support, willing to help a lot, by chat, calls, or screen sharing.
  • Fast updates, it's a newer tool, but they are coming with fixes and updates fast.
Read full review
Cons
  • Building email and landing page templates are difficult, the drag and drop builder is not straightforward, and requires coding knowledge
  • The workflow tool is cumbersome and not as intuitive as I'd expect a best in class marketing software's to be
  • Domain connections and domain management functionality made it difficult to manage multiple company domains and subdomains for pages
Read full review
  • Customer.io needs to be more known! I don't know why they don't come up as a direct competitor to Iterable and Braze.
  • Their new Design Studio drag + drop tool could be improved with further customization.
  • Reports aren't the strongest - I use Amplitude to do all my Customer.io reporting.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
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
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No answers on this topic
Usability
It's good, but not quite brilliant. Some parts of the interface are still a bit outdated. The product has been evolving very fast, though, and I believe in a few months it will be up there with the best of them, interface wise as well.
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Super intuitive and easy interface to start off with. There are not a lot of guides and the documentation is helpful but not super extensive, but even if you're a little technical, you can easily figure most of the things out by yourself. Everything is super easy to start with and the platform does not overwhelm you with a lot of options, or data.
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Reliability and Availability
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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No answers on this topic
Performance
Sometimes the server loading speed is a little slow but most often runs fine and if it doesn't their tech support is quick to respond
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
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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My experience with their support team has always been great. Very quick to respond, have an online chat, and are very helpful. They helped me resolve any issues I've had every time in a professional and knowledgeable manner. We've now switched to another tool, and I can't even compare the service level we get there to customer.io
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In-Person Training
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
No answers on this topic
Online Training
The system is very user friendly, I think we were up and running within a day or so of having the product. It took very few online training for me to learn a large chunk of the functionality of this system.
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
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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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
We chose Act-On for its ability to support our customers within a single account. The Marketing Network is a huge benefit to our business and the offerings we provide to our customers. In previously working with Hubpsot and Salesforce, we found the support to be lacking - often being referred to a forum or landing page rather than getting hands-on guided help from a knowledgeable person on their team. We LOVE Act-On and the team that they have servicing our account!
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I have tried multiple email marketing software, including MailChimp, ConvertKit, CustomerIO, and HubSpot, but I really liked how CustomerIO solved our problem. They were all somehow solving our problem, but lacked a few things here and there. For instance, ConvertKit’s forte is newsletter emails and landing pages that it creates for you. It wasn’t a desiccated email software company. HubSpot was good, but with CustomerIO’s recent AI updates, I like it much better. Plus, support is impeccable.
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Scalability
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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No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • Positive- quick setup for webinars between 3 different tools, made it easy to do in high volume
  • Negative- lots of processes with the designer tools that made email/landing page design take longer than it should have, costing man hours
  • Positive- email automation with different types of campaigns we could have flowing at once or could span across multiple audience segments made it so we could consistently create touch points and increase our engagement, thus our ROI over time
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  • Positive impact on the sales side. I'm not sure about the specific ROI (you have to include the designer and the time it takes to set up) but you certainly get back the investment in a few months, once you are able to scale your email marketing.
  • Customer experience is way better by having more segmented, contextual and accurate messages sent to them.
  • Integration is costly and it will take several days or weeks to be fully achieved. Expect to invest some money on this.
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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.

Customer.io Screenshots

Screenshot of data-driven or manual segments that can be created in the no-code builder for recipient lists, campaign triggers, filters, and conversion goals.Screenshot of the code editor for email, that helps navigate code and iterate.Screenshot of account performance, visible at a glance from the Dashboard view.Screenshot of drag and drop messages, time delays, and branches where desired, to build cross-channel campaigns.Screenshot of triggered campaigns based on forms submissions, customer attributes, customer actions, and dates.Screenshot of localization for global audiences. One message can be delivered in multiple languages.