ActiveCampaign vs. iContact Pro Select

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ActiveCampaign
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
ActiveCampaign 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.
$19
per month
iContact Pro Select
Score 6.4 out of 10
N/A
iContact Pro Select (formerly Outmarket) includes email marketing, landing pages, social media management, press outreach, and analytics. The software was originally Vocus Marketing Suite, and then was known as Outmarket. It was acquired by Cision
$300
per month
Pricing
ActiveCampaigniContact Pro Select
Editions & Modules
Starter
$19
per month
Plus
$59
per month
Pro
$89
per month
Enterprise
$159
per month
Basic
$300
per month
Plus
$600
per month
Pro
$1,000
per month
Enterprise
$2,500
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ActiveCampaigniContact Pro Select
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsActiveCampaign offers a discount for annual billing of up to 20%. Services included in all plan tiers: ActiveTraining Community access Contact migration Customer enablement workshops Video tutorials Chat and ticket support Knowledge base & help guides
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ActiveCampaigniContact Pro Select
Features
ActiveCampaigniContact Pro Select
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.4
684 Ratings
10% above category average
iContact Pro Select
-
Ratings
WYSIWYG email editor8.1601 Ratings00 Ratings
Dynamic content7.6536 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content7.5485 Ratings00 Ratings
Landing pages6.4352 Ratings00 Ratings
A/B testing9.0394 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile optimization8.6542 Ratings00 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting9.0650 Ratings00 Ratings
List management9.5669 Ratings00 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences10.0590 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.3
537 Ratings
6% above category average
iContact Pro Select
-
Ratings
Lead nurturing automation9.2503 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading8.4367 Ratings00 Ratings
Data quality management9.0409 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks7.4362 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead segmentation and distribution7.613 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaign Management
Comparison of Campaign Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
9.9
385 Ratings
28% above category average
iContact Pro Select
-
Ratings
Calendaring9.9305 Ratings00 Ratings
Event/webinar marketing9.9289 Ratings00 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
7.4
293 Ratings
1% below category average
iContact Pro Select
-
Ratings
Social sharing and campaigns7.6260 Ratings00 Ratings
Social profile integration7.1255 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
7.6
646 Ratings
4% above category average
iContact Pro Select
-
Ratings
Dashboards7.6615 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports7.6603 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports7.6390 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
9.1
505 Ratings
20% above category average
iContact Pro Select
-
Ratings
API8.7403 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based workflow & approvals8.3275 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizability7.8431 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Salesforce.com9.894 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM9.961 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with SugarCRM9.957 Ratings00 Ratings
Third-party software integrations9.133 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ActiveCampaigniContact Pro Select
Small Businesses
Vbout
Vbout
Score 10.0 out of 10
Vbout
Vbout
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.1 out of 10
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.1 out of 10
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.1 out of 10
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User Ratings
ActiveCampaigniContact Pro Select
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(695 ratings)
6.8
(3 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(25 ratings)
6.1
(3 ratings)
Usability
9.1
(57 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.3
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.3
(41 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
7.3
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.6
(14 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
6.4
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
1.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
6.4
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
7.3
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
ActiveCampaigniContact Pro Select
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
Read full review
iContact
If you use PRWeb already and are looking for a tool that integrates well with that program and offers additional functionality with email and social media then Vocus is great. If you don't use PRWeb or prefer an email tool with more functionality and ease of use, Vocus is not the best choice.
Read full review
Pros
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
Read full review
iContact
  • Social Media Listening e.g.: Recommendations, Identify influencers for a selected topic, based on actual influence, or number of reposts and/or references, rather than the number of followers.
  • Campaign Management - Landing Page and Web Form Templates
  • Email Marketing -Delivery Tracking and Spam Analysis
Read full review
Cons
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.
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iContact
  • Vocus can do a better job communicating with us. The representative made promises to us that I have not seen be fulfilled such as getting us national media hits through connections that he had.
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Likelihood to Renew
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.
Read full review
iContact
Now that we have had the opportunity to try an enterprise wide marketing solution, I think we should look at other tools and programs that have greater flexibility and ease of use. If the tool does not happen to have PR Web then so be it. We may not see the cost savings with PR announcements but if the other tools have increased email functionality then we can part with more money on the PR side like we have in the past
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Usability
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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iContact
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
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.
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iContact
No answers on this topic
Performance
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.
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iContact
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
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.
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iContact
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
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.
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iContact
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
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.
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iContact
I've used MailChimp before to generate emails and found Vocus to be a better option because it is an overall suite providing the tools to create customizable emails as well as many other features including press releases, social media etc. Vocus is an all-in-one platform for marketing which makes things more efficient for the user by being able to handle all marketing through one outlet.
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Scalability
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!
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iContact
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
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
Read full review
iContact
  • Much more targeted email marketing. Spam analysis helped improve our overall email performance.
  • Increased customer engagement through social media listening.
  • Scheduled emails increased email open and click-through rates by 120%!
Read full review
ScreenShots

ActiveCampaign Screenshots

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