ActiveCampaign vs. Reply

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ActiveCampaign
Score 8.5 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.
$180
per year (single user)
Reply
Score 7.2 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
Reply.io helps sales teams book more meetings by automating outreach with smart AI. It finds leads, writes personalized messages, handles replies, and books meetings, so you can focus on closing deals. Reply.io's AI SDR learns the product, targets its potential users, and engages across email, LinkedIn, SMS, WhatsApp, and calls. Additionally it: Handles replies, books meetings, and works in multiple languages Has access to 1B+ leads with…
$59
per month per user (1000 active contacts/month)
Pricing
ActiveCampaignReply
Editions & Modules
Starter
$15
per month (billed annually)
Pro
$49
per month (billed annually)
Plus
$79
per month (billed annually)
Enterprise
$149
per month (billed annually)
AI Chat
$50
per month
Email Volume
$59
per month per user
Multichannel
$99
per month per user
Agency
$166 (starts at)
per month (billed annually) per account
AI SDR Starter
starting with $800
per month 1000 active contacts
AI SDR Growth
Starts from $2500
per month 5000 active contacts
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ActiveCampaignReply
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalOptional
Additional DetailsDiscount available for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ActiveCampaignReply
Considered Both Products
ActiveCampaign

No answer on this topic

Reply
Chose Reply
These tools are great, but they aren't built for what we use Reply for. Reply is perfect for doing these outbound campaigns at scale, whereas with ActiveCampaign and Vitally we were trying to turn the tools into something they are not.
Chose Reply
Its customer service is very professional. They respond to my messages within a few minutes. I recently had a hard time creating templates, and their representative gives me the right workable solution, which makes me more comfortable using the platform on the next step. It …
Features
ActiveCampaignReply
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.6
688 Ratings
12% above category average
Reply
-
Ratings
WYSIWYG email editor8.5605 Ratings00 Ratings
Dynamic content8.3539 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content8.3488 Ratings00 Ratings
Landing pages7.2356 Ratings00 Ratings
A/B testing8.6398 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile optimization8.9545 Ratings00 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting8.9654 Ratings00 Ratings
List management9.2673 Ratings00 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences10.0594 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.7
541 Ratings
11% above category average
Reply
-
Ratings
Lead nurturing automation8.9507 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading8.4370 Ratings00 Ratings
Data quality management9.7413 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks8.6365 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead segmentation and distribution8.017 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaign Management
Comparison of Campaign Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
9.6
388 Ratings
26% above category average
Reply
-
Ratings
Calendaring9.9308 Ratings00 Ratings
Event/webinar marketing9.3291 Ratings00 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
6.8
295 Ratings
8% below category average
Reply
-
Ratings
Social sharing and campaigns7.2262 Ratings00 Ratings
Social profile integration6.5257 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.2
650 Ratings
11% above category average
Reply
-
Ratings
Dashboards8.3619 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports8.1607 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports8.1394 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
9.0
509 Ratings
19% above category average
Reply
-
Ratings
API8.6407 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based workflow & approvals8.5278 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizability7.9435 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Salesforce.com9.197 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM9.964 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with SugarCRM9.659 Ratings00 Ratings
Third-party software integrations9.037 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ActiveCampaignReply
Small Businesses
Vbout
Vbout
Score 9.9 out of 10
Salesmate
Salesmate
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.0 out of 10
HubSpot Sales Hub
HubSpot Sales Hub
Score 8.8 out of 10
Enterprises
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.0 out of 10
Outreach
Outreach
Score 8.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ActiveCampaignReply
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(699 ratings)
6.3
(13 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(25 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.3
(62 ratings)
6.3
(3 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.3
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.3
(41 ratings)
8.0
(2 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
7.3
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.5
(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
ActiveCampaignReply
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.
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Reply
Reply works best for structured outbound to a defined ICP, where reps personalize the opener, then let multi-step cadences run across email, calls, and LinkedIn with reply detection and CRM sync. It excels for time-sensitive triggers, event follow ups, closed-lost recycling, and A/B testing to standardize winning copy. It is less suited to bespoke enterprise pursuits that need deep research or legal signoff on every touch, or to untargeted high-volume blasts. In those cases, keep Reply for light structure and handle core outreach manually.
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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
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Reply
  • To automatically sync our data, and keep records up to date, it offers a variety of native CRM connections, seamless integration with other tools, a robust API, and the power of Zapier.
  • I'm impressed by it, because it includes all of the capabilities I needed, as well as multivariate testing and, most significantly, an excellent reporting system.
  • It offers an extensive set of features for efficient outbound and inbound marketing automation.
  • With reporting and lead qualifying, the automation component is pretty powerful.
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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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Reply
  • Syncing to other programs. You cannot interrelate Reply with other software in a simple way. Zapier is required and even then it’s not perfect.
  • Similar to syncing, there’s no way to export results of particular campaigns. This is awful. If I send out a campaign to a group, I’d like to export the results to enter into a CRM since I can’t sync the contacts. One of these features must be added ASAP.
  • Organization. While Reply itself is user-friendly, keeping campaigns and contacts and results organized is not. You cannot organize campaigns or file them away when they are done. Therefore you have to delete campaigns to stay organized and lose results, which you cannot even export.
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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.
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Reply
No answers on this topic
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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Reply
Reply’s overall usability is strong. The interface is intuitive, and most features are easy to navigate without much training. Creating and managing sequences is straightforward, and the automation flow saves a lot of manual effort. Occasionally, the dashboard can feel a bit cluttered, and reporting could be more flexible. But overall, it’s a user-friendly tool that allows teams to get started quickly and operate efficiently day to day
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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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Reply
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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Reply
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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Reply
I generally receive a reply in no time at all and found not only the support org. but the sales team to be extremely helpful. Additionally I found a great onboarding process with plenty of resources to consume.
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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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Reply
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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Reply
Reply is a very good and widely known platform. I find it to be a lot more sophisticated and composed. I believe this tool works great for both large and small companies, which makes it stand out. There are so many other tools that work great, but they are restricted to the type and size of certain companies. With Mailchimp the email chain automation was not up to the mark and we faced a lot of problems due to it. However, Reply has solved all those issues.
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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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Reply
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
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Reply
  • Reply.io has been a lot more effective than MailChimp in terms of the follow-ups for the email chains. We use them to contact the people who said they wanted to do business with us and MailChimp's emails usually went to Promotions on Gmail. With Reply.io, we overcame this problem and the open rate improved 30%.
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ScreenShots

ActiveCampaign Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of

Reply Screenshots

Screenshot of an overview of Reply's multichannel outreach toolScreenshot of Reply's multichannel cold outreachScreenshot of an overview of Reply's AI PersonalizationScreenshot of the email deliverability kitScreenshot of Reply's B2B databaseScreenshot of the AI SDR Agent