ActiveCampaign vs. Sage CRM

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ActiveCampaign
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
ActiveCampaign helps small teams power big businesses with a platform for intelligent marketing automation. It provides email marketing, marketing automation, and CRM tools that help businesses to create incredible customer experiences.
$15
per month
Sage CRM
Score 8.2 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
Sage CRM is an SMB-oriented CRM platform offered in both SaaS and on-premise editions. Unlike the Sage SalesLogix product, the SaaS version is a true multi-tenant offering. The platform offers excellent integration with Sage ERP and accounting products. It is also a good global solution and is available in many languages and is used by over 12,000 customers worldwide, with many customers in Europe.
$33
per month
Pricing
ActiveCampaignSage CRM
Editions & Modules
Starter
$15
per month
Plus
$49
per month
Pro
$79
per month
Enterprise
$145
per month
Sage CRM (cloud)
$45
Per User per Month
Sage CRM (on premise)
Lifetime License per Seat
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ActiveCampaignSage CRM
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsNo matter what plan you choose, our services are designed to help you get the most out of your investment — so you can focus on running your business. ActiveCampaign services included in all plan tiers: ActiveTraining Community access Contact migration Customer enablement workshops Video tutorials Chat and ticket support Knowledge base & help guidesTiered pricing is available for multiple users.
More Pricing Information
Features
ActiveCampaignSage CRM
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.8
677 Ratings
13% above category average
Sage CRM
-
Ratings
WYSIWYG email editor8.7594 Ratings00 Ratings
Dynamic content8.3530 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content8.1480 Ratings00 Ratings
Landing pages7.1347 Ratings00 Ratings
A/B testing9.8389 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile optimization9.1536 Ratings00 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting8.0643 Ratings00 Ratings
List management9.9662 Ratings00 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences9.9584 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.5
532 Ratings
8% above category average
Sage CRM
-
Ratings
Lead nurturing automation9.8498 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading9.1364 Ratings00 Ratings
Data quality management8.6406 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks8.0360 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead segmentation and distribution7.18 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaign Management
Comparison of Campaign Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
9.7
381 Ratings
25% above category average
Sage CRM
-
Ratings
Calendaring9.7301 Ratings00 Ratings
Event/webinar marketing9.7287 Ratings00 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.6
290 Ratings
13% above category average
Sage CRM
-
Ratings
Social sharing and campaigns8.6257 Ratings00 Ratings
Social profile integration8.6252 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
7.8
640 Ratings
5% above category average
Sage CRM
-
Ratings
Dashboards7.7609 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports7.7597 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports7.9385 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
9.4
501 Ratings
22% above category average
Sage CRM
-
Ratings
API9.8399 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based workflow & approvals9.8272 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizability9.1427 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 integrations7.728 Ratings00 Ratings
Sales Force Automation
Comparison of Sales Force Automation features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sage CRM
8.8
17 Ratings
14% above category average
Customer data management / contact management00 Ratings9.017 Ratings
Workflow management00 Ratings8.616 Ratings
Territory management00 Ratings8.517 Ratings
Opportunity management00 Ratings8.917 Ratings
Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)00 Ratings9.016 Ratings
Contract management00 Ratings8.614 Ratings
Quote & order management00 Ratings9.016 Ratings
Interaction tracking00 Ratings9.216 Ratings
Channel / partner relationship management00 Ratings8.716 Ratings
Customer Service & Support
Comparison of Customer Service & Support features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sage CRM
8.1
16 Ratings
8% above category average
Case management00 Ratings8.016 Ratings
Call center management00 Ratings8.215 Ratings
Help desk management00 Ratings8.214 Ratings
Marketing Automation
Comparison of Marketing Automation features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sage CRM
8.7
16 Ratings
14% above category average
Lead management00 Ratings8.816 Ratings
Email marketing00 Ratings8.715 Ratings
CRM Project Management
Comparison of CRM Project Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sage CRM
9.0
17 Ratings
17% above category average
Task management00 Ratings9.016 Ratings
Billing and invoicing management00 Ratings9.015 Ratings
Reporting00 Ratings9.113 Ratings
CRM Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of CRM Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sage CRM
8.6
17 Ratings
12% above category average
Forecasting00 Ratings8.716 Ratings
Pipeline visualization00 Ratings8.416 Ratings
Customizable reports00 Ratings8.717 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sage CRM
8.6
17 Ratings
13% above category average
Custom fields00 Ratings8.517 Ratings
Custom objects00 Ratings8.516 Ratings
Scripting environment00 Ratings9.016 Ratings
API for custom integration00 Ratings8.314 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sage CRM
8.7
17 Ratings
4% above category average
Single sign-on capability00 Ratings8.717 Ratings
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings8.813 Ratings
Social CRM
Comparison of Social CRM features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sage CRM
9.4
13 Ratings
26% above category average
Social data00 Ratings9.513 Ratings
Social engagement00 Ratings9.313 Ratings
Integrations with 3rd-party Software
Comparison of Integrations with 3rd-party Software features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sage CRM
9.0
14 Ratings
22% above category average
Marketing automation00 Ratings9.114 Ratings
Compensation management00 Ratings8.912 Ratings
Platform
Comparison of Platform features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sage CRM
7.8
16 Ratings
6% above category average
Mobile access00 Ratings7.816 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ActiveCampaignSage CRM
Small Businesses
Vbout
Vbout
Score 9.9 out of 10
Salesmate
Salesmate
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.2 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.2 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ActiveCampaignSage CRM
Likelihood to Recommend
8.4
(689 ratings)
8.9
(28 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.8
(25 ratings)
5.1
(11 ratings)
Usability
9.4
(50 ratings)
8.9
(11 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.2
(5 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
1.3
(41 ratings)
7.9
(8 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.1
(2 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
7.3
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.7
(14 ratings)
8.0
(1 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
ActiveCampaignSage CRM
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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Sage
as it is a very flexible software that can be adapted to any business model, other functions human resource management, manufacturing and supply chain planning, all these functions are housed in a highly technological interface. I liked this system because it made automating accounts payable so much easier.the control of the basic accounting of any type of company
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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
Read full review
Sage
  • When in client profile, it is very intuitive, allowing you to easily transcribe notes in the clients profile.
  • Sage allows 3rd party plugins, so if you utilize a particular phone services or would like to import something as simple as google drive, its compatible.
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.
Read full review
Sage
  • Reliance on Apache Tomcat causes a lot of headaches. There are common issues trying to start up the server, resulting from Apache Tomcat misconfigurations, or Java. Some forum posts on Sage City address common issues, but digging into server logs seems to be an often occurrence.
  • Support is somewhat lacking, less user install base means error messages are sometimes hard to find quick answers for. Most of the knowledge found on the internet is in the Sage City forum.
  • Integration with Microsoft 365 causes you to have to turn off some security features. This will result in your 365 tenants running lower security standards than recommended, it may put you at risk for targeted attacks.
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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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Sage
There are really no other words to say, it is a very easy to use application that is more straightforward and has provided better results with the bulk of features that appeal to a very broad amount of users. There may be other CRM platforms out there that are more prevalent, but I have found them to be much more clunky and less intuitive than Sage CRM.
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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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Sage
Excellent integration with the most important social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter) to get leads. The mobile app is quite useful for speeding up the tasks at hand and not relying on the computer or being in the office to get them done.
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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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Sage
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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Sage
Sage works very quickly based on the network you are using it on. It is internet based so if your network is slow, it will perform slowly. Reports seem to run reasonably fast, if there is too much information it is trying to populate that could slow it down a little. When Sage CRM is integrated with a Sage ERP product it doesn't tend to slow down either system at all
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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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Sage
Support team is really slow and they need to work on this really. Sometimes it takes days to resolve a simple query and there is no way to get it expedited. Rest the product is is amazing but the team should look into the costumer support and get it working
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In-Person Training
ActiveCampaign
No answers on this topic
Sage
Most training would come after a upgrade. Otherwise we would self teach new employees. Training was with a Sage Software partner SWK technologies.
Read full review
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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Sage
The implementation and upgrades were rather quick and straight forward. Attempting to link Sage CRM with Sage 100 ERP however was a nightmare and will be avoided by us in the future due to numerous issues.
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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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Sage
Whilst SAGE CRM was selected around 10 years ago and we became a partner, the main contenders would have been at the time Sales Logix and MS CRM 4.0. However, we had extensive experience of the mid-market CRM's and decided on SAGE CRM since it had a clean, easy to understand interface and importantly offered both workflow automation and Self Service capability, all of which across both the Case and Sales and Marketing functionality was seamless and saved time. As it was pure browser based, access was from anywhere we wanted. In my view, SAGE CRM still stacks up well against all the other mid-market CRM systems and offers good value for money, but more importantly, it is an easy to operate and customisable solution which user like. Again, we can teach administration users very quickly to support and customise themselves since the admin. function are clear as well.
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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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Sage
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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Sage
  • It is very affordable in pricing, compared to competitors
  • Lead management and convertion into prospects is also a very easy process
  • Lead capture from web pages should be available, and better ways to capture leads from tradeshows by uploading directly from scanned business cards
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ScreenShots

ActiveCampaign Screenshots

Screenshot of tagging, that when combined with conditional content helps to put the right message in front of each customer.Screenshot of marketing automationScreenshot of audience segmentation based on engagement, purchase activity, lead score, or any other dimensionScreenshot of live chat, site messaging, email, and a unified inbox that can be used to build relationships with customers.Screenshot of the CRM, which helps sales reps to get more done in less time