ActiveCampaign vs. Sugar Market

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ActiveCampaign
Score 8.3 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.
$15
per month
Sugar Market
Score 2.1 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
Sugar Market (formerly Salesfusion) is a marketing automation solution built to work for the user. With a curated toolset that includes intuitive campaign builders, automations and reporting, the vendor says they focus on what matters most to marketers -- streamlining campaign creation, understanding engagement, improving conversion, and driving more revenue. Salesfusion was acquired by SugarCRM May 2019.
$750
per month
Pricing
ActiveCampaignSugar Market
Editions & Modules
Starter
$15
per month
Pro
$49
per month
Plus
$79
per month
Enterprise
$159
per month
Core
$1,000
Database size
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ActiveCampaignSugar Market
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalRequired
Additional DetailsPrices listed are monthly subscription rates. Our packages include live support and training. Additional charges apply for contact databases above 10k, dedicated IPs, CRM integration and sandboxes. Please complete the form on our site to request a quote based on your specific needs.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ActiveCampaignSugar Market
Features
ActiveCampaignSugar Market
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.6
688 Ratings
12% above category average
Sugar Market
4.4
4 Ratings
53% below category average
WYSIWYG email editor8.3605 Ratings3.03 Ratings
Dynamic content8.0539 Ratings5.03 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content7.9488 Ratings4.02 Ratings
Landing pages7.0356 Ratings6.03 Ratings
A/B testing8.9398 Ratings4.03 Ratings
Mobile optimization8.8545 Ratings1.03 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting9.0654 Ratings7.04 Ratings
List management9.4673 Ratings4.04 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences10.0594 Ratings6.03 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.6
541 Ratings
10% above category average
Sugar Market
5.3
4 Ratings
38% below category average
Lead nurturing automation9.1507 Ratings6.04 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading8.5370 Ratings4.04 Ratings
Data quality management9.4413 Ratings5.04 Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks8.2365 Ratings6.03 Ratings
Lead segmentation and distribution7.917 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaign Management
Comparison of Campaign Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
9.7
388 Ratings
27% above category average
Sugar Market
6.5
3 Ratings
13% below category average
Calendaring9.9308 Ratings6.03 Ratings
Event/webinar marketing9.4291 Ratings7.02 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
7.2
295 Ratings
3% below category average
Sugar Market
8.2
1 Ratings
10% above category average
Social sharing and campaigns7.4262 Ratings8.21 Ratings
Social profile integration6.9257 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
7.9
650 Ratings
8% above category average
Sugar Market
2.3
4 Ratings
104% below category average
Dashboards8.0619 Ratings5.04 Ratings
Standard reports7.9607 Ratings1.04 Ratings
Custom reports7.8394 Ratings1.04 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
9.1
509 Ratings
20% above category average
Sugar Market
4.8
4 Ratings
43% below category average
API8.7407 Ratings5.02 Ratings
Role-based workflow & approvals8.6278 Ratings6.02 Ratings
Customizability7.9435 Ratings3.02 Ratings
Integration with Salesforce.com9.397 Ratings9.22 Ratings
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM9.964 Ratings1.01 Ratings
Integration with SugarCRM9.959 Ratings00 Ratings
Third-party software integrations9.237 Ratings00 Ratings
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ActiveCampaignSugar Market
Small Businesses
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Score 10.0 out of 10
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Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
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Score 9.0 out of 10
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Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
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PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.0 out of 10
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User Ratings
ActiveCampaignSugar Market
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(699 ratings)
3.0
(7 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(25 ratings)
10.0
(3 ratings)
Usability
9.2
(62 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.3
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.3
(41 ratings)
8.2
(1 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
ActiveCampaignSugar Market
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
SugarCRM
Salesfusion is a marketing automation platform more appropriate for small companies considering the limited functionalities are limited. The email builder tool is easy to use and ideal for someone with no coding knowledge
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
SugarCRM
  • It was easy to navigate.
  • I liked that I could click on a link to email a potential client and that it would track/link that email back to the Salesfusion profile.
  • I liked the reporting features so that I could see exactly how many cold calls resulted in appointments, with whom I last left voicemail or need to follow up with.
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
SugarCRM
  • The user interface is somewhat cumbersome and not intuitive at times.
  • Additional user education available through downloads for existing customers rather than scheduled webinars would be helpful.
  • Custom reporting is complicated to set up.
Read full review
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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SugarCRM
We've been very happy with SalesFusion since day 1. We've also created a new website during the time period that we've had SF and everything carried over great to our new website!
Read full review
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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SugarCRM
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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SugarCRM
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.
Read full review
SugarCRM
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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SugarCRM
The support team has always been helpful, friendly, prompt and knowledgeable. They follow-up on all my tickets promptly and when needed are available for screen sharing to illustrate solutions for more complex problems. The support department at Salesfusion is one of my favorite things about the platform.
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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SugarCRM
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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SugarCRM
I was using Net-Results and it seemed more geared for an experienced marketer who was familiar with HTML and didn't need as much training. I found the system frustrating and didn't have much success when I called in for training. I was brand new to automation marketing and needed more hand-holding than Net-Results was able to provide
Read full review
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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SugarCRM
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
SugarCRM
  • Increased employee efficiency
  • Better customer service
  • The ability to send email campaigns from a specific user and not "from" the organization title. We use this funcationality a lot and it was not available with other software so this is huge.
Read full review
ScreenShots

ActiveCampaign Screenshots

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