ActiveCampaign vs. Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)

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.
$19
per month
Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Sugar Sell from SugarCRM is a collaborative CRM, allowing users to track and monitor activities, map each customer’s journey and automate as many workflows as you need to. Sugar Sell is presented by the vendor as lean, fast and integratable with anything. Sugar Sell replaces former editions of the SugarCRM product, including the SugarCRM Community Edition, the open source edition, which is discontinued.
$147
per month 3 users
Pricing
ActiveCampaignSugar Sell (SugarCRM)
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Essentials
$49
per month per user (3 user minimum, 5 user maximum)
Sugar Enterprise
$85
per month per user (billed annually)
Advanced
$85
per month per user (3 user minimum)
Sugar Enterprise+
$135
per month per user (billed annually)
Premier
$135
per month per user (10 user minimum)
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ActiveCampaignSugar Sell (SugarCRM)
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ActiveCampaignSugar Sell (SugarCRM)
Considered Both Products
ActiveCampaign
Chose ActiveCampaign
Hubspot, I've only heard and dread by the thoughts of it that it will become expensive over time
SugarCRM, didn't have a 360 degree approach to it.
Mautic, complete open-source and had to be managed by us.
Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
ActiveCampaignSugar Sell (SugarCRM)
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.9
664 Ratings
13% above category average
Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)
-
Ratings
WYSIWYG email editor9.4581 Ratings00 Ratings
Dynamic content9.1520 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content8.8471 Ratings00 Ratings
Landing pages8.0338 Ratings00 Ratings
A/B testing9.1380 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile optimization9.3526 Ratings00 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting7.2631 Ratings00 Ratings
List management9.6650 Ratings00 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences9.7574 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
7.5
524 Ratings
3% below category average
Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)
-
Ratings
Lead nurturing automation9.2491 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading8.0359 Ratings00 Ratings
Data quality management9.2401 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks9.2355 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead segmentation and distribution1.81 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaign Management
Comparison of Campaign Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
9.6
374 Ratings
23% above category average
Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)
-
Ratings
Calendaring9.6295 Ratings00 Ratings
Event/webinar marketing9.5286 Ratings00 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
9.5
287 Ratings
23% above category average
Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)
-
Ratings
Social sharing and campaigns9.6254 Ratings00 Ratings
Social profile integration9.5250 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.4
627 Ratings
11% above category average
Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)
-
Ratings
Dashboards8.0597 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports8.0584 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports9.1377 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
9.2
491 Ratings
19% above category average
Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)
-
Ratings
API9.6391 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based workflow & approvals9.2267 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizability9.4420 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Salesforce.com9.392 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM9.860 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with SugarCRM9.856 Ratings00 Ratings
Third-party software integrations7.520 Ratings00 Ratings
Sales Force Automation
Comparison of Sales Force Automation features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)
8.2
32 Ratings
6% above category average
Customer data management / contact management00 Ratings8.831 Ratings
Workflow management00 Ratings7.927 Ratings
Territory management00 Ratings8.525 Ratings
Opportunity management00 Ratings8.225 Ratings
Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)00 Ratings9.028 Ratings
Contract management00 Ratings8.725 Ratings
Quote & order management00 Ratings7.823 Ratings
Interaction tracking00 Ratings7.129 Ratings
Channel / partner relationship management00 Ratings7.924 Ratings
Customer Service & Support
Comparison of Customer Service & Support features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)
8.2
23 Ratings
9% above category average
Case management00 Ratings8.823 Ratings
Call center management00 Ratings8.018 Ratings
Help desk management00 Ratings7.716 Ratings
Marketing Automation
Comparison of Marketing Automation features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)
7.9
24 Ratings
5% above category average
Lead management00 Ratings8.521 Ratings
Email marketing00 Ratings7.322 Ratings
CRM Project Management
Comparison of CRM Project Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)
8.9
27 Ratings
16% above category average
Task management00 Ratings8.725 Ratings
Billing and invoicing management00 Ratings9.117 Ratings
Reporting00 Ratings8.723 Ratings
CRM Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of CRM Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)
8.7
27 Ratings
13% above category average
Forecasting00 Ratings8.723 Ratings
Pipeline visualization00 Ratings8.724 Ratings
Customizable reports00 Ratings8.726 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)
8.8
28 Ratings
15% above category average
Custom fields00 Ratings9.028 Ratings
Custom objects00 Ratings8.725 Ratings
Scripting environment00 Ratings8.718 Ratings
API for custom integration00 Ratings8.724 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)
8.5
26 Ratings
2% above category average
Single sign-on capability00 Ratings9.120 Ratings
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings7.925 Ratings
Social CRM
Comparison of Social CRM features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)
8.2
18 Ratings
12% above category average
Social data00 Ratings8.218 Ratings
Social engagement00 Ratings8.315 Ratings
Integrations with 3rd-party Software
Comparison of Integrations with 3rd-party Software features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)
8.0
18 Ratings
11% above category average
Marketing automation00 Ratings8.718 Ratings
Compensation management00 Ratings7.412 Ratings
Platform
Comparison of Platform features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)
8.1
19 Ratings
8% above category average
Mobile access00 Ratings8.119 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ActiveCampaignSugar Sell (SugarCRM)
Small Businesses
Vbout
Vbout
Score 9.5 out of 10
Salesmate
Salesmate
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.3 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.3 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ActiveCampaignSugar Sell (SugarCRM)
Likelihood to Recommend
7.8
(676 ratings)
7.2
(58 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.4
(25 ratings)
8.2
(26 ratings)
Usability
7.7
(38 ratings)
8.1
(9 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(5 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
7.0
(5 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
1.4
(41 ratings)
9.1
(12 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.1
(2 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
7.3
(1 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.6
(14 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
Configurability
6.4
(4 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.0
(4 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
1.5
(5 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
6.4
(4 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
7.2
(4 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
ActiveCampaignSugar Sell (SugarCRM)
Likelihood to Recommend
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is brilliant for small businesses wanting a secure, reliable and user friendly email capture software that filters users emails into the appropriate category/tags and have endless options when it comes to having different lead magnets and ways users may sign up. It's been super handy for my small business to send regular emails and be able to analyse the success rates and open rates of emails and the ability to resend them with a different subject line. It's made email marketing really easy peasy.
Read full review
SugarCRM
The way Community Tax uses Sugar from a users point of view is, it can house a lot of information for either a company or individual with the option of adding additional sub cases . The down side is there are licenses issued per user and 1 per user is not enough because most of the time we are multitasking. Therefore a program/software would be more suitable instead of using a URL.
Read full review
Pros
ActiveCampaign
  • The graphic design is very good, especially fonts, colours and templates
  • Flexibility of design and functionality
  • Takes a little while to learn it, but generally user-friendly
  • Looks very professional but doesn't cost much to get started
  • There are masses of integrations for ActiveCampaign, and the ones I tried all worked well and didn't take long to figure out.
Read full review
SugarCRM
  • Great way to keep myself organized. I do not miss appointments with clients since within the system I can input my appointment time and also send out a reminder to my clients.
  • It has a nice layout [that] does not seem to be cluttered. I find it to be very user friendly.
  • It has customizable dashboards which I find beneficial
Read full review
Cons
ActiveCampaign
  • The email designing part could be easier to use. There are certain simple shortcuts that don't work, for example, adding links is more complicated than it should be, moving blocks around is hard, etc.
  • There's no good way to filter by 'active' and 'inactive' subscribers when editing en-mass.
  • I'd like more reporting data on one page.
Read full review
SugarCRM
  • The back-end programming (logical hooks) for advanced customizations could benefit from a more user-friendly interface
  • General layout could be improved by the addition of modern templates to customize the standard look and feel
  • Support communities could be further improved with the addition of videos on how to do specific configuration, modules.
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.
Read full review
SugarCRM
Our organization will continue to use Sugar as long as it remains cost effective and it addresses the majority of our needs. I will, however, recommend looking into other options once our needs increase and there is additional budget for some bigger named and more robust platform options. I feel if the application was friendlier to end users we would get better productivity as well.
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.
Read full review
SugarCRM
There's a learning curve associated with Sugar. Right away, it's not as easy as an out-of-the-box CRM. Once you learn how to use Sugar, the system fits what your needs are. With any other CRM, you'd be trying to figure out how your company can best fit the CRM. You don't want to change your business cycle for your CRM, the CRM should fit your business cycle.
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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.
Read full review
SugarCRM
SugarCRM has never been down for us.
Read full review
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 response time issues ever. Very productive due to its ease of use.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
SugarCRM
The support overall at least for us has been phenomenal. Anytime that the system has any Issues at all IT gets in contact from someone from support to get the system back up and running. Have never gone more than 30 minutes with the system not working. So overall I will be definetely recommending this system in any other company that I may work for in the future.
Read full review
In-Person Training
ActiveCampaign
No answers on this topic
SugarCRM
We feel clasroom training is essential to ensure user adoption and buy-in. Video and on-line training courses gave their place but being in a classroom setting enables the Team to make any potential CRM issues visble right up front.
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Online Training
ActiveCampaign
No answers on this topic
SugarCRM
Only part of an implemementation as noted previously.
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.
Read full review
SugarCRM
Study, study, and study. Be prepared to train everyday until all processes are flowing nicely. The CRM is the elephant and figuring out where to take the first bite can be a challenge. But there is only one way to eat this elephant, one bite at a time. Systematic planning is very important.
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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.
Read full review
SugarCRM
Sugar Sell is the only product we found that met the needs of everyone involved in the evaluation process. It can be customized to accomplish just about anything you need, and trust me....we pushed the limits on that. It is a product that our users actually enjoy using which in itself contributes to productivity. We used other CRM tools in the past, and the discontent from our users resulted in consistently declining use and ultimately dropping those products.
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!
Read full review
SugarCRM
Works from 2-300 Users in our experience.
Read full review
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
  • Overall seems to be more expensive than other subscription based CRMs.
  • Has positively impact our sales team to make more efficient and accountability among sales teams. Also allows for high level aggregated reporting
  • Has been impactful for all teams, not only sales to track individual activity on a daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly basis
Read full review
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