Automation is your sales team
Conditional sequences, lead scoring, and a built-in CRM at a verified $15/mo entry. No rival at this price matches the automation depth - that is the entire reason to be here.
Pricing · verified Oct 4, 2026 on official pages
ActiveCampaign Pricing
Short version: ActiveCampaign Starter costs $15/mo at 1,000 contacts and $149/mo at 10,000 contacts on verified official prices - the strongest automation you can buy at a $15 entry point. There is no free plan (14-day trial only), and ActiveCampaign does not publish its in-between tiers, so 2,500, 5,000, and 25,000 contacts read “Not published” on this page instead of carrying a copied estimate.
Verified Oct 4, 2026 · official pricing & cost guide
Starter $15 @1k · $149 @10k
Unpublished tiers stay blank - never estimated
Figures read from ActiveCampaign's official pricing page and official cost guide, Oct 4, 2026. How we verify.
Affiliate disclosure: product links on this page are affiliate links (rel="sponsored"). We may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you. Commissions never change a price we publish - every figure below was verified on the vendor's own site on Oct 4, 2026. How we verify.
The verdict
Buy ActiveCampaign for its automation, not its price curve. At $15/mo (1,000 contacts)
it is the cheapest verified door into serious automation and CRM; at $149/mo (10,000)
cheaper verified options exist (Sender $69, AWeber Lite $100, MailerLite Power $129). If your flows are
plain newsletters, you are paying for machinery you will not use. If sequences, scoring, and pipelines
sell for you, this is the right $15 to spend first. Compare your exact size in the
calculator.
Pricing by list size: the honest table
ActiveCampaign publishes two Starter tier prices we can verify - 1,000 and 10,000 contacts. The rest of the curve sits behind its pricing UI with no readable table, so the cells below say so. That gap is the main budgeting risk with this tool: your 5,000-contact bill exists, but only ActiveCampaign's site will tell you what it is.
| Contacts | Starter | What to compare |
|---|---|---|
| 500 | Not publishedFrom $15/mo at 1,000 (see pricing) | Kit free to 10,000 subscribers |
| 1,000 | $15/mo | GetResponse Starter $19 · AWeber Lite $25 |
| 2,500 | Not published (see pricing) | Drip $39 flat to 2,500 people |
| 5,000 | Not published (see pricing) | Sender $39 · AWeber Lite $60 · MailerLite Power $69 |
| 10,000 | $149/mo | Sender $69 · MailerLite Power $129 |
| 25,000 | Not published (see pricing) | Sender $149 · AWeber Lite $210 · MailerLite Power $239 |
Growth math: 1,000 → 10,000 contacts multiplies the verified Starter bill by about 9.9× ($15 → $149). Before you commit annually, price your next list size on ActiveCampaign's own page - the intermediate tiers are real prices, just not published ones we can verify and republish.
At 10,000 contacts: the verified field
| Tool & plan | Price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Sender Standard | $69/mo | Cheapest verified at this size |
| AWeber Lite | $100/mo | Full matrix published to 25,000 |
| MailerLite Power | $129/mo | Publishes $239 at 25,000 too |
| Omnisend Standard | $132/mo | Ecommerce-focused (email + SMS) |
| ActiveCampaign Starter | $149/mo | Deepest automation of this group |
| Constant Contact Standard | $160/mo | Events + social scheduling included |
Who should pay for it
You send broadcasts, not journeys
A weekly newsletter does not need this machinery. Sender Standard ($39 @5k / $69 @10k / $149 @25k, verified) or AWeber Lite does the same job for roughly half the 10,000-contact bill.
The unpublished middle
Your 2,500-25,000 contact prices are not published in verifiable form. Growth budgeting means checking ActiveCampaign's pricing page at each new size - or picking a full-matrix tool (AWeber, MailerLite Power, Sender) whose 25,000 price you already know.
See ActiveCampaign pricing Trial first: 14 days, no free plan. Confirm your exact tier on the official page before annual billing.
Frequently asked questions
How much does ActiveCampaign cost per month?
On verified official prices, ActiveCampaign Starter is $15/mo at 1,000 contacts and $149/mo at 10,000 contacts (the 10,000 figure comes from ActiveCampaign's official cost guide). Those are the two tier prices ActiveCampaign publishes in a form we can verify; the 500, 2,500, 5,000, and 25,000 contact tiers are not published as a readable table, so they are marked 'Not published' here rather than estimated.
What does ActiveCampaign cost at 5,000 contacts?
ActiveCampaign does not publish a 5,000-contact Starter price in a table we can verify, so this page will not guess one. For scale, verified 5,000-contact prices elsewhere are $39/mo (Sender Standard), $60/mo (AWeber Lite), and $69/mo (MailerLite Power). Open ActiveCampaign's pricing page at your exact contact count before budgeting.
Does ActiveCampaign have a free plan?
No. ActiveCampaign offers a 14-day trial and no free plan - the cheapest verified way in is Starter at $15/mo for 1,000 contacts. If you need a free tier first, Kit is free to 10,000 subscribers and Sender's free plan covers 2,500 subscribers with 15,000 emails a month (both verified).
Is ActiveCampaign expensive at 10,000 contacts?
At $149/mo (Starter, verified), it sits mid-pack at 10,000 contacts: Sender Standard is $69, AWeber Lite $100, MailerLite Power $129, Omnisend Standard $132 - all verified. What you are paying for is the deepest automation and CRM feature set at this price; if you send simple broadcasts, the same list costs half as much elsewhere.
Should I pick ActiveCampaign or MailerLite?
Pick ActiveCampaign if automation depth, conditional content, and CRM pipelines will drive revenue - it is the strongest automation tool with a verified $15/mo entry. Pick MailerLite if you mostly send campaigns and newsletters: its Power tier publishes $69 at 5,000, $129 at 10,000, and $239 at 25,000 subscribers, so your future bill is knowable today.