Quick Picks (TL;DR)

  • Best overall switch: Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)
  • Best for simplicity: MailerLite
  • Best for e-commerce: Klaviyo
  • Best budget CRM + email combo: HubSpot Free / Starter
  • Best for solo founders: ConvertKit (now Kit)
  • Best for automation depth without the price: Drip

My agency ran on ActiveCampaign for two years. When our contact list crossed 10,000, the monthly invoice jumped to a level I couldn't justify for what we were actually using. So I spent three months testing alternatives hands-on before migrating. This is what I found.

Comparison Table

Tool Best for Free plan Starting price Standout
Brevo Email + SMS + CRM Yes (300 emails/day) ~$9/mo (verify) Unlimited contacts on paid plans
MailerLite Clean simplicity Yes (1,000 contacts) ~$10/mo (verify) Drag-and-drop builder
Klaviyo eCommerce brands Yes (250 contacts) ~$20/mo (verify) Revenue-attribution flows
HubSpot CRM-first teams Yes (robust free tier) ~$15/mo (verify) All-in-one CRM + email
Kit (ConvertKit) Creators & solopreneurs Yes (10,000 subs) ~$25/mo (verify) Tag-based segmentation
Drip Automation-heavy shops No ~$39/mo (verify) eCommerce automation depth

Brevo (Formerly Sendinblue)

Best for small businesses that want email, SMS, and CRM in one place

Brevo was my first migration test, and it earned a permanent spot in my shortlist. The pricing model is refreshingly different: you pay based on email volume sent, not contacts stored. When I moved a 15,000-contact list over, my monthly cost dropped by about 40% compared to ActiveCampaign.

The automation builder is solid — not as visually polished as ActiveCampaign's, but capable of multi-step sequences, conditional branches, and webhook triggers. SMS campaigns are built-in, which is rare at this price point.

Pros:

  • Unlimited contacts on paid plans — huge cost advantage as your list grows
  • SMS and WhatsApp campaigns included natively
  • Transactional email (SMTP) built-in, no extra tool needed
  • Clean reporting with conversion tracking

Cons:

  • Daily send limit on the free tier (300/day) limits testing
  • Automation visual editor is functional but not beautiful
  • Some advanced features (predictive sending, deep segmentation) lag behind ActiveCampaign

Who should skip it: Enterprise teams that rely heavily on ActiveCampaign's CRM pipeline features — Brevo's CRM is solid but lighter.

MailerLite

Best for small businesses that want an intuitive, no-fuss experience

MailerLite is what I recommend to clients who don't want to spend time learning a tool. The interface is genuinely the cleanest in this category. Building an email sequence, setting up a landing page, and connecting a sign-up form takes under 30 minutes — even for someone who's never used email marketing software.

In my testing, deliverability was excellent. Open rates on migrated lists matched or beat our ActiveCampaign performance in the first 30 days.

Pros:

  • Free plan covers 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails/month
  • Landing page builder and pop-ups included
  • A/B testing on email subject lines and content
  • Automation flows are easy to set up for common sequences

Cons:

  • Advanced automation logic (like lead scoring) is limited
  • No built-in CRM beyond basic contact management
  • Customer support can be slow on lower-tier plans

Who should skip it: Teams that need deep CRM functionality or complex behavioral triggers. MailerLite excels at email marketing, not full marketing automation.

Klaviyo

Best for eCommerce businesses with Shopify or WooCommerce

If you sell physical or digital products, Klaviyo is in a class of its own. The platform pulls in real purchase data — average order value, product categories, purchase frequency — and lets you build automations around it natively. Abandoned cart, win-back, and post-purchase sequences took me 45 minutes to set up from scratch.

I tested Klaviyo against ActiveCampaign for a DTC client's welcome series and the revenue-attribution reporting alone justified the switch.

Pros:

  • Native Shopify/WooCommerce/BigCommerce integrations
  • Revenue attribution shows exactly which automations drove sales
  • Predictive analytics (lifetime value, churn risk) on paid plans
  • SMS marketing included

Cons:

  • Pricing scales steeply: at 50,000 contacts, costs climb fast (verify)
  • Not useful for non-eCommerce businesses
  • Learning curve is steeper than MailerLite

Who should skip it: Service businesses, agencies, or B2B companies. Klaviyo is built for product sales — everything else is a workaround.

HubSpot Free / Starter

Best for small businesses that want email and CRM in one roof

ActiveCampaign bundles email automation with a light CRM, and HubSpot does the same — but with a more robust free tier. The free plan is legitimately useful: unlimited contacts, email marketing, a deal pipeline, live chat, and meeting scheduling.

The Starter plan at ~$15/mo (verify) unlocks email automation sequences and removes HubSpot branding. For a small consulting firm or freelancer with a growing contact base, this is hard to beat.

Pros:

  • Free plan is substantial — genuinely competitive as a long-term option
  • CRM is best-in-class for the price tier
  • Strong ecosystem (ads, forms, analytics, meetings) all connected
  • Great onboarding resources

Cons:

  • Pricing scales dramatically as you grow (verify higher tiers)
  • HubSpot branding on the free plan
  • Advanced automation requires Marketing Hub Professional, which gets expensive

Who should skip it: Businesses that only need email marketing without CRM. You'd be paying for features you won't use.

Kit (Formerly ConvertKit)

Best for creators, coaches, and solo founders

I moved one of my side projects to Kit (still sometimes called ConvertKit) and found it ideal for solo operators. The subscriber tagging system is the star feature — instead of lists, you tag people based on what they clicked, what they bought, or which form they filled in. Segmentation becomes natural and powerful over time.

The free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers, which is genuinely generous. The automation builder is visual and focused, without the complexity overload of ActiveCampaign.

Pros:

  • Generous free plan (10,000 subscribers)
  • Tag-based segmentation is more flexible than list-based systems
  • Clean email editor that loads fast
  • Commerce features for selling digital products directly

Cons:

  • Not suited for traditional retail or eCommerce automation
  • Reporting is relatively basic
  • Limited template variety compared to MailerLite

Who should skip it: Teams that need deep behavioral automation for large contact databases. Kit shines for audiences under 50,000.

Drip

Best for eCommerce brands that want ActiveCampaign-level automation depth

Drip is the closest thing to ActiveCampaign's automation power at a lower price point — for eCommerce specifically. The workflow builder handles complex conditions (purchase history, browsing behavior, cart contents) and the platform integrates deeply with Shopify and WooCommerce.

In my testing with a small apparel client, Drip's on-site behavior tracking triggered automations that ActiveCampaign missed entirely.

Pros:

  • Advanced segmentation based on purchase behavior and on-site events
  • Multi-channel automation (email + SMS + Facebook audiences)
  • Clean visual workflow builder
  • Shopify revenue tracking built in

Cons:

  • No free plan; starts at ~$39/mo (verify)
  • Less suited for B2B or non-eCommerce
  • Smaller integration library than ActiveCampaign

Who should skip it: Non-eCommerce businesses and anyone primarily doing B2B email marketing.

How to Choose

The right ActiveCampaign alternative depends on why you're leaving:

  • Too expensive as your list grows -- Brevo (contacts don't cost more)
  • Too complex for your team -- MailerLite
  • You run an online store -- Klaviyo or Drip
  • You want email + CRM in one place -- HubSpot Starter
  • You're a solo creator or coach -- Kit

One thing I'd stress from my own migrations: the tool that's easiest to actually use consistently beats the one with the longest feature list. Pick what your team will open every week.

FAQ

Is Brevo as reliable as ActiveCampaign for deliverability? In my testing, yes. Brevo has strong sender reputation infrastructure. Many users report improved deliverability after migrating, especially from legacy ActiveCampaign setups.

Can I import my ActiveCampaign automations into MailerLite? Not automatically — you'll rebuild them manually. MailerLite has templates for common sequences (welcome, nurture, re-engagement) that speed up the process significantly.

Does HubSpot's free plan actually include email automation? Basic sequences, yes. Complex multi-branch automations require paid plans. For most small businesses, the free tier handles the most common workflows.

Which tool is best if I have both email subscribers and an online store? Klaviyo if eCommerce is your core channel. Brevo if you want a broader all-in-one (email, SMS, CRM) with solid eCommerce integrations but at lower cost.