ConvertKit vs. ActiveCampaign – Which Email Service Provider Is Better?

In your search for an email marketing provider, are you struggling to decide between ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign? Both platforms are considered among the best available, but they are very different.

In this article, I compare ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign side-by-side to help you decide which one to use.

ConvertKit vs. ActiveCampaign – Introduction

I’ve tested and used most leading email service providers (ESPs), including ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, Mailchimp, AWeber, Constant Contact, Drip, and Keap (formerly Infusionsoft). Not all of these ESPs have the functionalities I want.

I need a service that specializes in email automation. I want to automate my sales funnel and send manual emails to my audience.

I’ve found ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign the closest to what I want. Although ConvertKit targets bloggers and ActiveCampaign is aimed at e-commerce sites, both platforms have similarities.

Let’s put ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign to the test and see how they compare. You can also check out my reviews of each: ActiveCampaign and ConvertKit.

About ConvertKit

ConvertKit is a relative newcomer to the ESP market. It was founded in 2015 by Nathan Barry. ConvertKit has about 40 employees and more than 14,000 customers.

ConvertKit’s target market is bloggers, especially personal brands. Although ConvertKit can work with e-commerce sites, it’s not as well suited for that use.

About ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign was founded by Jason VandeBoom in 2003. It started as software you purchased and installed locally. In 2013, ActiveCampaign changed to a software as a service (SaaS) model. ActiveCampaign has more than 500 employees and more than 80,000 customers.

Key Features

Let’s take a closer look at the features of ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign.

ConvertKit vs. ActiveCampaign: Similarities

• Automations — Both services allow you to create complex email marketing funnels based on various triggers.
• Web Forms — You don’t need a third-party service like OptinMonster to get started with signup forms on your blog.
• Tagging — Both platforms allow you to tag your email subscribers.
• Schedule Broadcasts — Create your broadcast and schedule when to send it out.
• Segmentation — ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign allow you to segment your audience based on tags and other metrics.
• RSS Feed — Both allow you to email your latest WordPress blog post to your audience automatically. However, Activecampaign’s setup allows for more customization.
• WordPress Plugins — Both have WordPress plugins to integrate their web forms into your blog.
• Two-Factor Authentication — Both allow for two-factor authentication (2FA) for added security.
• Facebook Custom Audiences — Both services offer this feature.
• Free Migrations — Both will help move your existing setup from another ESP free of charge.
• Landing Pages — ConvertKit allows you to create landing pages as part of its service. This means you won’t have to purchase a third-party service such as ClickFunnels. ActiveCampaign’s newly created landing page service is available with the Plus plan or higher. However, if you’re serious about your landing pages, note that ConvertKit’s and ActiveCampaign’s functionality is limited. You should consider using a more dedicated service.

ConvertKit vs. ActiveCampaign: Differences

On the surface, ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign may seem very similar. Let’s see how they’re different.

• API Functionality — I find ConvertKit’s application programming interface (API) lacking. In my opinion, it’s missing two necessary features: a way to track email opens and a way to track email clicks. You can get this data within ConvertKit itself, but if you’re linking a third-party tool (as I do), these options are unavailable with ConvertKit’s API. Creating workarounds for these two features is possible, but it’s a pain to develop.
• Third-party Integrations — Out of the box, ConvertKit has fewer options for integration. However, both services work with Zapier, which should resolve this issue. You should be able to connect to most third-party services.

How Is ConvertKit Unique?

• Link Redirect — What if you’ve already sent out an email campaign but screwed up the link? ConvertKit will allow you to redirect the link to the correct URL. This can also be used for expired affiliate promotions in old emails.

How Is ActiveCampaign Unique?

• Custom Email Links — Your email links can include a subdomain (i.e., click.larryludwig.com). Historically, links from the sender’s domain are more likely to be opened. This is available with the “Plus” plan or higher.
• SMS Messaging — ActiveCampaign allows users to sign up for your mailing list via SMS. You can also send an SMS text to your subscribers. This is useful for invitations and updates for events such as webinars.
• Multiple Email Lists — ActiveCampaign supports creating separate lists. While you can recreate this with ConvertKit’s tags, ActiveCampaign allows you to define your audiences in more clear-cut ways.
• Lead Scoring — ActiveCampaign is geared more toward e-commerce, so it can score subscribers based on their actions. This allows you to send emails to contacts who are “hot” to convert. ConvertKit currently has no option to do this.
• Google Chrome Plugin — Further integrating into your email as a CRM, ActiveCampaign has a Google Chrome plugin that works with your contacts.
• Live Chat and Automated Messaging — The higher-level ActiveCampaign plans offer a feature called “Conversations.” This allows for more unified communication with your audience. Instead of requiring separate email, SMS, and live chat services, with ActiveCampaign, you can have them all in one system.

Email Automations

The primary reason to use ConvertKit or ActiveCampaign over other email service providers is their automations. Let’s discuss this in detail.

Visual Flowchart

Both have beautiful flowchart representations of your email automation. ConvertKit’s visualization and editing are slightly more intuitive than ActiveCampaign’s. Overall, ActiveCampaign is more complex to manage.

Triggers

With both services’ automations, an email subscriber triggers an event that the ESPs can respond to. What matters then is the options that ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign offers. Based on the list, it’s clear ActiveCampaign has more available options.

Note that with ConvertKit, there’s currently no way to create automations without a trigger. However, a service like ThriveCart has the option to fire automations in ActiveCampaign, a useful feature currently missing from ConvertKit. A possible workaround would be to create a signup form that you don’t use.

Actions

After an event occurs, what actions can you perform? This is where ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign have similar functionalities.

It should be noted that webhooks to external systems are available within ConvertKit but can be created only via the service’s API. You cannot create webhooks via ConvertKit’s dashboard at the moment.

Conditions

When it comes to adding someone to an automation, ConvertKit has only these possible conditions:

• Tag added
• Custom field

ActiveCampaign has more options for your visitor, including:

• Date created
• Tag added
• Tag removed
• Has clicked on a link
• Has opened an email
• Geography based on IP address
• Visited a webpage
• Total site visits
• Visitor’s time zone

To a degree, this is good. But it can also be overwhelming for most users.

Automation Templates

ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign both have built-in templates to help you create your automations.

ConvertKit’s pre-built templates revolve around bloggers. On the other hand, ActiveCampaign has more proprietary and third-party templates. For example, ConvertKit doesn’t have an abandoned cart sequence, but ActiveCampaign has several.

Integrations

• ConvertKit — 90+
• ActiveCampaign — 870+

ActiveCampaign integrates directly with more services. But that’s not as important as it previously was. Both services have API options and integrate well with Zapier.

It should be said that ConverKit’s API lacks some functionality. As we’ve mentioned, currently, ConvertKit does not support API information for email opens, and email link clicks. This makes its API much more limited. We’ve also said that, although webhooks are available with ConvertKit, they’re available only via its API. Currently, you cannot create webhooks in the dashboard.

Email Deliverability

All of these features don’t matter if your subscribers never get your email.

Which service has better email deliverability? Both use third-party services to deliver email. What matters is how well they manage their customer bases. For example, how many spammers does each service allow into its network?

For the past few years, ActiveCampaign has been judged the best provider for email delivery.

However, I believe ConvertKit’s emails have a more personal feel that makes them more suitable for personal brands like mine. ConvertKit’s emails are almost indistinguishable from personal emails.

With ActiveCampaign, it’s nearly impossible to create emails that don’t look like they are coming from a mailing list.

With mass emails, you’re required by law (the CAN-SPAM Act) to include an option for unsubscribing. ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign allow you to customize your email footer, so you can elegantly do this.

In my experience with Google, I’ve noticed that using an ESP’s standard footer tends to push your email into the “Promotional” or “Updates” tab. From my testing, the open rate decreased by 10% when my email moved from the Inbox to these tabs. You should always try to land in the Gmail Inbox.

Pricing

The ConvertKit pricing strategy involves three plan tiers:

• Free — Limited to 1,000 subscribers. You can only create newsletters without automation, premium support, or integrations. For my purpose, this plan is a non-starter.
• Creator — Includes the features excluded from the “Free” plan.
• Creator Pro — Includes Facebook custom audiences, deliverability reporting, and redirect links in email broadcasts.

On the other hand, ActiveCampaign has four plans:

• Lite — Unlike Convertkit’s lowest plan, the plan includes automation and integrations.
• Plus — Adds landing pages, Facebook custom audiences, contact scoring, and SMS marketing.
• Professional — Adds website personalization, predictive sending, and split automations.
• Enterprise — Custom reporting, custom mail server, custom domain, and unlimited email design testing.

I’ve found that ActiveCampaign tends to move features around and bundle them into different plans at different times. At the time I signed up, I was able to get a custom mail server domain and split automations in my “Plus” plan. Currently, those options are available only in higher-priced plans.

The more subscribers on your list, the more you have to pay for ActiveCampaign. But at the same time, ActiveCampaign’s pricing is tiered. You can pay more for more subscribers, but there are also higher-level plans that have more functionalities.

The pricing comparison above uses ActiveCampain’s “Lite” plan, paid monthly. Signing up for a yearly subscription for either service yields a discount.

Overall, ActiveCampaign’s Lite plan is the cheapest option. However, remember that if you want some of ActiveCampaign’s features, you must get the Plus, Professional, or Enterprise plan.

Personally, I recommend and use the “Plus” plan from ActiveCampaign.

Email Analytics and Reporting

ActiveCampaign has far more reporting features than ConvertKit. Unfortunately, you can’t extend the reporting functions that ConvertKit does offer — even with third-party tools — because of the service’s lackluster API features. I need the reporting, so this is a deal-breaker for me.

I use the Woopra analytics tool to track visitors. Not only does ActiveCampaign have direct integration with Woopra, but it can also report email opens, and link clicks to that tool.

On the other hand, ConvertKit doesn’t integrate with Woopra, and it lacks the ability to send email opens and link clicks to any third-party service.

ConvertKit vs. ActiveCampaign Feature Comparison

Monthly Emails	Unlimited	Unlimited
Automations
Web Forms
Landing Pages
WordPress Plugin
Tags
Lists
Reporting
Integrations	90+	870+
API
CRM
A/B Testing
Lead Scoring
Subscribe by SMS
Refund Policy	30 Day
Trial Period	14 Days	14 Days
	Sign Up	Sign Up

Which Is Better: ConvertKit or ActiveCampaign?

I personally prefer ActiveCampaign. I used it for my previous blog, Investor Junkie, and it’s what I currently use on this site too.

ActiveCampaign gives you the most “bang for your buck.” And it has more options for you to grow into.

However, ConvertKit has its place. If you want an easy-to-use interface and emails that look like they were personally written by you, then ConvertKit is your best option.

FAQs