Looking for a side-by-side comparison of ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp? Look no further! In this in-depth review you will discover the differences in pricing, core-features, integrations and the main pros and cons of both tools. You will also learn about the top 3 alternatives of ActiveCampaign or Mailchimp. So continue reading to discover which tool is best for you...
Below you can find our checklist with which we've analysed ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp. Not only do we try to cover the "what" of each tool, we also try to tell you the "why" by giving you the review scores with our opinion explained (if you hoover over the score itself).
 |  | |
|---|---|---|
ActiveCampaign | Mailchimp | |
Overall Rating |  4.3/5 |  3.2/5 |
More information | Visit ActiveCampaign | Visit Mailchimp |
Pros and cons | ||
Main Pros | Value for money | Lots of beautiful email templates |
Best Automation features | Good reporting & integrations | |
Great visual automation builder | Easy to use drag & drop editor | |
Drag-and-drop email editor | Interface is visually very appealing | |
Splittesting automations | Interface is user friendly | |
Great support & community | Competitive pricing for small accounts | |
Segmentation & targeting features | ||
Automation & templates marketplace | ||
Free migration service | ||
Main Cons | Interface can be a bit slow | Lacks automation capabilities |
Slight learning curve for beginners | Lacks segmentation (still list-based) | |
Not many pre-designed email templates | Can not split-test automations | |
Limited form builder in lower plan | Pay extra for subscribers in multilple lists | |
No visual builder for automations. | ||
More information | Visit ActiveCampaign | Visit Mailchimp |
Capabilities Detailed Review | Rating | Rating |
1 - Email builder |  4.0/5
ActiveCampaign's editor works pretty intuitively and has many features available. For instance, with ActiveCampaign you can reuse certain customizations. Also, it is easy to see what changes people have made, listed in a orderly fashion.
| 4.0/5
Mailchimp's editor is easy to use. With their drag & drop interface you can set up emails fast.
|
2 - Email templates | 3.5/5
ActiveCampaign has a decent set of different email templates, but we hope for a bit more options in the future (you can get extra templates on the marketplace however). Their drag-and-drop visual editor is pretty easy to use and gives you freedom in what you want to create.
| 4.0/5
MailChimp is the best tool when it comes to email templates. There is a great variety, the designs look nice and professional, and the editor is very easy and convenient to use.
|
3 - Form builder | 3.5/5
Active Campaign's visual form builder works well. Keep in mind that the more expensive versions give you access to more form functionality and you can remove branding.
|  3.0/5
MailChimp's form building is average. A nice feature is that you can create pop-ups.
|
4 - Automations |  5.0/5
With ActiveCampaign setting up automations is easy with their visual workflow builder. A great feature is the copying and pasting of automated sequences into your email service. Also, as no other tool, ActiveCampaign has set up an automations marketplace where other users can give away or sell their automations, and you can import them into your account with 1 click.
|  1.5/5
Compared to other tools, Mailchimp is way too basic in the automation department. If you want people to be deleted from a sequence, for instance, because they already purchased a product, you have to manually delete them from the sequence. Also, With Mailchimp you can only build lineair automations. This limits your posibilities for advanced automation because you can't easily "branch off" 2 paths inside of 1 automation when something happens, like for example a, open/click/sale. You want to send some people down 1 path and some on another path. This is very difficult in mailchimp because of their "lineair path only" approach.
|
5 - Splittesting | 5.0/5
Best A/B-testing of all tools out there. You can basically splittest everything from titles, to email content, and even complete automations! And you get detailed reportings.
|  2.0/5
The A/B-testing of Mailchimp is limited. You can splittest subject lines, content, send times and form names. But you can not splittest complete automations or individual emails inside of automations.
|
6 - List management & segmentation | 5.0/5
With ActiveCampagin it is easy to segment your contacts in a vast variety of different ways. You can target as specific as you want and send personalized content.
| 2.0/5
MailChimp lacks behind in terms of tagging and segmentation. Mailchimp is still very list-based. Yes you can use tags, but only inside of lists, and lists are siloed. Basically this means your campaigns won't be as targeted as you would like them to be, without a big workaround.
|
7 - Integrations | 4.0/5
ActiveCampaign integrates with basically every app, (also Zapier integrations).
| 4.5/5
There is not an app (for as far as we know) that doesn't integrate with MailChimp (that include Zapier as well, of course)
|
8 - Reporting | 4.0/5
ActiveCampain has thorough reporting with great visuals. They also offer goal tracking, which means you can track conversions within Activecampaign. This way, you can A/B-test about everything you want to (even your automations), which is awesome!
| 4.0/5
It would deserve a 5 rating if MailChimp didn't have restrictions based on the plan you have. All in all it is set up nice visually, and the amount of data you can collect is great!
|
9 - Support & Community | 5.0/5
There is absolutely no shortage of information when it comes to using ActiveCampaign. Their website is basically a library of information guided with great video's. Their support is unparallelled. You have the option to use live chat or email. Both are very quick and comprehensive. The craziest part is that they will guide you with personalized video's!
| 3.0/5
The support we got during this MailChimp review was solid. They have a ticket-based support system and live-chat.
|
10 - Ease of use | 3.5/5
You need a bit of time to get all of the available features under your control, but when you do, there's not much you can't do.
| 4.0/5
You don't need much time to be able to use all features, pretty straight forward.
|
11 - Value for money | 4.5/5
Great value for money considering all the stuff you get.
| 4.0/5
Very competitive pricing, but it gets pretty expensive once you get a lot of subscribers (especially considering the lack of good automation features, which you will need with a lot of subscribers)
|
More information | View all features | View all features |
Pricing | ||
Free trial | Yes | Yes |
Free plan | No | Yes |
Price 1.000 contacts | $29/month | $15/month |
Price 10.000 contacts | $139/month | $75/month |
Price 25.000 contacts | $225/month | $150/month |
Price 50.000 contacts | $299/month | $240/month |
Price 100.000 contacts | $459/month | $475/month |
More information | View pricing plans | View pricing plans |
Marketing Features | ||
Native Conversion tracking | ||
Web activity tracking | ||
Splittesting Campaigns | ||
Splittesting Automations | ||
Dynamic Personalized Content | ||
Multichannel Attribution | ||
Site Messaging | ||
Facebook Integrations | ||
SMS Integrations | ||
Webinar integrations | ||
Native Landingpage builder | ||
Native Shopping Cart | ||
Shopify integration | ||
Woocommerce integration | ||
Sales & CRM Features | ||
Leadscoring | ||
Native CRM System | ||
Task Management | ||
Realtime Sales alerts | ||
Gmail integration | ||
Outlook integration | ||
Salesforce integration | ||
Mobile App CRM | ||
Create quotes & invoices | ||
More information | View all features | View all features |
Overall rating | 4.3/5
ActiveCampaign is definitely the most powerful tool out there. You can set up the most advanced automations, it has the best A/B-testing out there. And in our opinion, this are the most important features. In all other departments ActiveCampaign scores good well as well.
| 3.2/5
Mailchimp is a decent tool. They have the best email templates, but in regards to other features they are lacking behind. For example, setting up automations, tagging & segmentations and A/B-testing. Mailchimp has been around for ages, but it seems that they are falling behind a bit when it comes to the automation part!
|
See for yourself? | Try ActiveCampaign for free | Try Mailchimp for free |
Not satisfied with ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp? Below you can find some more alternatives for ActiveCampaign. Want even more alternatives ranked top-to-bottom? Check out our complete overview of the best email marketing services.
GetResponse works quickly, is easy to use, and has a good amount of features available. All in all, one of the better tools out there. Compared to ActiveCampaign, we recommend this tool if price is your main concern. GetResponse offers the cheapest plans of all.
Convertkit is easy to use, and suitable for those who just got started, or just need their basic automation needs covered. We would especially recommend Convertkit to bloggers. With Convertkit, you can also create landing pages.
Drip is a good tool with some outstanding features. We would especially recommend this tool for people working in ecommerce.
Read Full Drip Review
Not satisfied with ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp? Below you can find some more alternatives for Mailchimp. Want even more alternatives ranked top-to-bottom? Check out our complete overview of the best email marketing services.
Based on our review, ActiveCampaign is a better tool than Mailchimp if you are serious about marketing & automation. It's great value for money, especially in setting up automations, A/B-testing, and list management.
Read Activecampaign vs Mailchimp (this post)
If you are looking for a good alternative for Mailchimp, then GetResponse may be a good option. It is a tool with great tagging and segmentation options.
Convertkit is easy to use, and suitable for those who just got started, or just need their basic automation needs covered. We would especially recommend Convertkit to bloggers. With Convertkit, you can also create landing pages.
What do you think about this ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp comparison? Feel free to drop us a line, because all your feedback is welcome!
