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Home » Mailerlite vs ActiveCampaign: Email Marketing Services Compared

Mailerlite vs ActiveCampaign: Email Marketing Services Compared

Mailerlite and ActiveCampaign are two popular email marketing tools that offer a variety of features to help businesses grow and engage with their audience. While both platforms offer email automation, segmentation, and analytics, they have some key differences that may make one a better fit for certain businesses.

Using Mailerlite vs ActiveCampaign for Email Marketing

Mailerlite is a user-friendly email marketing tool ideal for small businesses and startups. It offers a drag-and-drop editor, landing page builder, and automation workflows to help businesses create and send targeted email campaigns. With Mailerlite, businesses can also segment their email list based on subscriber behavior and interests, allowing for more personalized communication.

ActiveCampaign, on the other hand, is a more advanced email marketing tool designed for larger businesses or those with more complex marketing needs. It offers many features, including advanced automation, CRM integration, and predictive analytics. 

ActiveCampaign also provides in-depth reporting and tracking to help businesses measure the success of their campaigns and make data-driven decisions.

Mailerlite vs ActiveCampaign Comparison Table

Feature/AspectMailerLiteActiveCampaign
PricingStarts at $10/month for more than 1,000 subscribers.
Free plan available for up to 1,000 subscribers.
Starts at $9/month for up to 500 subscribers. No free plan, but a 14-day free trial is available.
Email MarketingProvides a drag-and-drop email editor, templates, and basic automation tools.Offers advanced features like split testing, dynamic content, and personalized messaging.
Marketing AutomationOffers basic automation features such as triggered emails and autoresponders.Provides a more advanced automation system with conditional logic, lead scoring, and goal tracking.
IntegrationIntegrates with popular tools like Shopify,
WordPress,
and Zapier.
Offers a broader range of integrations,
including Salesforce,
Shopify Plus,
and Facebook Custom Audiences.
User Interface
Simple and intuitive interface that’s easy to navigate.
More complex interface with advanced features. May have a steep learning curve for beginners.
Customer SupportProvides support via email, live chat, and phone. 24/7 availability.Offers customer support via email, live chat, and phone, with personalized approach and dedicated account managers. 24/7 availability.
ProsUser-friendly interface.
Affordable pricing.
Advanced automation features.
A/B testing capability.
Advanced automation features.
Robust integrations.
Personalization capabilities.
Excellent customer support.
ConsLimited integrations.
Limited template selection.
Customer support can be slow to respond.
Steep learning curve.
More expensive pricing.
Limited reporting features.

Article Highlights

  1. Mailerlite and ActiveCampaign are popular email marketing tools, offering features such as email automation, segmentation, and analytics, but each caters to a different business scale and complexity.
  2. Mailerlite is user-friendly and ideal for small businesses and startups, featuring a drag-and-drop editor, landing page builder, and automation workflows for targeted email campaigns.
  3. ActiveCampaign is more advanced and suitable for larger businesses with complex marketing needs. It offers advanced automation, CRM integration, predictive analytics, and in-depth reporting.
  4. Mailerlite features include a drag-and-drop email builder, email automation, landing pages, pop-ups and embedded forms, A/B split testing, advanced reporting, and analytics. 
  5. ActiveCampaign features include email marketing automation, sales automation, CRM, marketing automation, messaging, and e-commerce integration.
  6. Mailerlite and ActiveCampaign both provide easy-to-use interfaces and powerful automation workflows. While Mailerlite may be more user-friendly for beginners, ActiveCampaign offers more advanced features for those who need them.
  7. Both platforms integrate with various third-party tools, but ActiveCampaign offers a broader range of integrations.
  8. The choice between Mailerlite and ActiveCampaign depends on the business size, the complexity of marketing needs, budget, and integration requirements.
Mailerlite ActiveCampaign

What is Mailerlite

Mailerlite is a cloud-based email marketing software that enables businesses to create and send email campaigns, newsletters, and automated emails. It was founded in 2010 and has become a popular email marketing tool for small and medium-sized businesses.

What is Mailerlite

Features

Mailerlite offers a range of features to help businesses create effective email campaigns. 

Some of these features include:

  • Drag and drop email builder
  • Email automation
  • Landing pages
  • Pop-ups and embedded forms
  • A/B split testing
  • Advanced reporting and analytics
  • Integrations with popular third-party tools

Mailerlite is a user-friendly and affordable email marketing tool offering various features to help businesses create effective email campaigns.

Mailerlite Pros and Cons

Mailerlite is a powerful email marketing platform that offers a range of features for businesses of all sizes. 

Pros

Some of the pros of Mailerlite include the following:

  • User-friendly interface: Mailerlite’s interface is intuitive and easy to use, even for those new to email marketing.
  • Affordable pricing: Mailerlite offers a range of affordable pricing plans for businesses of all sizes.
  • Advanced automation features: Mailerlite’s automation features are advanced and allow businesses to automate their email campaigns to save time and improve efficiency.
  • A/B testing: Mailerlite allows businesses to conduct A/B testing on their campaigns to improve their effectiveness.

Cons

Some of the cons of Mailerlite include the following:

  • Limited integrations: Mailerlite’s integrations with other platforms are limited compared to other email marketing platforms.
  • Limited templates: Mailerlite offers a limited selection of email templates compared to other platforms.
  • Limited customer support: Mailerlite’s customer support can be slow to respond to queries.

What is ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is a cloud-based marketing automation software designed for small to medium-sized businesses. It provides a suite of tools for email marketing, sales automation, and customer relationship management (CRM). ActiveCampaign aims to help businesses automate their marketing and sales processes, engage with customers, and grow their business.

Mailerlite ActiveCampaign

Features

ActiveCampaign offers a wide range of features, including:

  • Email marketing automation: Create and send targeted and personalized emails to your subscribers based on their behavior, interests, and preferences.
  • Sales automation: Automate your sales process by creating workflows that trigger actions based on your leads’ behavior, such as sending follow-up emails, assigning tasks to your sales team, and updating your CRM.
  • CRM: Manage your contacts, deals, and sales pipeline in one place.
  • Marketing automation: Automate your marketing campaigns by creating workflows that trigger actions based on your leads’ behavior, such as sending emails, adding tags, and updating your CRM.
  • Messaging: Engage with your customers through personalized messages on your website, mobile app, or email.
  • E-commerce: Connect your online store and automate your sales and marketing processes, such as abandoned cart emails, product recommendations, and order follow-ups.

Overall, ActiveCampaign is a powerful marketing tool that can help businesses automate their marketing and sales processes, engage with customers, and grow their business.

ActiveCampaign Pros and Cons

ActiveCampaign is another popular email marketing platform that offers a range of features for businesses of all sizes. 

Pros

Some of the pros of ActiveCampaign include the following: 

  • Advanced automation features: ActiveCampaign’s automation features allow businesses to automate their email campaigns to save time and improve efficiency.
  • Robust integrations: ActiveCampaign offers a wide range of integrations with other platforms, making it easy to integrate with other tools.
  • Personalization: ActiveCampaign allows businesses to personalize their email campaigns to improve effectiveness.
  • Customer support: ActiveCampaign offers excellent customer support, fast response times and helpful support agents.

Cons

Some of the cons of ActiveCampaign include the following

  • Steep learning curve: ActiveCampaign’s interface can be complex and difficult to navigate, especially for those new to email marketing.
  • Expensive pricing: ActiveCampaign’s pricing plans are more expensive compared to some other email marketing platforms.
  • Limited reporting: ActiveCampaign’s reporting features are limited compared to other platforms.

Pricing Comparison

When it comes to choosing between Mailerlite and ActiveCampaign, pricing is a crucial factor to consider. Both platforms offer different pricing plans tailored to suit different business needs.

Mailerlite Pricing

Mailerlite offers a free plan for users with up to 1,000 subscribers. This plan includes basic features like email automation, landing pages, and pop-ups. However, it comes with limited functionalities and branding. For users with more than 1,000 subscribers, Mailerlite offers pricing plans that start from $10 per month. The pricing increases with the number of subscribers, and users can pay monthly or annually.

ActiveCampaign Pricing

ActiveCampaign offers a 14-day free trial to new users. After the trial period, users can choose from four pricing plans: Lite, Plus, Professional, and Enterprise. The Lite plan starts at $9 per month for up to 500 subscribers, while the Enterprise plan can cost up to $229 per month for up to 10,000 subscribers. ActiveCampaign’s pricing plans are based on the number of subscribers and the features included in each plan.

Mailerlite and ActiveCampaign offer affordable pricing plans, but Activecampaign’s plans are generally more expensive than Mailerlite’s. However, ActiveCampaign offers more advanced features and functionalities, which may be worth the extra cost for some businesses. Ultimately, the choice between Mailerlite and ActiveCampaign will depend on the specific needs and budget of the user.

Features Comparison

Email Marketing

Both Mailerlite and ActiveCampaign offer a range of email marketing features. Mailerlite provides a drag-and-drop email editor, templates, and email automation tools. On the other hand, ActiveCampaign offers more advanced features such as split testing, dynamic content, and personalized messaging.

Marketing Automation

Mailerlite and ActiveCampaign both have marketing automation features. Mailerlite offers basic automation features such as triggered emails and autoresponders. ActiveCampaign offers a more advanced automation system that includes conditional logic, lead scoring, and goal tracking.

Integration

Both Mailerlite and ActiveCampaign offer integrations with a variety of third-party tools. Mailerlite integrates with popular tools such as Shopify, WordPress, and Zapier. ActiveCampaign, on the other hand, offers a broader range of integrations, including Salesforce, Shopify Plus, and Facebook Custom Audiences.

User Interface

Mailerlite has a simple and intuitive user interface that makes it easy to navigate and use. ActiveCampaign, on the other hand, has a more complex interface that may take some time to learn. However, ActiveCampaign offers more advanced features, which may be worth the learning curve for some users.

In summary, Mailerlite and ActiveCampaign offer a range of email marketing and automation features. Mailerlite is a more straightforward and easy-to-use platform, while ActiveCampaign offers more advanced features and integrations. Ultimately, the choice between the two will depend on the user’s specific needs.

Ease of Use Comparison

When it comes to email marketing software, ease of use is a crucial factor to consider. In this section, we’ll look closer at how Mailerlite and ActiveCampaign compare in terms of ease of use.

Mailerlite Ease of Use

Mailerlite is a user-friendly email marketing tool that is easy to navigate. It has a clean and simple interface, making creating and managing email campaigns easy. The drag-and-drop editor is intuitive and allows users to create visually appealing emails without coding knowledge. Mailerlite also offers a variety of templates that can be customized to fit your brand.

One of the standout features of Mailerlite is its automation workflows. Users can create complex automation with a few clicks, making sending targeted emails based on subscriber behavior easy. Mailerlite also offers A/B testing, allowing users to test different subject lines, content, and sending times to optimize their campaigns.

ActiveCampaign Ease of Use

ActiveCampaign is a more advanced email marketing tool that offers a wide range of features. While learning all the features may take some time, the interface is still relatively easy to use. ActiveCampaign’s drag-and-drop editor allows users to create visually appealing emails without coding knowledge. The software also offers a variety of templates that can be customized to fit your brand.

One of the standout features of ActiveCampaign is its automation workflows. Users can create complex automation that can trigger based on subscriber behavior, making it easy to send targeted emails. ActiveCampaign also offers A/B testing, allowing users to test different subject lines, content, and sending times to optimize their campaigns.

Overall, both Mailerlite and ActiveCampaign offer easy-to-use interfaces and powerful automation workflows. While Mailerlite may be more user-friendly for beginners, ActiveCampaign offers more advanced features for those who need them.

Customer Support Comparison

When it comes to email marketing, customer support is a crucial aspect that businesses should consider. In this section, we will compare the customer support of Mailerlite and ActiveCampaign.

Mailerlite Customer Support

Mailerlite provides customer support via email, live chat, and phone. The company also has a knowledge base that includes articles, videos, and tutorials to help users with their questions and concerns.

One of the advantages of Mailerlite’s customer support is its 24/7 availability. Users can reach out to the support team anytime, and they will receive a response within a few hours. The company’s support team is also knowledgeable and helpful, providing users clear and concise answers to their questions.

ActiveCampaign Customer Support

ActiveCampaign also offers customer support via email, live chat, and phone. The company’s support team is available 24/7, and users can expect a response within a few hours.

One of the standout features of ActiveCampaign’s customer support is its personalized approach. 

The company assigns users a dedicated account manager to help them with their questions and concerns. The account manager also provides users with personalized recommendations and best practices to help them achieve their marketing goals.

Moreover, ActiveCampaign has an extensive knowledge base that includes articles, videos, and tutorials to help users with their questions and concerns. The company also offers webinars and training sessions to help users learn more about its features and functionalities.

In conclusion, Mailerlite and ActiveCampaign offer excellent customer support, 24/7 availability, and knowledgeable support teams. However, ActiveCampaign’s personalized approach and dedicated account managers give it an edge over Mailerlite.

Mailerlite vs ActiveCampaign Summary

In summary, MailerLite and ActiveCampaign are great email marketing platforms offering a wide range of features to help businesses grow their audience and increase revenue.

MailerLite is an excellent option for small businesses or those on a tight budget, as it offers a free plan with limited features and affordable paid plans that scale with business needs. It also has a user-friendly interface and a drag-and-drop editor, making creating professional-looking emails without coding skills easy.

On the other hand, ActiveCampaign is a more advanced platform that offers more features and automation capabilities. It’s ideal for medium to large businesses that need more advanced marketing automation and CRM features. ActiveCampaign also has a robust customer support system, including live chat, phone, and email support.

When it comes to pricing, MailerLite is more affordable, especially for small businesses. However, ActiveCampaign offers more advanced features to help businesses grow and scale.

Ultimately, the choice between MailerLite and ActiveCampaign depends on the specific needs of each business. Small businesses on a budget may find MailerLite a better fit, while larger businesses with more complex marketing needs may prefer ActiveCampaign.

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