ActiveCampaign vs MailerLite

ActiveCampaign is an email marketing and marketing automation platform headquartered in Chicago. Jason VandeBoom founded it in 2003 as on-premises software before it moved to SaaS. Its core job is to send the right email, SMS or WhatsApp message at the right time based on what a contact does, using a visual automation builder with branching logic.

The automation builder handles multi-step journeys with waits, conditions, goals and split tests, triggered by site visits, purchases, form fills, tags or CRM events. Campaigns use 250+ templates and, on Pro, predictive sending, conditional content and attribution. Since 2025 the Active Intelligence layer adds AI agents that build segments, automations and brand kits, a conversational workspace, and a remote MCP server; every plan includes 500 AI credits a month. Plans are priced by contacts: Starter ($19/month for 1,000 contacts billed monthly) covers email and automation, Plus adds landing pages, generative AI and SMS, Pro adds advanced segmentation and three seats, and Enterprise adds SSO, HIPAA support and custom objects. CRM pipelines, WhatsApp and transactional email are add-ons.

ActiveCampaign suits SMBs, ecommerce stores and agencies that need deep automation without HubSpot pricing. Mailchimp is easier for simple newsletters, Brevo and MailerLite are cheaper at large lists, and HubSpot is stronger as an all-in-one CRM.

Buying tip: prices rise steeply with contact count, so clean inactive contacts before upgrading. The 14-day trial needs no card, and annual billing saves roughly 17 to 21%.

MailerLite is an email marketing platform from Vilnius, Lithuania, founded in 2010. The same company also makes MailerSend for transactional email and MailerCheck for list verification. MailerLite is known for a clean interface, good deliverability and prices that stay among the lowest in its category as a list grows.

The product covers drag-and-drop, rich text and custom HTML editors, automation workflows with triggers, conditions and delays, segmentation, A/B testing, landing pages, a simple website builder, signup forms and pop-ups. Creators can sell digital products and paid newsletter subscriptions through Stripe, and e-commerce integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce and others support product blocks and abandoned cart flows. An AI assistant helps with subject lines and copy. A free plan covers small lists, and paid plans scale by subscriber count, with higher tiers adding unlimited users, custom HTML, Facebook integration and more automation options.

MailerLite fits small businesses, bloggers, creators and nonprofits that want a polished tool at a fair price. New accounts go through an approval process that can delay launch, and reporting and automation are less advanced than ActiveCampaign or Klaviyo. Mailchimp has more integrations and brand recognition at a higher price, Brevo is attractive when you also need SMS and transactional email, and Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is more creator-focused.