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ActiveCampaign vs Microsoft Power Automate

ActiveCampaign and Microsoft Power Automate are both workflow automation tools. ActiveCampaign is aimed at small businesses and E-commerce, while Microsoft Power Automate is aimed at small businesses and enterprise. Microsoft Power Automate costs less, from $15/mo versus $19/mo for ActiveCampaign.

ActiveCampaign

Email marketing and automation platform for SMBs and ecommerce

Microsoft Power Automate

Microsoft's workflow automation and RPA platform for Microsoft 365

PricingPaid · $19Paid · $15
Starting price$19/mo$15/mo
Free planNoNo
Free trial14 days30 days
Built forSmall businesses, E-commerce, AgenciesSmall businesses, Enterprise
Platformsweb, ios, androidweb, windows, ios, android
CountryUS · 2003US · 2016
Rating——

Choose ActiveCampaign if

Small and mid-sized businesses and ecommerce brands that want sophisticated, behaviour-based email and SMS automation at a mid-range price.

  • One of the most powerful automation builders in its price range
  • Strong ecommerce triggers and deep integrations
  • AI agents included on every plan

Look elsewhere if: Teams sending simple newsletters to large lists on a tight budget, or wanting a full CRM suite (MailerLite, Brevo, HubSpot).

Choose Microsoft Power Automate if

Organizations standardized on Microsoft 365 that need governed workflow automation and desktop RPA for legacy apps.

  • Deep native integration with Microsoft 365, Teams, SharePoint and Dynamics
  • Many Microsoft 365 licences already include standard connector flows
  • Combines API automation and desktop RPA in one platform

Look elsewhere if: Small teams on mostly non-Microsoft SaaS apps who want quick, simple automations (Zapier, Make, n8n).

ActiveCampaign vs Microsoft Power Automate pricing

ActiveCampaign

  • Starter$19/mo$15/mo billed annually; 1,000 contacts, 1 seat
  • Plus$59/mo$49/mo annually; landing pages, SMS add-on, 1 seat
  • Pro$99/mo$79/mo annually; predictive sending, attribution, 3 seats
  • Enterprise$179/mo$145/mo annually; SSO, HIPAA support, 5 seats

Microsoft Power Automate

  • Premium$15/user/moBilled yearly; cloud flows, attended desktop RPA, process mining
  • Process$150/bot/moBilled yearly; unattended desktop flows for one bot
  • Hosted Process$215/bot/moBilled yearly; adds a Microsoft-hosted virtual machine
  • Process Mining add-on$5,000/tenant/moBilled yearly; requires Premium, 100 GB data storage

ActiveCampaign · Key features

  • Visual automation builder with branching, goals and split tests
  • Triggers from site visits, purchases, forms, tags and CRM events
  • Email, SMS and WhatsApp messaging from one platform
  • Active Intelligence AI agents for segments, automations and brand kits
  • Predictive sending and conditional content on Pro
  • Landing pages and site messages from the Plus plan

Cons

  • Costs climb quickly as contact lists grow
  • CRM pipelines and transactional email are extra
  • Starter and Plus include only one seat

Microsoft Power Automate · Key features

  • Cloud flows triggered by events, schedules or buttons across 1,000+ connectors
  • Desktop flows that automate Windows apps and websites through RPA
  • Attended bots on user PCs and unattended bots on VMs
  • Copilot that drafts flows from a plain-language description
  • Approvals built into Teams, Outlook and the mobile app
  • Process and task mining to find bottlenecks before automating

Cons

  • Licensing is confusing, with premium connectors and per-bot charges
  • Designer is slower and less intuitive than Zapier or Make
  • Error messages and debugging can be hard for non-developers

ActiveCampaign vs Microsoft Power Automate: FAQ

Which is cheaper, ActiveCampaign or Microsoft Power Automate?

Microsoft Power Automate starts at $15/mo and ActiveCampaign at $19/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.

Do ActiveCampaign and Microsoft Power Automate have a free plan?

ActiveCampaign has no free plan, a 14-day free trial. Microsoft Power Automate has no free plan, a 30-day free trial.

Not sure yet?