ActiveCampaign vs. Constant Contact

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ActiveCampaign
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
ActiveCampaign is presented as an AI-first marketing platform for marketers, agencies, and entrepreneurs. It uses Active Intelligence for goal-aware automation and personalized experiences across email, SMS, and WhatsApp. ActiveCampaign integrates with 950+ apps and generates insights to optimize every workflow.
$15
per month
Constant Contact
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
Constant Contact is a full-featured email marketing solution with capabilities such as social media integration, drag-and-drop editing, and real-time reporting. It is a bulk email tool designed for SMB customers. Since 2019, Constant Contact also offers marketing automation features, a website and landing page builder, and other tools to support midsize businesses.
$12
per month
Pricing
ActiveCampaignConstant Contact
Editions & Modules
Starter
$15
per month
Pro
$49
per month
Plus
$79
per month
Enterprise
$159
per month
Lite
Starting at $12.00
per month
Standard
Starting at $35.00
per month
Premium
Starting at $80.00
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ActiveCampaignConstant Contact
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsThe SMS Marketing tool can be added to any Standard or Premium Constant Contact account. SMS is only available in the US for Standard and Premium paid plans. SMS can be added when logged in to an account after purchase. Plans start at $10/month for up to 500 messages.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ActiveCampaignConstant Contact
Features
ActiveCampaignConstant Contact
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
7.2
Ratings
5% below category average
Constant Contact
8.0
Ratings
1% above category average
WYSIWYG email editor5.10 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Dynamic content4.10 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content4.10 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Landing pages4.60 Ratings7.80 Ratings
A/B testing9.90 Ratings7.10 Ratings
Mobile optimization7.80 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting9.70 Ratings9.00 Ratings
List management9.90 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences10.00 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.0
Ratings
3% above category average
Constant Contact
-
Ratings
Lead nurturing automation10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading7.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Data quality management7.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks7.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead segmentation and distribution7.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaign Management
Comparison of Campaign Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
9.9
Ratings
29% above category average
Constant Contact
-
Ratings
Calendaring9.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Event/webinar marketing9.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
6.8
Ratings
10% below category average
Constant Contact
-
Ratings
Social sharing and campaigns7.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Social profile integration6.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
6.5
Ratings
12% below category average
Constant Contact
8.0
Ratings
4% above category average
Dashboards6.60 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Standard reports6.60 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Custom reports6.50 Ratings7.50 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.7
Ratings
15% above category average
Constant Contact
-
Ratings
API8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based workflow & approvals8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizability6.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Salesforce.com9.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM9.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with SugarCRM9.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Third-party software integrations8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Pre-Send Testing
Comparison of Pre-Send Testing features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Constant Contact
8.1
Ratings
1% above category average
URL Validation00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Link Tracking00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Image Validation00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Inbox Display00 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Email Accessibility Tools00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Spelling and Grammar Check00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Spam Testing00 Ratings6.00 Ratings
Email Previews00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ActiveCampaignConstant Contact
Small Businesses
Vbout
Vbout
Score 9.9 out of 10
VerticalResponse
VerticalResponse
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.0 out of 10
VerticalResponse
VerticalResponse
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.0 out of 10
Emma by Marigold
Emma by Marigold
Score 9.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ActiveCampaignConstant Contact
Likelihood to Recommend
9.2
(0 ratings)
8.3
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(0 ratings)
9.9
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.9
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.3
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.3
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
7.3
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.5
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Configurability
6.4
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
1.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
6.4
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
7.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
ActiveCampaignConstant Contact
Likelihood to Recommend
I've been using ActiveCampaign since around 2018-2019 and I've always been satisfied with the software. It's simple to use, connects with the other tools I use and makes it easy for me to duplicate automations, email templates and workflows as I need to. On top of that, any time I've had an issue (which I think is around twice in the past 5/6 years), the customer service has always been super helpful and my issue has been resolved quickly.
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Constant Contact is great when trying to target specific market segments. We typically like to segment our master list by region, but also have product segments, as well. They do provide pre-made segments to start you off too. We don't usually use their email builder, we find others to be more flexible, intuitive, and have more variety. We do prefer emailing from Constant Contact, however.
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Pros
  • The graphic design is very good, especially fonts, colours and templates
  • Flexibility of design and functionality
  • Takes a little while to learn it, but generally user-friendly
  • Looks very professional but doesn't cost much to get started
  • There are masses of integrations for ActiveCampaign, and the ones I tried all worked well and didn't take long to figure out.
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  • Constant Contact allows the users to send unlimited emails and just pay per list size.
  • The software does welcome emails pretty well and allows you to set up all sorts of automation.
  • The branded templates and starter templates are very useful and look good.
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Cons
  • The email designing part could be easier to use. There are certain simple shortcuts that don't work, for example, adding links is more complicated than it should be, moving blocks around is hard, etc.
  • There's no good way to filter by 'active' and 'inactive' subscribers when editing en-mass.
  • I'd like more reporting data on one page.
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  • Sometimes some software provides outdated and useless features and functions, but this email marketing tool gives advanced kinds of functionalities with modern features.
  • I like the ease of use of this platform also appreciate its professional customer support team.
  • I am no longer desperate after getting this tool at my work.
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Likelihood to Renew
I am committed at the moment. Rebuilding the automations I have would be a huge time drain. Plus the cost of learning a new system and the risk to deliverability of porting a 6,000 person list to a new platform. Also, AC offers everything I need ast a reasonable (but a little high) price. So, why not a 10? Because, early 2023, AC dropped a massive 2x price hike on long-term customers. They knew few would shift, so this feels like a cynical cash grab and left a bad taste, If they do something like this again, this camel will have a broken back.
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There is no doubt that we are going to renew Constant Contact. We have not just invested a lot of time in learning and creating a great looking product but we have developed a strong database of information that allows us to track how we are doing for each newsletter. This supports our goals of creating products that residents desire and are excited to receive.
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Usability
ActiveCampaign has been the easiest marketing automation software we have ever used. They provide tips throughout the entire process of anything you are building. Their support team through LIVE CHAT has been extremely fast and helpful. The monthly meetings provided with the enablement team has helped us through several large and urgent needs.
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There is always room for improvement. I don't know how they test their systems, but they should invite not-so computer savvy people to test it. If I, as an expert have problems, they need to think like the technophobe. Since I've used Constant Contact in the past as part of my former employment, I have not viewed any of the tutorials and just jumped in to work on my client's newsletter. With that said, I found some areas easy and some a bit cumbersome
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Reliability and Availability
I haven't experienced application errors or unplanned outages at all. Active Campaign is ultra reliable and I would not be using them if that were the case. Also, the helpful emails they send are welcomed and informative, and present very practical tips and guidance for using the platform. They're always demonstrating new features and I'm thankful for that.
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No major problems in sending out the email campaigns and accessing the analytics
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Performance
Oh my gosh, Active Campaign's performance gets an A+++ in my book. The pages load quickly and so do the reports. I haven't noticed any slowdowns when it's integrating with other programs and it performs excellently on all levels.
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The system seemed quite slow sometimes. Specifically, there was sometimes a delay in sends if it was during a high traffic period. There were time-outs when uploading new code for an email, and a lag in reporting analytics which was sometimes as long as 72 hours
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Support Rating
This might be the best part. The chat support lady offered to make a video to help me solve my problem. I worked in customer service for years and I've never done that, lol. So, if they're offering things like that, I can only imagine that they'd be able to handle most any issue you throw at them.
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I think the overall support for Constant Contact has always been incredible; I have nothing negative to say. Our customer support representative was attentive, easy to understand, and very knowledgeable. I never felt like I wasn't a priority of his and my issues, while very small, were fixed in a very short time frame.
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Implementation Rating
Very satisfied with our implementation in our professional medical practice, allowing us to be on top of client service, and not miss out on crucial information and insights. Marketing is often neglected in professional practices and ActiveCampaign solved this problem with aplomb.
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Implementation is very easy for someone who wants to send out the “batch and blast” type newsletters. If you want to use their templates with no customizations, the product works fine. However, the more customizations you get into involving link color, etc, that’s where things can get tricky for someone who may not be familiar with coding
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Alternatives Considered
I transitioned from Mailchimp to ActiveCampaign because it was so much more user friendly and allowed me to do a lot more in regards to lead magnets than Mailchimp can. For example, ActiveCampaign allows users to sign up for a lead magnet as many times as they like to keep receiving it (in case they've lost or deleted the email with access to the lead magnet). Mailchimp was unable to do this. And the categorization of users and the trigger email sequencing was a lot easier in ActiveCampaign.
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We selected Constant Contact due to pricing constraints. However, if the pricing were to increase, we may look at alternative products that offer more features. We are looking for a product that will allow us to stand out from other organizations like ours that are appealing to the same customers—a product that will set our company apart from the others.
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Scalability
My web designer told me about Active Campaign and although I don't recall which platform I had before, I LOVE Active Campaign and its user friendliness. The transition was seamless and I've never had a problem with functionality or server failure.
Active Campaign provides so many features, and makes it easy for non-techies to maneuver around the site with ease. They capture information and put it in an easy-to-read format.
At this point, I don't think I'd ever use any other platform!
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Very reliable in sending email campaigns and controlling the recipients so that no contact is sent the same email more than once, even if they are on a resent list
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Return on Investment
  • Automations free up time - once set up, email campaigns execute in seconds
  • Emailing my newsletter is a second touch-point for my clients
  • The flat rate for my subscription means that I reach my clients and prospects for fractions of a cent each month
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  • I can't report hard numbers, however, being able to execute sales and marketing campaigns led to a noticeable increase in brand awareness in our industry.
  • We were able to offer white-labeled email communication services to clients, which is not something that other administrators typically offer. This helped us win and retain business.
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ScreenShots

ActiveCampaign Screenshots

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Constant Contact Screenshots

Screenshot of the AI Content Generator that can be used to create content for emails, social posts, or SMS.Screenshot of Curate Advanced Automation workflows to make sure your marketing is always on - even when you're not.Screenshot of Edit one of our hundreds of pre-built email templates or start from scratch with our simple to use drag-and-drop email editor.Screenshot of Plan and post your social media messaging across platforms with our Social Posting tool.Screenshot of Reach your customers wherever they are with SMS Marketing.Screenshot of Integrate with powerful  tools to grow more using Constant Contact.