ActiveCampaign vs. Customer.io

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
Customer.io
Score 9.4 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
Customer.io is a customer engagement platform that enables marketers to build sophisticated automated messaging campaigns. With access to real-time behavioral data, users can create personalized and relevant messages to engage and retain customers. This includes sending emails, push notifications, SMS, in-app messages, and more through a visual building experience. Built for scale, Customer.io boasts users among over 5,300 companies, sending over 17 billion messages per year.N/A
Pricing
ActiveCampaignCustomer.io
Editions & Modules
Starter
$15
per month
Pro
$49
per month
Plus
$79
per month
Enterprise
$159
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ActiveCampaignCustomer.io
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalOptional
Additional DetailsEssentials: For startups and small teams engaging customers on their mobile and web apps. - Up to 5,000 profiles*, Send Emails, Push, In-App, and SMS, Visual Workflow Builder, Segmentation, Two Workspaces, Email Support, Customer Community Premium: For high-growth companies looking for greater control over their messaging outcomes. - Everything in Essentials, Custom Data + Message Volume, Premium Product Features, Additional Workspaces, 90-day Onboarding Program, Premium Email & Chat Support, Managed Deliverability, Dedicated IPs, Parcel Pro Licenses, HIPAA Compliance Enterprise: For at-scale companies looking to create world-class customer experiences. - Everything in Premium, Managed Infrastructure*, Customer Success Manager, Quarterly Success Reviews, Technical Account Manager*, Audit Logging & Data Governance*, Parcel Business Licenses, Migration Support*, *Available by consultation.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ActiveCampaignCustomer.io
Features
ActiveCampaignCustomer.io
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
7.3
Ratings
4% below category average
Customer.io
-
Ratings
WYSIWYG email editor5.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Dynamic content4.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content4.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Landing pages4.70 Ratings00 Ratings
A/B testing9.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile optimization7.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting9.60 Ratings00 Ratings
List management9.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.0
Ratings
3% above category average
Customer.io
-
Ratings
Lead nurturing automation9.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading7.70 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
Customer.io
-
Ratings
Calendaring9.80 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
Customer.io
-
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
6.6
Ratings
10% below category average
Customer.io
-
Ratings
Dashboards6.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports6.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports6.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.8
Ratings
16% above category average
Customer.io
-
Ratings
API8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based workflow & approvals8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizability6.70 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 integrations8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ActiveCampaignCustomer.io
Small Businesses
Vbout
Vbout
Score 9.9 out of 10
Simplify360
Simplify360
Score 7.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.0 out of 10
Dialpad Support
Dialpad Support
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.0 out of 10
Verint Community
Verint Community
Score 9.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ActiveCampaignCustomer.io
Likelihood to Recommend
9.3
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
7.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.5
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
6.4
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
1.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
6.4
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
7.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
ActiveCampaignCustomer.io
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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This tool is well-suited for companies looking to run email marketing campaigns or send out newsletters regularly to their users/customers. The workflow setup is especially useful for companies who want to send specific emails based on user behavior - i.e. they've not logged in recently, have bought a specific product, haven't opened any emails, etc. This could also be useful for freelancers like me since you can create different workspaces within Customer.io. I have configured it this way to handle email marketing for a few of my clients, and the software keeps everything organized and separate. This might not be the best tool for small businesses, considering the price. It may be better to start out with a cheaper email marketing tool, and then if/when necessary, scale-up with a tool like Customer.io.
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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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  • Ease of use, a good tool for non programmers, or not so tech savvy people.
  • Great support, willing to help a lot, by chat, calls, or screen sharing.
  • Fast updates, it's a newer tool, but they are coming with fixes and updates fast.
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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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  • I may be missing it in the UI, but a place to see the list of emails who qualify for a certain email.
  • One easy to view chart of all our automated/lifecycle emails to see what a given user would see over their customer journey. (This is really just a feature request/idea - the product itself is really awesome.)
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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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No answers on this topic
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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It is really difficult to leverage all the neat features without a developer. I actually think the base software could be really great for a small business if the price is right, but there are so many things you *can* do but have to know how to do them or have access to your website and the ability to code.
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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 answers on this topic
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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No answers on this topic
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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No answers on this topic
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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No answers on this topic
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 used Autopilot in the past. It worked well but the integration wasn't very good, considering they only used cookies. We have a very complex system right now to be able to track every customer, and it was expensive but worth it. Autopilot worked very well when we were starting, but then it didn't track purchases, it wasn't easy to change a customer attribute, and so on (this was a few years ago, probably they have improved a lot). It was more visual and better to create huge workflows. . Mailchimp was the first program we used. It's very basic but good at what it does: sending a newsletter to your small database. It has integrated very well with other services and we haven't used in a lot of time, but certainly was grown a lot so it must be doing things fine. I also tried Active Campaign but it was almost the same as Autopilot.
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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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No answers on this topic
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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  • Helped increase our new user engagement with our cloud-based software
  • Helped our sales team identify clients who had dropped off and stopped interacting with our software
  • Helped our sales and customer service team track which clients were completing their full registration process
  • Helped our marketing, sales, and customer service team identify key features and messaging with A/B testing for different campaigns
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ScreenShots

ActiveCampaign Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of

Customer.io Screenshots

Screenshot of data-driven or manual segments that can be created in the no-code builder for recipient lists, campaign triggers, filters, and conversion goals.Screenshot of the code editor for email, that helps navigate code and iterate.Screenshot of account performance, visible at a glance from the Dashboard view.Screenshot of drag and drop messages, time delays, and branches where desired, to build cross-channel campaigns.Screenshot of triggered campaigns based on forms submissions, customer attributes, customer actions, and dates.Screenshot of localization for global audiences. One message can be delivered in multiple languages.