ActiveCampaign's calculator gives you four options at 1,000 contacts on annual billing: Starter $15, Plus $49, Pro $79 and Enterprise $145 a month. Segmentation moves from limited to premium across those tiers, automation actions go unlimited from Plus, and Pro adds predictive content, attribution and three users. It is a marketing automation product with a trial instead of a free plan.
TL;DR
ActiveCampaign is a specialist: email, automation, segmentation and CRM integrations from $15 a month at 1,000 contacts. HubSpot is a platform: free CRM, Starter seats at $20, then a deliberate jump to Professional at $800 a month on annual billing with a $3,000 onboarding fee. Choose ActiveCampaign if marketing automation is the job; choose HubSpot if you want sales, service and marketing on one record.
HubSpot's Marketing Hub starts with genuinely free tools - a CRM with unlimited contact storage, forms, email and a 1,000 marketing-contact allowance - then charges $20 per seat a month for Starter. Professional is where the platform gets serious: $800 a month on annual billing or $890 monthly, three seats included, 2,000 marketing contacts, and a mandatory $3,000 onboarding fee. Enterprise runs $3,600 a month with 10,000 contacts and $7,000 onboarding. Extra marketing contacts are billed in batches around $45 to $50 per 1,000 a month.
The structure is the comparison. ActiveCampaign's tiers are separated by features and grow with your list. HubSpot's tiers are separated by a cliff: Starter has simple, one-action automation, while the full workflow builder, A/B testing, lead scoring and custom reporting begin at Professional - a step from $20 to $800 plus onboarding. Both vendors publish their numbers openly; they are just publishing very different philosophies.
| Feature | ActiveCampaign | HubSpot |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | None - 14-day trial | Free CRM tools with 1,000 marketing contacts and 2 users |
| Entry paid price | Starter $15 a month at 1,000 contacts, billed annually | Starter $20 per seat a month |
| Mid tier | Plus $49 a month - unlimited automation actions, standard segmentation | Professional $800 a month annually ($890 monthly), 3 seats, 2,000 contacts |
| Top tier | Pro $79, Enterprise $145 a month | Enterprise $3,600 a month, 5 seats, 10,000 contacts |
| Onboarding fees | None stated - trial and a 30-day refund statement | $3,000 mandatory on Professional, $7,000 on Enterprise |
| Automation depth | 5 actions per automation on Starter, unlimited from Plus, conditional content from Pro | Simple one-action automation on Starter; full workflows from Professional |
| Included contacts | Pricing is based on the contact tier you select | 1,000 Starter, 2,000 Professional, 10,000 Enterprise, then add-ons |
| Extra contact cost | Moves you up the contact ladder on the calculator | Roughly $45 to $50 per additional 1,000 marketing contacts a month |
| Sending allowance | 10x contact limit on Starter and Plus, 12x Pro, 15x Enterprise | About 5x your marketing contact tier on Starter, 10x on Professional |
| Users | 1 Starter and Plus, 3 Pro, 5 Enterprise | Per-seat on Starter, 3 core seats on Professional, 5 on Enterprise |
Pick ActiveCampaign if
You want deep segmentation, unlimited automation actions and ecommerce integrations without buying a CRM suite. At $15 to $79 a month for 1,000 contacts, it stays a line item. The trade is that you assemble the rest - reporting, content, service - from other tools.
Pick HubSpot if
If sales, service and marketing need to work from the same contact data, HubSpot's free CRM is the cheapest serious starting point and its ecosystem is the reason people accept the price. Just run the arithmetic before you commit: the jump from $20 to $800 plus a $3,000 onboarding fee is the moment the platform reveals its cost.
No independent review data was collected for this comparison, so no ratings or review counts are used as evidence here. ActiveCampaign figures come from its pricing calculator page; HubSpot figures come from its published product catalogue and pricing coverage read in October 2026.
ActiveCampaign at the entry: $15 a month at 1,000 contacts against HubSpot Starter's $20 per seat. The gap widens with ambition - ActiveCampaign Pro is $79 a month, while HubSpot Professional is $800 a month plus $3,000 onboarding.
Yes. The free tier includes the CRM with unlimited contact storage, forms, lists and email to 1,000 marketing contacts with up to two users. What it does not include is the workflow builder, A/B testing, lead scoring and custom reporting - those start at Professional.
HubSpot gates its advanced marketing features at Professional. Starter covers single-action automation and basic lists; Professional adds full workflows, A/B testing, attribution, lead scoring and 2,000 included contacts, at $800 a month on annual billing plus mandatory onboarding.
ActiveCampaign, usually. It gives you real automation at $15 to $49 a month with no onboarding fee. HubSpot makes sense when you are already logging deals and tickets in its free CRM and are hitting its feature ceiling rather than its price ceiling.
ActiveCampaign moves you along a contact ladder on its calculator, with sends capped at 10x to 15x your contact count. HubSpot bills marketing contacts in batches - roughly $45 to $50 per extra 1,000 a month - and lifts your send allowance with each tier.
Both import contacts, tags and forms, and ActiveCampaign offers a 14-day trial to test the build first. What does not carry over is HubSpot's workflow history or ActiveCampaign's automation map, so expect to rebuild the automations either way.
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