ActiveCampaign's pricing page leads with a 14-day trial requiring no card and a 30-day money-back guarantee. The tiers run Starter at $15 a month billed annually for 1,000 contacts, Plus at $49, Pro at $79 and Enterprise at $145, with custom pricing above that. What separates them is automation capability: Starter allows 5 actions per automation, Plus adds 25 active goals, and Pro reaches 200 goals with unlimited actions, alongside advanced and premium segmentation, and seats rising from one to three to five, with SSO and a dedicated account team on Enterprise.
TL;DR
ActiveCampaign sells automation depth on a four-tier ladder: Starter $15 a month billed annually for 1,000 contacts, Plus $49, Pro $79, Enterprise $145, with 5 actions per automation on Starter, 25 active goals on Plus and 200 goals with unlimited actions from Pro. MailerLite sells simplicity on four plans of its own: Free at $0 with 250 subscribers and 2,500 monthly emails, Comfort from $12 a month as the full toolset for small senders, Power from $25 with unlimited automations, forms, sites, digital products and user seats, and Enterprise by conversation. Choose ActiveCampaign if branching automation and CRM features justify the higher entry; choose MailerLite if the list is small, the budget is thin and unlimited emails at $12 matters more than goal-based logic.
MailerLite's page is built around a low floor and clean ceilings. Free covers 250 subscribers with 2,500 monthly emails, community support, free automations, a landing page and digital products. Comfort starts at $12 a month and the vendor describes it as the full toolset for solopreneurs and small teams - 50 automations, 10 forms, 10 sites and email support. Power starts at $25 a month and is where the limits disappear: unlimited monthly emails, unlimited automations, forms, sites, digital products and user seats, live chat support and full MCP and API access. Enterprise is quoted through sales. Yearly billing saves 10%, and a 14-day trial of paid features runs without a card.
The comparison comes down to what a small list needs. MailerLite's $12 Comfort tier sends regular campaigns with automations and a website included, and its free plan is real rather than a trial - the vendor is explicit that API and MCP email sending require a paid plan, with free accounts limited to read access. ActiveCampaign's $15 Starter buys a deeper automation engine and a CRM story, but its 5-action automation cap means the depth only arrives at Plus and Pro. Budget-constrained senders who value unlimited emails and seats over branching logic land on MailerLite; teams building customer journeys and sales handoffs land on ActiveCampaign.
| Feature | ActiveCampaign | MailerLite |
|---|---|---|
| Free entry | 14-day trial, no card | $0: 250 subscribers, 2,500 monthly emails, automations and a landing page |
| Entry paid tier | Starter $15/month billed annually (1,000 contacts) | Comfort from $12/month: full toolset, 50 automations, email support |
| Mid tier | Plus $49/month with 25 active automation goals | Power from $25/month: unlimited emails, automations, forms, sites and seats |
| Top tier | Pro $79/month: 200 goals, unlimited actions, three users | Enterprise, quoted through sales, by list size |
| Automation | 5 actions per automation on Starter; unlimited from Pro | 50 automations on Comfort; unlimited triggers and automations on Power |
| Users | 1 on Starter and Plus, 3 on Pro, 5 on Enterprise | Unlimited user seats from Power upward |
| Sending limits | Emails metered by contact band | 2,500 monthly emails on Free; unlimited monthly emails from Power |
| AI and API | Active Intelligence complete from Pro | AI writing assistant from Comfort; full MCP and API access on paid plans |
Pick ActiveCampaign if
ActiveCampaign fits businesses whose email is a sequence of decisions: conditions, goals, segmentation tiers and CRM handoffs. The $15 Starter is the entry point, but the tier that justifies the choice is Plus at $49 or Pro at $79, where goals and actions stop being capped. If that structure is not the plan, the higher entry buys little over a simpler tool.
Pick MailerLite if
MailerLite suits creators and small businesses that want real sending cheaply: a free plan that holds 250 subscribers, $12 a month for the full toolset, and $25 where emails, automations and seats become unlimited. Its limits are published rather than throttled, and the paid-feature trial needs no card - a lower-risk way to start than a tier whose automation depth is capped.
No independent ratings or user quotes are reproduced here; we collected none for this pair. MailerLite prices were read from mailerlite.com/pricing on 2026-10-13. ActiveCampaign's current page loads prices through a contact-count calculator that did not render in our fetch; its $15/$49/$79/$145 tiers and limits were read from the same page on 2026-09-28 during the previous pipeline run.
MailerLite's Comfort plan starts at $12 a month and its free plan holds 250 subscribers; ActiveCampaign's Starter is $15 a month billed annually with a trial instead of a free tier. ActiveCampaign buys deeper automation at each step.
MailerLite: $0 with 250 subscribers, 2,500 monthly emails, automations, a landing page and digital products. ActiveCampaign lists a 14-day trial with no card and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
ActiveCampaign caps Starter at 5 actions per automation, then adds 25 active goals on Plus and 200 goals with unlimited actions on Pro. MailerLite includes 50 automations on Comfort and makes automations, triggers and forms unlimited on Power.
MailerLite states email sending through its API and MCP server requires a paid plan, with free accounts limited to read access. ActiveCampaign's trial includes platform access for the trial period.
ActiveCampaign states one user on Starter and Plus, three on Pro and five on Enterprise. MailerLite makes user seats unlimited from the $25 Power tier upward.
Spot an outdated price or feature? Let us know and we'll verify it.