ActiveCampaign vs MailerLite comes down to one question: do you need branching, behaviour-based automation tied to a CRM, or do you mainly send newsletters and a few welcome sequences? ActiveCampaign is the deeper tool. MailerLite is the cheaper and simpler one, and for many small businesses it is all they will ever need.
We compared both tools using their official pricing pages, plan tables and help docs, plus dated third-party pricing guides where a page could not be read. Below you will find what each costs at 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 contacts, where the feature gaps are, and who should pick which.
Short answer: pick ActiveCampaign if you sell with a sales process, need multi-branch automations triggered by site visits, purchases or deal stages, and will pay more for that depth. Pick MailerLite if you send newsletters, run simple automations and landing pages, and want the lowest bill as your list grows.
ActiveCampaign vs MailerLite at a glance
| Feature | ActiveCampaign | MailerLite |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | No, 14-day trial | Yes, 250 subscribers |
| Entry price (billed yearly) | $15/mo at 1,000 contacts (Starter) | $10.80/mo at 500 subscribers (Comfort) |
| Price at 5,000 contacts (billed yearly) | $79/mo Starter, about $145/mo Plus | $44.10/mo Comfort, $62.10/mo Power |
| Visual automation builder | Yes, multi-branch | Yes, simpler |
| Built-in CRM | Marketing CRM; sales pipelines extra | No sales CRM |
| Landing pages | Plus plan and up | Comfort: 10 · Power: unlimited |
| Paid newsletters and digital products | No | Yes, Comfort and up |
| Transactional email | Postmark (separate add-on) | MailerSend (separate product) |
| Users included | 1 on Starter and Plus, 3 on Pro | 3 on Comfort, unlimited on Power |
| Best for | B2B, ecommerce and sales-led teams | Creators, small businesses, newsletters |
ActiveCampaign vs MailerLite pricing
Both tools charge by list size, not by emails sent. When you cross a contact band, the whole plan moves up a price step. The big difference is the starting point: MailerLite’s paid plans begin well below ActiveCampaign’s, and the gap widens as you grow.
MailerLite prices below come from its official pricing page. ActiveCampaign’s pricing page could not be loaded by our research tool, so its figures are cross-checked from three dated 2026 pricing guides. Where those guides disagree, we show a rounded “about” figure.
Cost at 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 contacts (billed yearly)
| Contacts | ActiveCampaign Starter | ActiveCampaign Plus | MailerLite Comfort | MailerLite Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $15/mo | $49/mo | $17.10/mo | $35.10/mo |
| 5,000 | $79/mo | about $145/mo | $44.10/mo | $62.10/mo |
| 10,000 | about $149/mo* | about $189/mo | $80.10/mo | $116.10/mo |
*Only one of our sources listed ActiveCampaign Starter at 10,000 contacts, so treat that figure as a guide and confirm it on the pricing slider.
Cost if you pay month to month
| Contacts | ActiveCampaign Starter | ActiveCampaign Plus | MailerLite Comfort | MailerLite Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $19/mo | $59/mo | $19/mo | $39/mo |
| 5,000 | $99/mo | $179/mo | $49/mo | $69/mo |
| 10,000 | check slider | check slider | $89/mo | $129/mo |
At 1,000 contacts the two entry plans are close: about $15 to $19 a month either way. By 5,000 contacts, ActiveCampaign Starter costs roughly $35 a month more than MailerLite Comfort on yearly billing, and Plus costs about three times as much. At 10,000 contacts, MailerLite’s top Power plan is still cheaper than ActiveCampaign Plus.
MailerLite takes 10% off for yearly billing. ActiveCampaign’s yearly discount is larger, roughly 20% in the guides we read, so if you choose ActiveCampaign, yearly billing matters more.
Watch the contact count. Both tools count stored contacts, so old and inactive subscribers push you into a higher band. Clean your list before you import it, and set a habit of removing hard bounces and long-term non-openers.
What the entry plans leave out
ActiveCampaign Starter is a real automation plan, but it is trimmed: third-party guides list a limit of five actions per automation, basic segmentation and no landing pages. Most teams who choose ActiveCampaign for its automation end up on Plus or Pro. That is the price you should compare.
MailerLite Comfort includes 50 active automations, 10 websites or landing pages, paid newsletters, AI writing help and removal of the MailerLite logo, according to its pricing page. Power adds unlimited automations, multiple triggers per automation, unlimited users and live chat support.
Automation compared: how deep do you need to go?
This is where the two tools differ most. ActiveCampaign was built around automation. Its builder handles if/else branches, waits until a condition is met, goals that pull contacts forward when they act, site and event tracking, and deal-stage triggers. On Pro and Enterprise you also get predictive sending, predictive content and attribution.
MailerLite’s automation builder is visual and easy to read. It covers welcome series, tag- and group-based flows, date triggers, purchase triggers from connected stores, and conditional splits. It does not try to be a sales automation engine. On Comfort each automation has a single trigger; Power allows multiple triggers per workflow.
| Automation feature | ActiveCampaign | MailerLite |
|---|---|---|
| Visual builder | Yes | Yes |
| If/else branching | Yes | Yes |
| Goals and wait-until conditions | Yes | Basic conditions |
| Site and event tracking triggers | Yes | Limited |
| Deal or pipeline triggers | Yes, with sales pipelines | No CRM |
| Multiple triggers per automation | Yes | Power plan only |
| Predictive sending and content | Pro and Enterprise | No |
If your automations are mostly “subscribe, get five emails, then join the newsletter”, MailerLite does that well and you will not use most of what ActiveCampaign offers. If you need to score leads, route them to a sales rep, change emails based on what someone viewed, or run separate journeys for buyers and non-buyers, ActiveCampaign is the safer choice.
Agencies weighing an all-in-one platform instead should also read our GoHighLevel vs ActiveCampaign comparison, which covers SMS, funnels and client sub-accounts.
CRM and sales features
ActiveCampaign includes a marketing CRM on every plan: contact records, tags, custom fields and lead scoring on higher tiers. One 2026 pricing guide lists sales pipelines and sales engagement tools as paid add-ons on Plus and above, so price those in if your team manages deals. Once set up, automations can create deals, move them between stages and assign tasks.
MailerLite has no sales CRM. It stores subscribers, groups, segments and custom fields, which is enough for marketing, but you will need a separate CRM if you track deals. If that is you, our guide to the best CRM for small business lists options that connect to either tool.
Email editor, landing pages and websites
Both tools have drag-and-drop email editors with templates, a rich-text option and an HTML option. MailerLite leans harder into extra publishing tools: its plans include websites, landing pages, signup forms, pop-ups, paid newsletters, digital products and bookings, with limits set by plan.
ActiveCampaign includes landing pages from the Plus plan up, plus forms on all plans. It does not sell digital products or run paid newsletter subscriptions. If you want one tool to host a small site, sell a guide and send the newsletter, MailerLite covers more ground for less money.
| Publishing feature | ActiveCampaign | MailerLite |
|---|---|---|
| Drag-and-drop email editor | Yes | Yes |
| Landing pages | Plus and up | Free: 1 · Comfort: 10 · Power: unlimited |
| Website builder | No | Yes |
| Paid newsletters | No | Comfort and up |
| Digital products and bookings | No | Free: 1 · Comfort: 5 · Power: unlimited |
| AI writing assistant | Enterprise lists generative AI | Comfort and up |
Which is easier to use?
Based on the product docs and how each tool is organised, MailerLite is the easier one to learn. Its menus are short, the automation builder shows a clean flow, and the free plan lets you build a real setup before paying. Most small teams can get a form, a welcome series and a newsletter running without outside help.
ActiveCampaign has more screens because it does more: contacts, deals, automations, site tracking, goals and reporting all interact. That power comes with a learning curve, and its help centre and templates library matter more. Budget time for setup, or plan to bring in someone who has built automations before.
Deliverability, sending limits and support
Neither vendor publishes inbox-placement figures we could verify, so we will not quote any. Both include the basics you need for good delivery: domain authentication, list hygiene tools and send-time options.
On sending limits, MailerLite Comfort allows 10 times your subscriber tier each month, and Power is unlimited under fair use, per its pricing page. ActiveCampaign’s guides list a 10x contact send limit on Starter and Plus, 12x on Pro and 15x on Enterprise. Either is plenty for a weekly newsletter.
For support, MailerLite lists 24/7 email support on Comfort and 24/7 live chat with priority email on Power. ActiveCampaign offers chat and email support, with a dedicated account team on Enterprise.
Transactional email
Neither tool sends receipts and password resets from the main marketing plan. ActiveCampaign sells this through Postmark, which one 2026 guide lists from $15 a month for 10,000 emails. MailerLite points you to its sister product MailerSend, which is billed separately. If you run a store or an app, budget for one of these on top.
Who should pick which?
Choose ActiveCampaign if…
- You need branching automations based on behaviour, purchases or deal stages
- Sales and marketing share one contact database
- You’ll pay more per contact for lead scoring and predictive tools
Choose MailerLite if…
- You mainly send newsletters and simple automated sequences
- You want landing pages, a small site and paid newsletters included
- Cost at 5,000 to 10,000 subscribers matters more than advanced logic
Switching between ActiveCampaign and MailerLite
Moving either way is mostly a CSV job, but automations do not transfer. Plan the move like this:
- Export contacts with tags, groups and custom fields. Map each field before you import.
- Import only subscribers who have given consent, and leave old bounces behind so you start in a lower price band.
- Authenticate your sending domain in the new tool before the first campaign.
- Rebuild your top two or three automations first: welcome, abandoned cart or lead nurture.
- Replace sign-up forms on your site and update any Zapier or native integrations.
- Run both tools side by side for a few weeks so active sequences can finish.
Tip. If you are moving from MailerLite to ActiveCampaign to get a CRM, decide on your deal pipeline stages before import. Tags you create during import are much easier to plan than to clean up later.
Related comparisons
Looking at ActiveCampaign against other tools? See ActiveCampaign vs Klaviyo if you run an online store. If you want a bigger CRM, our ActiveCampaign vs HubSpot comparison (linked at the top) covers that, and our roundup of the best email marketing software for small business covers more budget options.
How we researched this
This is a research-based comparison, not a hands-on test. We compared the official pricing pages, plan tables and help docs for both tools. MailerLite prices come from its official pricing page, checked on 6 November 2026. ActiveCampaign’s pricing page could not be loaded by our research tool, so we cross-checked three dated 2026 pricing guides on 6 November 2026 and only used figures that at least two agreed on, unless marked. Prices are in US dollars and exclude tax. Read more about how we test and review software.
Sources: MailerLite pricing · ActiveCampaign pricing · EmailVendorSelection ActiveCampaign pricing (Aug 2026) · CostBench ActiveCampaign plans (Nov 2026) · Activepieces ActiveCampaign at 5,000 contacts (Oct 2026) · Flowium ActiveCampaign pricing
OUR PICK
ActiveCampaign for automation depth and sales. MailerLite for newsletters on a budget.
If your business runs on behaviour-based journeys and a sales pipeline, ActiveCampaign earns its higher price, and Plus is the realistic starting plan. If you mostly publish a newsletter, run a few sequences and want landing pages included, MailerLite does the job for roughly half the cost at 5,000 to 10,000 contacts.
FAQ
Is MailerLite cheaper than ActiveCampaign?
Yes, at most list sizes. At 5,000 contacts billed yearly, MailerLite Comfort is $44.10 a month and Power is $62.10, while ActiveCampaign Starter is about $79 and Plus about $145 (prices checked on 6 November 2026). At 1,000 contacts the entry plans are close.
Does ActiveCampaign have a free plan?
No. ActiveCampaign offers a 14-day free trial, which third-party guides describe as limited to 100 contacts and 100 email sends. MailerLite has a free plan for up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month.
Is ActiveCampaign’s automation better than MailerLite’s?
It is deeper. ActiveCampaign supports goals, wait-until conditions, site tracking, deal triggers and predictive features on higher plans. MailerLite covers welcome series, tag and date triggers and conditional splits, which is enough for most newsletters and small stores.
Does MailerLite have a CRM?
Not a sales CRM. MailerLite manages subscribers, groups, segments and fields. If you track deals you will need a separate CRM, or a tool like ActiveCampaign that includes one.
Can I sell paid newsletters with either tool?
MailerLite lets you sell paid newsletter subscriptions and digital products from the Comfort plan up. ActiveCampaign does not offer paid newsletters or digital product sales.
Which is better for ecommerce?
ActiveCampaign suits stores that want detailed behaviour-based flows and predictive features. MailerLite suits smaller stores that need abandoned cart and post-purchase emails at a low price. For store-first email, also compare Klaviyo.
