What will I actually be paying per year?
Annual billing is often tempting because it offers a per user price that is slightly lower than monthly billing. However, annual billing requires you to pay for a full year either in advance, or by the end of the service year. As such, the true cost of annual billing should factor in the entire year.
The prices bolded below are the total upfront cost for a full year, for the minimum number of users for that tier.
ActiveCampaign Starter
- 15 - $149/month
- Because you are billed annually, your minimum upfront cost is 15 x 12 = $180 (for 1,000 contacts) to 149 x 12 = $1,788 (for 10,000 contacts)
ActiveCampaign Plus
- $49 - $609/month
- Because you are billed annually, your minimum upfront cost is 49 x 12 = $588 (for 1,000 contacts) to 609 x 12 = $7,308 (for 50,000 contacts)
ActiveCampaign Professional
- $79.00 - $969/month
- Because you are billed annually, your minimum upfront cost is 79 x 12 = $948 (for 1,000 contacts) to 969 x 12 = $11,628 (for 50,000 contacts)
ActiveCampaign Enterprise
- $145 - $1,169/month
- Because you are billed annually, your minimum upfront cost is 145 x 12 = $1,740 (for 1,000 contacts) to 319 x 12 = $14,028 (for 50,000 contacts)
When should I pay monthly instead of annually?
While there are many reasons why you would opt to pay monthly instead of annually (for example, the ability to switch CRMs whenever you want), one of the more straightforward reasons would be the duration of time you plan on using a CRM.
Listed below is the maximum duration of time you would need to use a CRM tier before it is more "worth it" to pay for a full year instead.
ActiveCampaign Starter
- $19 - $189/month
- This is 27% more expensive than the monthly price billed annually.
- If you have 1,000 contacts, you should opt for monthly billing if you plan on using ActiveCampaign Lite for fewer than 180 / 19 = ~9 months
- If you have 10,000 contacts, you should opt for monthly billing if you plan on using ActiveCampaign Lite for fewer than 1,788 / 189 = ~9 months
ActiveCampaign Plus
- $59 - $759/month
- This is 20% to 25% more expensive than the monthly price billed annually.
- If you have 1,000 contacts, you should opt for monthly billing if you plan on using ActiveCampaign Plus for fewer than 609 / 59 = ~10 months
- If you have 50,000 contacts, you should opt for monthly billing if you plan on using ActiveCampaign Plus for fewer than 7,308.00 / 759 = ~9 months
ActiveCampaign Professional
- This tier requires an annual commitment even if you pay monthly, so there is no advantage to paying monthly.
ActiveCampaign Enterprise
- This tier requires an annual commitment even if you pay monthly, so there is no advantage to paying monthly.
ActiveCampaign Starter
- Includes email marketing, email templates, limited segmentation, basic and inline forms, email inbox syncing, and 1 user login.
ActiveCampaign Plus
- Includes landing pages, prospecting and retargeting ads, revenue reporting, user permissions, generative AI, and 1 user login.
ActiveCampaign Professional
- Includes predictive sending, attribution tracking, conversion reporting, priority email and chat support, predictive content, and 3 user logins.
ActiveCampaign Enterprise
- Includes custom objects, premium CRM integrations, Zendesk, Single sign-on (SSO), dedicated account team, HIPAA compliance, and 5 user logins.
Many CRMs offer a free version of their software with severe feature limitations. While appealing to small businesses or solopreneurs, most free versions are simply marketing tools to introduce new users to a paid tier and are not designed to be scalable.
