ActiveCampaign vs Kartra
Marketing Automation pricing comparison · 2026
ActiveCampaign pricing ranges from $15–$145/month, while Kartra ranges from $52–$549/month. ActiveCampaign is typically 58% more affordable, though your actual cost depends on tier and team size.
Sources & confidence
Every dollar amount and contract clause below traces back to a sourced fact. We don't manufacture composite scores.
Plans at a glance
Every tier per product. Lock one to drive the cost row above and reveal a tier-specific outbound CTA.
Contract terms
The fine print, surfaced. Green = buyer-friendly. Each clause backed by a quoted source.
What users say
Aggregated, with sample sizes. We use whichever review platform has data.
ActiveCampaign and Kartra both serve online businesses with marketing automation, but their scope is dramatically different. ActiveCampaign is the automation specialist: its visual workflow builder supports 500+ pre-built recipes, advanced conditional logic, predictive sending, and deep CRM functionality. Kartra is the all-in-one platform: it combines email marketing, sales funnels, membership sites, video hosting, checkout, affiliate management, and a helpdesk into one subscription.
ActiveCampaign starts at $15/month (500 contacts) and scales to $145/month at the Enterprise tier. Kartra starts at $59/month and includes tools that would otherwise require ClickFunnels ($97/month), Teachable ($39/month), and a helpdesk platform — so the total-cost comparison often favors Kartra for digital product sellers, while ActiveCampaign wins for businesses that want best-in-class automation paired with their existing stack.
Plan-by-Plan Pricing
| Plan | ActiveCampaign | Kartra |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $15 /month | $59 /month |
| Plus | $49 /month | $119 /month |
| Pro | $79 /month | $229 /month |
| Enterprise | $145 /month | $549 /month |
Cost at Scale
Total cost of ownership — licenses, implementation, and hidden costs included.
ActiveCampaign
3 scenariosKartra
4 scenariosMarket Intelligence
ActiveCampaign
- Median annual cost
- $10,548
- Average negotiated discount
- 20%
Kartra
- Median annual cost
- $500
- Based on
- 82 deals
Contract Terms
| Term | ActiveCampaign | Kartra |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-renewal | Yes | Yes |
| Cancellation | Must cancel before renewal date; refund window is 30 days from charge | — |
| Minimum commitment | Monthly or annual billing available | — |
| Price escalation | Year-over-year price increases of 25-35% reported by multiple long-term customers. One user documented costs rising from $2,700 to $4,700 over three years. | — |
| Can downgrade | Yes | — |
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Our Verdict
Choose ActiveCampaign if marketing automation sophistication is your primary need — you want advanced branching logic, CRM deal pipelines, lead scoring, predictive sending, and 900+ integrations to plug into your existing tools. It is also the better choice if you already have a separate course platform, funnel builder, or e-commerce store and just need the automation layer to orchestrate them.
Choose Kartra if you are a course creator, coach, or digital product seller who wants to replace ActiveCampaign plus ClickFunnels plus a membership platform plus a helpdesk with a single subscription. Kartra's automation is less powerful than ActiveCampaign's, but its breadth means fewer integrations, fewer monthly subscriptions, and less context-switching for solo operators.
Frequently Asked Questions
01 Is ActiveCampaign cheaper than Kartra?
At entry level, yes — ActiveCampaign Starter is $15/month for 500 contacts versus Kartra Essentials at $59/month. But ActiveCampaign is a pure automation tool, while Kartra includes funnels, course hosting, checkout, and affiliate management. Businesses paying for ActiveCampaign plus separate funnel and course tools often spend more than Kartra's $119-$229/month.
02 Does Kartra have better automation than ActiveCampaign?
No. ActiveCampaign is widely regarded as having the most powerful marketing automation of any platform in this category. It supports 500+ workflow templates, predictive sending, advanced split testing, and CRM pipelines. Kartra's automation covers the basics — sequences, tagging, behavioral triggers — but cannot match ActiveCampaign's depth.
03 Can ActiveCampaign host courses or membership sites?
No. ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation and CRM platform with no built-in course hosting, membership sites, video hosting, or checkout pages. You would need a separate platform like Teachable, Kajabi, or Thinkific. Kartra includes all of these natively.
04 Which has more integrations: ActiveCampaign or Kartra?
ActiveCampaign by a wide margin — it offers 900+ native integrations versus Kartra's more limited ecosystem. Kartra is deliberately self-contained, meaning it integrates well internally but has fewer third-party connections. ActiveCampaign's integration library is one of its strongest selling points.
05 Does ActiveCampaign have a free plan?
No, but ActiveCampaign offers a 14-day free trial. Plans start at $15/month for 500 contacts on the Starter tier. Kartra similarly has no free plan and offers a 14-day trial. Neither platform offers a permanent free tier.
06 Which is better for a solo online business: ActiveCampaign or Kartra?
It depends on what you sell. If you run courses, coaching, or digital products and want everything in one place, Kartra is typically more practical for solo operators — fewer logins, no integration maintenance, and a single monthly bill. If you run a service business or SaaS and need sophisticated CRM automation, ActiveCampaign with a separate CRM is often the better fit.