📊 Our Test Results:
- 🤖 Marketing Automation: ActiveCampaign has 900+ templates vs Close CRM’s basic workflows — ActiveCampaign wins
- 📞 Built-in Calling: Close CRM has a native power dialer vs ActiveCampaign requiring add-ons — Close CRM wins
- 💰 Pricing: ActiveCampaign starts at $15/month vs Close CRM at $35/seat/month — ActiveCampaign wins
- 🔌 Integrations: ActiveCampaign has 950+ integrations vs Close CRM’s 80+ — ActiveCampaign wins
- 🎯 Email Deliverability: ActiveCampaign scores top marks vs Close CRM’s average rates — ActiveCampaign wins
Are you stuck choosing between a marketing powerhouse and a sales-focused CRM?
ActiveCampaign vs Close CRM both promise to grow your business.
But they attack the problem from very different angles.
ActiveCampaign leads with email marketing and deep automation.
Close CRM leads with built-in calling and sales engagement tools.
I tested both for three weeks. Here’s exactly what I found.
Overview
To give you a fair comparison, I tested ActiveCampaign and Close CRM side by side.
I ran email campaigns, built automations, tested calling features, and tracked leads.
Both tools have real strengths. But only one fits most businesses better.
Here’s what I discovered after hands-on testing.
What is ActiveCampaign?
ActiveCampaign is a Customer Experience Automation platform.
It helps small and mid-sized businesses send smarter emails, build complex workflows, and manage contacts all in one place.
The platform is built around one core idea: automate your marketing so you can focus on growing.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is the go-to platform for marketing automation. With 900+ templates, AI-powered send timing, and email plus SMS plus WhatsApp all in one dashboard, it helps you reach more customers without working harder.
ActiveCampaign Pricing
Here’s what ActiveCampaign costs in 2026. Let’s break it down.
| Plan | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $15/month | Solopreneurs and very small teams |
| Plus | $49/month | Growing businesses needing CRM |
| Pro | $79/month | Teams wanting full automation |
| Enterprise | $145/month | Large teams needing custom support |
Free trial: Yes — 14 days, no credit card required.
Money-back guarantee: No formal refund policy after purchase; trial is the test period.
📌 Note: The Starter plan limits automations to 5 actions per workflow. Upgrade to Plus or higher for full automation power and built-in CRM access.
⚠️ Warning: Pricing scales up based on your contact list size. A list of 10,000 contacts will cost more than the base price shown. Check the pricing page before committing.
Key Benefits of ActiveCampaign
Here’s why ActiveCampaign stands out from the competition:
- 900+ Automation Templates: ActiveCampaign gives you pre-built workflows for almost any scenario. You can launch a full drip campaign in minutes without starting from scratch.
- AI Predictive Sending: The platform uses AI to figure out the best time to send each email. This alone can boost open rates without any extra work from you.
- Omnichannel Campaigns: You can reach contacts via email, SMS, and WhatsApp from one dashboard. This keeps your messaging consistent across every channel.
- Advanced Segmentation: Tag and segment contacts by website behavior, location, or purchase history. This means every person gets the right message at the right time.
- Built-in CRM: All plans include a CRM for tracking deals and leads. You don’t need a separate tool to manage your sales pipeline.
- 950+ Integrations: ActiveCampaign connects with Shopify, Salesforce, WordPress, and hundreds more. Your existing tools will plug in without any hassle.
ActiveCampaign Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Top-rated email deliverability rates in industry tests
- Drag-and-drop automation builder is easy to learn
- Free migration service when switching from another tool
- GDPR-compliant with strong data privacy protections
❌ Cons
- Pricing jumps sharply as your contact list grows
- No built-in phone calling or power dialer feature
- Starter plan has limited automation steps (5 per workflow)
What is Close CRM?
Close CRM is a sales-focused platform built for small and medium-sized teams.
It combines email, calling, and SMS into a single inbox so reps never miss a follow-up.
The tool is designed to close more deals faster — not to run marketing campaigns.
Close CRM
Close CRM is built specifically for sales teams that live on the phone. With a built-in power dialer, live call coaching, and all your outreach in one inbox, it helps reps dial more contacts and close deals faster.
Close CRM Pricing
Here’s what Close CRM costs in 2026. Let’s break it down.
| Plan | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $35/seat/month | Small sales teams getting started |
| Growth | $99/seat/month | Teams needing automation and pipelines |
| Scale | $139/seat/month | High-volume teams with call coaching needs |
Free trial: Yes — 14 days, no credit card required.
Money-back guarantee: No standard refund policy listed; use the trial before committing.
📌 Note: Close CRM pricing is per seat (per user). A team of 5 on the Growth plan costs $495/month. Factor in your team size before choosing a plan.
⚠️ Warning: Advanced features like call coaching and predictive dialer are only on the Scale plan at $139/seat. The entry-level Essentials plan has limited automation capabilities.
Key Benefits of Close CRM
Here’s why Close CRM stands out for sales teams:
- Built-in Power Dialer: Sales reps can dial contacts directly from the browser without a separate phone system. This cuts the time between calls significantly.
- Unified Sales Inbox: Emails, calls, and SMS all land in one place. Reps never have to switch between apps to follow up with a prospect.
- Smart Views: Filter your lead list by any criteria instantly. This helps reps focus only on the hottest prospects instead of scrolling through noise.
- Live Call Coaching: Managers can listen in and whisper advice to reps during live calls. This feature is a major advantage for training new salespeople.
- Automatic Activity Capture: Every call, email, and SMS is logged to the contact timeline automatically. Your team spends less time on data entry.
- Quick Setup: Close CRM has a CSV import tool and free one-click migration. A motivated team can be fully operational inside the 14-day trial.
Close CRM Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Best-in-class calling tools built directly into the CRM
- Very quick to set up — most teams are live within days
- All sales activity is captured automatically on contact timelines
- Strong support team with proactive onboarding help
❌ Cons
- Reporting is considered weak compared to other CRMs
- Per-seat pricing gets expensive fast for growing teams
- Only 80+ integrations — far fewer than ActiveCampaign
Feature Comparison
Ready to dive into a detailed comparison of ActiveCampaign vs Close CRM?
We’ll explore 9 key features to help you determine which platform best suits your needs.
| Feature | ActiveCampaign | Close CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $15/month | $35/seat/month |
| Free Plan | ❌ (14-day trial) | ❌ (14-day trial) |
| Email Marketing | ✅ Advanced | ✅ Basic |
| Marketing Automation | ✅ 900+ templates | ❌ Limited |
| Built-in Calling | ❌ | ✅ Power Dialer |
| CRM Included | ✅ | ✅ |
| Integrations | ✅ 950+ | ⚠️ 80+ |
| SMS Marketing | ✅ (add-on) | ✅ Built-in |
| AI Features | ✅ Predictive send + content | ✅ Sales AI |
| Best For | Marketing-led growth | Sales-led outreach |
1. Email Marketing
ActiveCampaign: ActiveCampaign’s email editor is one of the strongest in the market. It includes AI content generation, conditional content blocks, drag-and-drop design, and A/B testing of entire automation paths. Email deliverability is consistently rated among the best in the industry.
Close CRM: Close CRM has email functionality built into the sales inbox. You can send individual emails and create simple email sequences for follow-ups. It does the job for sales outreach, but it lacks the advanced design tools and deliverability focus of a dedicated email platform.
⚠️ Warning: If email deliverability matters to your business, ActiveCampaign is the clear choice. Close CRM is not designed for bulk email marketing campaigns.
2. Marketing Automation
ActiveCampaign: This is where ActiveCampaign truly shines. The visual drag-and-drop builder lets you create multi-step workflows with conditional logic — no coding needed. You get 900+ pre-built templates for welcome series, cart abandonment, drip campaigns, and more. Users report saving an average of 20 hours per month.
Close CRM: Close CRM offers workflow automations primarily for sales tasks like follow-up reminders and lead status updates. It’s useful for keeping reps on track, but it doesn’t come close to the depth of a dedicated marketing automation platform.
3. Built-in Calling & Communication
ActiveCampaign: ActiveCampaign does not include built-in phone calling. You can integrate with telephony tools through its 950+ integrations, but this requires a separate subscription and setup. If your team makes lots of calls, this is a real gap.
Close CRM: Built-in calling is Close CRM’s biggest differentiator. The platform includes a power dialer and predictive dialer that let reps dial multiple numbers in sequence without manual effort. Live call coaching lets managers whisper advice to reps during active calls. All calls are automatically logged to contact timelines.
⚠️ Warning: If your team lives on the phone, Close CRM wins this category hands-down. ActiveCampaign simply doesn’t compete on native calling features.
4. CRM & Contact Management
ActiveCampaign: ActiveCampaign includes a CRM in all plans. You can track deals, score leads, and segment contacts by behavior, location, or custom fields. The CRM is tightly linked to automations — a deal moving stages can trigger an email sequence automatically.
Close CRM: Close CRM’s contact management is built around sales activity. Every email, call, and SMS gets logged automatically to the contact record. Smart Views let reps filter leads by any criteria so they always know who to contact next. The visual pipeline helps teams spot bottlenecks quickly.
5. AI Features
ActiveCampaign: ActiveCampaign’s AI is focused on marketing outcomes. Predictive sending automatically chooses the best delivery time for each contact. Active Intelligence agents (launched in 2025) can build full campaigns and suggest high-value audience segments based on real-time data. The email editor also includes AI content generation.
Close CRM: Close CRM’s Sales AI is focused on helping reps close deals. It analyzes call activity and surfaces insights to help managers coach their teams. The AI is designed for sales performance rather than marketing personalization.
6. Segmentation & Targeting
ActiveCampaign: Advanced segmentation is a core strength. You can group contacts by website visits, purchase history, email engagement, location, and any custom field. Conditional content inside emails means each subscriber can see personalized content based on their profile.
Close CRM: Close CRM’s Smart Views let you create custom filtered lists of leads. You can filter by last activity, deal stage, location, and custom fields. It’s powerful for sales reps but doesn’t match the marketing-grade segmentation of ActiveCampaign.
7. Integrations
ActiveCampaign: With 950+ integrations, ActiveCampaign connects with almost everything. Native connections include Shopify, WordPress, Salesforce, Zapier, and hundreds more. Premium integrations are available for advanced CRM and ecommerce workflows.
Close CRM: Close CRM integrates with over 80 tools. It covers the key sales tools like Zoom Meetings, but the library is much smaller than ActiveCampaign. Some teams have noted gaps in key integrations compared to other CRM platforms.
⚠️ Warning: If you use a complex tech stack with many tools, ActiveCampaign’s 950+ integrations give you much more flexibility than Close CRM’s 80+.
8. Reports & Analytics
ActiveCampaign: ActiveCampaign provides detailed reporting on email campaigns, automation performance, and contact activity. Custom reports are available on higher plans. The data helps you see exactly which campaigns are driving revenue.
Close CRM: Close CRM’s reporting covers call activity, email stats, and deal pipeline performance. However, users have consistently noted that the reporting functionality feels limited compared to other CRM platforms. Custom graphs are available but depth is lacking.
9. Pricing & Cost
Let’s compare the pricing plans side by side.
| Plan | ActiveCampaign | Close CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Entry Level | $15/month (Starter) | $35/seat/month (Essentials) |
| Mid Tier | $49/month (Plus) | $99/seat/month (Growth) |
| Upper Tier | $79/month (Pro) | $139/seat/month (Scale) |
| Top Tier | $145/month (Enterprise) | — |
ActiveCampaign: ActiveCampaign’s pricing is based on the number of contacts, not per user. This makes it much more affordable for teams. A solopreneur with 1,000 contacts pays just $15/month for the Starter plan.
Close CRM: Close CRM charges per seat per month. A 5-person team on the Growth plan costs $495/month. For solo users or very small teams, the per-seat model can still be cost-effective — but it scales up fast as your team grows.
💡 Test Result: ActiveCampaign is significantly cheaper for marketing-focused teams. Close CRM’s per-seat pricing only makes sense if your team’s primary need is high-volume sales calling.
Different Scenarios
| If You Need… | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Tight budget | ActiveCampaign | Starts at $15/month vs $35/seat |
| Email marketing automation | ActiveCampaign | 900+ templates, AI send timing |
| Built-in phone calling | Close CRM | Native power and predictive dialer |
| Large tech stack | ActiveCampaign | 950+ integrations available |
| High-velocity sales outreach | Close CRM | Unified inbox for calls, email, SMS |
| Beginner-friendly setup | Close CRM | Faster to launch, simpler onboarding |
💰 Your Budget
ActiveCampaign is far more affordable for solo users and small teams. At $15/month for the Starter plan, it beats Close CRM’s $35/seat entry price by a wide margin.
🔌 Your Tech Stack
If you rely on many third-party tools, ActiveCampaign’s 950+ integrations give you much more flexibility. Close CRM’s 80+ integrations cover the basics but may leave gaps in your workflow.
📞 Your Sales Process
If your reps spend most of their day on the phone, Close CRM’s power dialer and call coaching are unbeatable. No other CRM at this price range matches its native calling tools.
🎓 Your Experience Level
Close CRM is praised for quick onboarding — most teams are fully operational within the 14-day trial. ActiveCampaign has more features to learn, but the personalized onboarding checklist helps new users get up to speed.
🆓 Free Trials and Demos
Both tools offer 14-day free trials with no credit card required. Test the actual feature you care most about — automation for ActiveCampaign, calling for Close CRM — before you decide.
🛟 Support Options
ActiveCampaign provides a large knowledge base, free migration service, and email support. Close CRM is noted for proactive support during onboarding, with a help center and API documentation available for technical users.
Switching Guide
Already using one of these tools? Here’s what to expect if you switch.
🔄 Switching from ActiveCampaign to Close CRM?
✅ What you’ll gain:
- Native power dialer and built-in calling without a separate phone system
- All calls, emails, and SMS in one unified sales inbox
- Live call coaching for faster rep training and deal closing
❌ What you’ll lose:
- Advanced marketing automation with 900+ pre-built templates
- AI predictive send timing and omnichannel marketing campaigns
- Access to 950+ third-party integrations
📋 How to switch:
- Export your contact list from ActiveCampaign as a CSV file
- Create your Close CRM account and use the CSV import tool
- Set up Smart Views and calling workflows inside Close CRM
🔄 Switching from Close CRM to ActiveCampaign?
✅ What you’ll gain:
- Full marketing automation with multi-step workflows and conditional logic
- AI-powered send timing and advanced contact segmentation
- Omnichannel campaigns across email, SMS, and WhatsApp
❌ What you’ll lose:
- Built-in power dialer and predictive dialing tools
- Live call coaching for your sales reps
- The unified sales inbox combining calls, emails, and SMS
📋 How to switch:
- Export your contacts from Close CRM using the built-in export tool
- Sign up for ActiveCampaign and use the free migration service
- Import contacts, set up your first automation from a template, and connect your integrations
Final Verdict
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| 💰 Pricing | ActiveCampaign |
| 📧 Email Marketing | ActiveCampaign |
| 🤖 Marketing Automation | ActiveCampaign |
| 📞 Built-in Calling | Close CRM |
| 🔌 Integrations | ActiveCampaign |
| 🎯 AI Features | ActiveCampaign |
| 👶 Ease of Use | Close CRM |
| 🏆 Overall Winner | ActiveCampaign |
🏆 WINNER: ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign wins 5 out of 7 categories.
Best for: marketing automation, email campaigns, contact segmentation, and businesses wanting one platform for growth
ActiveCampaign and Close CRM are built for very different buyers.
ActiveCampaign is the better platform for businesses that want to grow through email marketing and automation.
It wins on pricing, integrations, AI, and marketing depth — and that’s hard to beat.
Close CRM is excellent for inside sales teams that need to make a lot of calls and want all their outreach in one place.
If your reps live on the phone, Close CRM is worth every dollar at its price point.
But for most businesses? ActiveCampaign gives you more power at a lower price.
Now go out and start closing those deals!
More of ActiveCampaign Compared
Here’s how ActiveCampaign stacks up against other competitors:
ActiveCampaign vs GoHighLevel
ActiveCampaign wins on: email deliverability, marketing automation depth
GoHighLevel wins on: agency features, funnel builder, white-labeling
ActiveCampaign vs Pipedrive
ActiveCampaign wins on: marketing automation, email campaigns
Pipedrive wins on: visual pipeline management, sales-focused CRM
ActiveCampaign wins on: pricing, integrations, automation templates
Keap wins on: invoicing and payments, small business CRM features
ActiveCampaign wins on: price for automation, deliverability
HubSpot wins on: free plan, all-in-one CRM suite
ActiveCampaign vs ClickFunnels
ActiveCampaign wins on: email automation, contact segmentation
ClickFunnels wins on: sales funnel building, landing page creation
ActiveCampaign vs Folk
ActiveCampaign wins on: automation depth, email marketing tools
Folk wins on: simplicity, relationship-focused CRM
ActiveCampaign wins on: full marketing automation, CRM integration
Instantly wins on: cold email outreach volume, deliverability warmup
ActiveCampaign wins on: price, ease of use, quick setup
Salesforce wins on: enterprise customization, advanced CRM reporting
More of Close CRM Compared
Here’s how Close CRM stacks up against other competitors:
Close CRM wins on: built-in calling, call coaching, sales-focused tools
GoHighLevel wins on: agency features, marketing automation, white-labeling
Close CRM wins on: built-in dialer, sales outreach tools
Keap wins on: invoicing, marketing automation, small business features
Close CRM wins on: calling features, sales rep productivity tools
HubSpot wins on: free plan, marketing suite, larger integration library
Close CRM wins on: CRM depth, contact management, calling
ClickFunnels wins on: funnel building, landing pages, upsell flows
Close CRM wins on: calling tools, pipeline management, automation
Folk wins on: simplicity, relationship-based CRM for small teams
Close CRM wins on: ease of setup, calling built-in, price for small teams
Salesforce wins on: enterprise customization, reporting depth, integrations
Frequently Asked Questions
What is ActiveCampaign used for?
ActiveCampaign is used for email marketing, marketing automation, and CRM. It helps businesses send personalized emails, build automated workflows, and track leads — all from one platform. It’s especially popular with small to mid-sized businesses that want marketing tools without enterprise pricing.
What is a Close CRM?
Close CRM is a sales-focused platform designed for small and medium-sized sales teams. It combines email, calling, and SMS into one inbox to help reps close more deals faster. Unlike traditional CRMs, it has built-in phone calling with a power dialer so no separate phone system is needed.
Is ActiveCampaign a CRM?
Yes, ActiveCampaign includes a built-in CRM in all its plans. You can track deals, score leads, and manage your sales pipeline alongside your email marketing campaigns. However, its CRM is secondary to its marketing automation — not as deep as dedicated CRM platforms like Close or HubSpot.
How is Close CRM different from other CRMs?
Close CRM combines CRM functionality with built-in sales engagement tools — something most CRMs don’t offer. The native power dialer, live call coaching, and unified inbox for calls, emails, and SMS make it act more like a sales engagement platform than a traditional CRM.
Is ActiveCampaign free?
ActiveCampaign does not have a permanent free plan. However, it offers a 14-day free trial with access to most features — and no credit card is required to start. After the trial, paid plans begin at $15/month for the Starter tier.
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