Picking the right CRM is tough, right?
You’re looking at ActiveCampaign vs Freshsales CRM, and honestly, they both seem good.
But which one is really the best for you in 2025?
It’s like choosing between two cool video games, but you only have time for one.
Don’t worry; we’re going to break down ActiveCampaign vs Freshsales CRM in a way that’s easy to understand.
Overview
We’ve put both ActiveCampaign and Freshsales CRM through their paces, testing features, ease of use, and overall performance.
Our hands-on experience lets us give you a clear, honest comparison, so you can see which CRM truly fits your needs.
Unlock the power of an all-in-one marketing platform. So, check it out now!
Pricing: It has a 7-day free Trial. Paid plan starts at $15/month
Key Features:
- Email Marketing
- Marketing Automation
- CRM
Freshsales CRM might be the one for you. Its intuitive interface makes it an excellent choice.
Pricing: It has a free trial. The premium plan starts at $9/month.
Key Features:
- Contact Management
- Deal Tracking
- Reporting and Analytics
What is ActiveCampaign?
ActiveCampaign? It’s a powerhouse. Think marketing automation, email, and CRM all in one spot.
Do you want to automate your sales? This tool can help.
It also enables you to keep track of customers and makes your marketing smarter.
Also, explore our favorite ActiveCampaign alternatives…
Our Take
ActiveCampaign is an excellent choice for businesses that want to leverage the true power of email marketing and automation. However, it may not be the best fit for beginners due to its complexity.
Key Benefits
- Advanced automation: Create complex workflows to nurture leads and automate tasks.
- Email marketing powerhouse: Send beautiful and effective email campaigns.
- Built-in CRM: Manage contacts and track interactions.
- Segmentation and personalization: Target specific groups of contacts with personalized messages.
Pricing
- Starter: $15/month.
- Plus: $49/month.
- Pro: $79/month.
- Enterprise: $145/month.
Pros
Cons
What is Freshsales?
Freshsales? It’s a CRM. Think of it as a tool to help you sell better.
It tracks your customers, smooths your sales process, and is built for sales teams.
Also, explore our favorite Freshsales CRM alternatives…
Our Take
Freshsales CRM is a solid choice for businesses prioritizing ease of use and affordability. It’s a great way to use CRM without a steep learning curve.
Key Benefits
- User-friendly interface: Easy to navigate and learn.
- Built-in phone and email: Connect with customers directly from the platform.
- AI-powered insights: Get helpful suggestions and predictions.
- Affordable pricing: Offers a free plan and competitive paid plans.
Pricing
- Growth + 500 Marketing Contacts: $9/user/month.
- Pro + 500 Marketing Contacts: $39/user/month.
- Enterprise + 500 Marketing Contacts: $59/user/month.
Pros
Cons
Feature Comparison
Let’s dive into the core differences.
We’ve broken down the key features of both ActiveCampaign and Freshsales CRM so you can easily compare ActiveCampaign and Freshsales and decide which fits your business best.
1. Automation and Workflows
- ActiveCampaign marketing automation is a core strength, offering highly advanced automation. Users can build automations that trigger from almost any action, creating an intelligent marketing automation experience.
- Freshsales offers strong workflow features focused on sales activities. However, ActiveCampaign’s visual builder is better for the advanced user needing intricate, multi-channel sequences.
2. Email Marketing Services and Editor
- ActiveCampaign is a must have platform for email marketing services. It has a powerful email builder, supports dynamic content, and is known for its high ActiveCampaign deliverability.
- Freshsales includes an email builder and email templates, but it treats email primarily as a sales engagement tool rather than offering deep email marketing automation.
3. CRM and Sales Engagement Focus
- Freshsales is a dedicated sales engagement and built-in crm solution. It excels at tracking the entire sales process and helps small teams manage sales activities efficiently.
- ActiveCampaign offers a full built-in crm as an add-on to its powerful marketing platform, making it better if you need strong, unified marketing and sales automation.
4. Customization and Data Flexibility
- Freshsales offers strong customization with custom fields and the ability to create custom reports across the Freshworks products.
- ActiveCampaign has powerful customization, including support for custom objects. This makes it a better fit for the advanced user or big businesses needing integration with platforms like Microsoft Dynamics.
5. AI and Intelligent Features
- Freshsales uses Freddy AI for sales intelligence, such as predicting deal outcomes.
- ActiveCampaign uses AI to power its intelligent marketing automation, providing features like AI-suggested segments and predictive sending for your email campaigns.
6. SMS and Cross-Channel Communication
- ActiveCampaign supports cross-channel marketing, allowing you to send sms messages and create automations using text messages seamlessly.
- Freshsales focuses on direct communication, including cloud telephony (phone support), but its external messaging capabilities are less integrated than ActiveCampaign’s.
7. Lead Scoring and Qualification
- Both platforms include lead scoring to prioritize prospects. Freshsales provides a clear, intuitive scoring system for the sales team.
- ActiveCampaign also uses lead scoring, allowing for more detailed rules based on deep behavioral data (like website visits and purchase history), enhancing the overall customer experience.
8. Data Compliance and Privacy
- ActiveCampaign is transparent about being gdpr compliant and utilizes a strong data privacy framework. This is vital for medium-sized businesses and international operations.
- Freshsales also has features to help customers remain gdpr compliant within the broader ecosystem of other Freshworks products.
9. Landing Pages and Content Tools
- ActiveCampaign provides native tools for building landing pages and forms. This gives you an integrated way to capture leads and drive traffic to your site properly.
- Freshsales is more CRM-focused and often requires a third-party integration or add on to handle advanced landing page creation and lead capture.
What to Look for in CRM Software?
Here are key insights to consider before starting your new account:
- Trial and Setup Ease: ActiveCampaign offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. You can test a free plan or free trial to decide if the advanced features are worth the investment. Setting up a new account takes only a few seconds, with quick email verification successful, waiting for your first login.
- Automation Power: If you are a more advanced user and need complete control over your buyer journeys, ActiveCampaign’s extensive library of advanced features and end automation tools gives it an edge. This includes conditional content and complex workflows that go beyond simple sales tasks.
- CRM Depth vs Marketing Breadth: Freshsales is a true CRM, heavily focused on the sales pipeline, managing contacts, and sales-specific add notes. ActiveCampaign CRM starts as a digital marketing powerhouse that offers CRM add-ons for sales support, making it better for unified operations.
- Security and Compliance: Look closely at security features like single sign-on and specific compliance. ActiveCampaign is transparent about being gdpr compliant and uses a strong data privacy framework to protect your customer data. Always check which platform offers hipaa support if you need it.
- Support and Onboarding: For larger teams, check if the platform provides a dedicated account team. Freshsales generally rates higher for ease of use and support responsiveness, while ActiveCampaign provides a comprehensive knowledge base and free data migration assistance for a new account, which is an excellent value.
- Email and Deliverability: ActiveCampaign’s deliverability for bulk and transactional emails is highly rated. It also offers powerful tools like an sms add-ons and an RSS-triggered feature for its newsletter tool, which are crucial for consistent digital marketing.
- Review and Trust: When reading an ActiveCampaign review, ensure it covers the ActiveCampaign features you need. Both platforms are activecampaign legit alternatives, but your choice depends on whether you prioritize robust email tools or a simple sales-focused sales pipeline solution.
- Technical Access and Features: Check the availability of pre built templates to avoid being busy redesigning. On the technical side, monitor the connection status of your browser and any connection issues, represented by a ray id error, that may stop a human from successfully verifying the system and getting a proper respond time.
Final Verdict
After thorough testing, we lean towards ActiveCampaign for businesses needing comprehensive marketing automation alongside strong CRM functions.
If your focus is primarily on streamlining sales management and having a user-friendly experience, Freshsales is a solid choice.
However, ActiveCampaign’s deep segmentation, robust automation.
Strong customer engagement tools give it a slight edge for those seeking a more unified approach to customer relationship management.
We’ve provided this detailed compare ActiveCampaign analysis so you can make an informed decision and choose the CRM platform that best helps businesses like yours succeed.
More of ActiveCampaign
Here’s a comparison of ActiveCampaign with its alternatives:
- ActiveCampaign vs Pipedrive: ActiveCampaign excels in marketing automation and lead nurturing with integrated CRM. Pipedrive, however, is a sales-centric CRM that emphasizes visual pipeline management and efficient deal tracking.
- ActiveCampaign vs GoHighLevel: GoHighLevel is an all-in-one platform for marketing agency users, with strong white-labeling and unlimited accounts.
- ActiveCampaign vs Keap: ActiveCampaign offers robust marketing automation and email capabilities. Keap is tailored for small businesses, blending CRM with sales and email for an integrated approach.
- ActiveCampaign vs HubSpot: ActiveCampaign is a leader in email marketing automation and customer engagement. HubSpot provides a more comprehensive, all-in-one platform covering marketing, sales, service, and content management.
- ActiveCampaign vs ClickFunnels: ActiveCampaign is ideal for email marketing automation and lead nurturing within a CRM context. ClickFunnels specializes in building sales funnels and landing pages for direct conversions.
- ActiveCampaign vs Folk: ActiveCampaign is known for sophisticated marketing automation and detailed customer segmentation. Folk offers a simpler, collaborative CRM for contact management, email campaigns, and basic sales pipelines.
- ActiveCampaign vs Instantly: ActiveCampaign delivers advanced marketing automation and a comprehensive CRM. Instantly focuses more on cold email outreach and lead finding with basic CRM features for simplified sales.
- ActiveCampaign vs ClickUp: ActiveCampaign excels in marketing-specific automation and customer relationship management. ClickUp is a versatile work management platform that can be customized for CRM and emphasizes project management.
- ActiveCampaign vs Monday CRM: ActiveCampaign provides powerful marketing automation and email campaigns with strong CRM integration. Monday CRM emphasizes visual collaboration and customizable boards for lead and deal management.
- ActiveCampaign vs Capsule: ActiveCampaign offers robust email marketing and advanced automation for sales and customer journeys. Capsule CRM provides straightforward contact management and sales pipeline features, ideal for basic CRM needs.
- ActiveCampaign vs Insightly: ActiveCampaign focuses on deep marketing and sales automation with lead scoring and tracking. Insightly combines CRM with project management, suiting teams needing both sales and project delivery.
- ActiveCampaign vs Freshsales CRM: ActiveCampaign provides comprehensive marketing automation and email with integrated CRM functionalities. Freshsales CRM focuses on sales management and streamlining sales processes with AI-powered insights.
- ActiveCampaign vs Salesforce: ActiveCampaign specializes in marketing automation and email engagement for small to medium businesses. Salesforce is an extensive, scalable CRM platform for large enterprises, covering sales, service, and marketing.
- ActiveCampaign vs Zendesk: ActiveCampaign focuses on email marketing, sales automation, and customer experience management. Zendesk primarily provides customer service and support tools, including ticketing systems and help desks.
More of Freshsales CRM
Here’s a brief comparison of Freshsales CRM with these software solutions:
- Freshsales CRM vs Pipedrive: Freshsales CRM provides a comprehensive sales solution with integrated communication and AI, whereas Pipedrive excels in visual sales pipeline organization and deal tracking.
- Freshsales vs GoHighLevel: GoHighLevel is a robust, all-in-one platform with strong marketing automation and a steeper learning curve, often favored by agencies. Freshsales focuses more on streamlined sales processes and ease of use.
- Freshsales CRM vs Keap: Freshsales CRM emphasizes intuitive sales management and AI-powered insights; Keap offers powerful sales and marketing automation with a focus on contact management.
- Freshsales CRM vs ActiveCampaign: Freshsales CRM is a dedicated sales CRM with built-in phone and email; ActiveCampaign is strong in marketing automation, email campaigns, and advanced segmentation.
- Freshsales CRM vs Hubspot: Freshsales CRM offers AI-powered sales tools and a quicker setup; HubSpot provides an extensive all-in-one suite covering marketing, sales, and customer service.
- Freshsales CRM vs Clickfunnels: Freshsales CRM is a sales-focused CRM for managing customer interactions, whereas ClickFunnels is a specialized tool for building sales funnels and landing pages.
- Freshsales CRM vs Folk: Freshsales CRM offers a comprehensive sales platform with AI and automation; Folk focuses on simple, collaborative contact management and visual pipeline organization.
- Freshsales CRM vs Instantly: Freshsales CRM is a full-fledged sales CRM with robust features; Instantly is primarily an email outreach and cold email automation tool.
- Freshsales CRM vs ClickUp: Freshsales CRM is designed for streamlining sales processes and managing pipelines; ClickUp is a versatile work OS that encompasses project management, tasks, and CRM functionalities.
- Freshsales CRM vs Monday CRM: Freshsales CRM provides a dedicated sales solution with intelligent insights, while Monday CRM offers highly customizable boards for managing workflows, including CRM.
- Freshsales CRM vs Capsule CRM: Freshsales CRM offers a more robust sales CRM with AI features; Capsule CRM focuses on straightforward contact management and sales opportunity tracking.
- Freshsales CRM vs Insightly: Freshsales CRM is a dedicated sales tool with AI and comprehensive sales automation; Insightly provides a broader CRM experience, including strong project management capabilities.
- Freshsales CRM vs Salesforce: Freshsales CRM offers an intuitive, AI-powered sales platform with competitive pricing; Salesforce is a highly customizable, enterprise-grade CRM with an extensive ecosystem and advanced features.
- Freshsales CRM vs Zendesk: Freshsales CRM focuses on sales automation and pipeline management, while Zendesk is primarily a customer service platform with robust ticketing and support features.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better for small businesses, ActiveCampaign or Freshsales?
For small businesses prioritizing ease of use and streamlined sales management, Freshsales is often preferred. However, if your small business needs strong marketing automation, ActiveCampaign can be a powerful tool, though it may have a steeper learning curve.
Can I integrate ActiveCampaign with other marketing platforms?
Yes, ActiveCampaign is designed to integrate with a wide range of marketing platforms, including popular email marketing platforms. Its robust API and extensive integrations make it a versatile tool for connecting your entire marketing stack.
Does Freshsales offer email marketing capabilities?
While Freshsales includes email functionalities, its primary focus is sales management. It provides tools for email tracking and personalized outreach within the sales process, but ActiveCampaign is the stronger choice for in-depth marketing campaigns.
How does ActiveCampaign handle lead segmentation?
ActiveCampaign’s strength lies in its advanced segmentation capabilities. It allows you to segment leads and deals based on various criteria, enabling highly targeted personalization in your marketing campaigns and sales workflows.
What are the main differences between ActiveCampaign and Freshsales CRM?
The main difference between ActiveCampaign and Freshsales CRM is that ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation platform with strong CRM functions. At the same time, Freshsales is a dedicated CRM solution focused on sales management and closing deals faster.
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