Quick Answer
Last verified:
High confidence

ActiveCampaign costs $15 to $145 per month as of May 2026. Pricing depends on your chosen tier, contract length, and negotiated discounts.

Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.

  • Free tier: No free tier available
Last verified: | Sources: 8 pricing pages and reviews
+-97% above list price
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ActiveCampaign true cost runs -97% above the listed $15-$145/month price as of May 2026. For a 25-person team, expect ~$593 in year-one costs vs the $23,700 base license. Key hidden costs: contact-based pricing escalation, year-over-year price increases, difficult cancellation and unauthorized charges. Verified from 8 sources by CostBench.

Hidden Costs Breakdown

1

Contact-Based Pricing Escalation

high overage

ActiveCampaign's pricing scales dramatically with contact count. At 1,000 contacts the Starter plan is $15/month, but at 10,000 contacts it jumps to $189/month. At 25,000 contacts, you cannot use Starter at all and Plus costs $489/month. As of November 2025, new accounts are charged for ALL contacts including unsubscribed, bounced, and unconfirmed.

trustpilot

Every year we pay more, but get less value in return. They lock you in and then continuously charge you more and more.

g2

Pricing also climbs quickly as your list grows and you need higher-tier features.

2

Year-Over-Year Price Increases

high compliance

Long-term customers report aggressive annual price increases. One user documented their cost rising from $2,700 to $3,600 to $4,700 over three years for the same features. Another reported going from $200 to $800/month. Price hikes of 25-35% at renewal are common, often framed as discounted rates.

trustpilot

$2700 two years ago became $3600 last year and $4700 this year for identical features. So will next year be $6000?

trustpilot

I've been a customer for about 6 years, running a social impact business. In the beginning Active Campaign was really wonderful for what I needed. However, as a small business their fees have increase...

3

Difficult Cancellation and Unauthorized Charges

high compliance

Multiple Trustpilot reviewers report continued billing after cancellation and difficulty obtaining refunds. Customers describe auto-renewal traps where the platform charges for months after explicit cancellation requests, with support delaying responses past refund windows.

trustpilot

We cancelled our account last July however they keep taking £84 from our account every month. The chatbot is far from helpful, contact is poor...

trustpilot

They charge you through auto-renewal, make it difficult to cancel the account, and then refuse to issue a refund even when the service has not been used for months.

4

SMS and Add-On Costs

medium addon

SMS marketing requires a separate add-on starting at $21/month for 1,000 credits, with per-message costs of $0.021 for 1K credits down to $0.004 for 500K credits. Transactional email via Postmark costs $15/month for 10K emails. Custom reporting starts at $159/month (free only on Enterprise). CRM Pipelines add-on ranges $49-$107/user.

trustpilot

Even a minor feature that you would expect would be blocked, and they will try to upgrade to the next tier.

5

Feature Lock Requiring Tier Upgrades

medium addon

Essential features like advanced segmentation, predictive content, and attribution tracking are locked behind higher tiers. The Starter plan limits automations to 5 actions with no branching, making complex workflows impossible without upgrading to Plus ($49/month) or Pro ($79/month). CRM features require Plus or above.

trustpilot

Long-time user (10 years) frustrated with recent transformation: eliminated phone support, billing support, and totally jacked up the price.

g2

Pricing also climbs quickly as your list grows and you need higher-tier features.

6

Inactive Contact Billing (New Policy Nov 2025)

medium overage

As of November 2025, new ActiveCampaign accounts are charged for ALL contacts including unsubscribed, bounced, and unconfirmed contacts. Previously only active/marketable contacts counted. This can significantly inflate costs since you pay for contacts you cannot email. Accounts created before November 2025 are grandfathered on the old policy.

trustpilot

Every year we pay more, but get less value in return. They lock you in and then continuously charge you more and more.

Example: True Cost for 25 Users

License (25 × $79 × 12) $23,700/yr
Contact-Based Pricing Escalation +100-500% of base license costs
Year-Over-Year Price Increases +25-35% of license costs
Difficult Cancellation and Unauthorized Charges +$84-$2,600
SMS and Add-On Costs +$15-$159/month
Feature Lock Requiring Tier Upgrades +$30-$100/month
Inactive Contact Billing (New Policy Nov 2025) +10-30% of license costs
Estimated Year 1 Total ~$593
That's roughly 0.0× the advertised license price. The median ActiveCampaign contract is $10,548/yr across Vendr purchases.

Frequently Asked Questions

01 What hidden costs should I budget for with ActiveCampaign?

Beyond the license fee, budget for: Contact-Based Pricing Escalation (100-500% of base license costs); Year-Over-Year Price Increases (25-35% of license costs); Difficult Cancellation and Unauthorized Charges ($84-$2,600); SMS and Add-On Costs ($15-$159/month); Feature Lock Requiring Tier Upgrades ($30-$100/month); Inactive Contact Billing (New Policy Nov 2025) (10-30% of license costs). Total ownership typically runs -97% higher than the listed price.

02 Does ActiveCampaign charge for implementation?

ActiveCampaign doesn't include implementation in the license cost. Implementation is typically done by partners and costs range from $5,000 for basic setup to $100,000+ for enterprise deployments with customization.

03 How much does ActiveCampaign support cost?

Basic support is included, but premium support (faster response times, 24/7 availability) typically adds 15-20% to your annual contract. This can be thousands of dollars per year for larger deployments.

04 Are there overage or storage costs with ActiveCampaign?

ActiveCampaign's pricing scales dramatically with contact count. At 1,000 contacts the Starter plan is $15/month, but at 10,000 contacts it jumps to $189/month. Estimated impact: 100-500% of base license costs.

05 What add-ons cost extra with ActiveCampaign?

Many features marketed as part of ActiveCampaign are actually add-ons: advanced reporting, API access, integrations, and specialized modules. Each can add $10-$100+ per user per month.

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