A simple, open source ActiveCampaign alternative

Why do teams look for an ActiveCampaign alternative?

Teams look for an ActiveCampaign alternative when their list grows and the bill grows with it. ActiveCampaign prices each plan by contact tier. It also caps monthly sends at a multiple of your contacts, and sets how many people can log in.

ActiveCampaign describes itself as a marketing automation platform, and every plan includes multi-step automation. For teams that mostly send simple campaigns, four issues come up:

• Price follows contacts. Each contact tier raises the monthly price on every plan.
• Send and seat limits. Sends are 10 to 15 times your contact limit. Starter and Plus include one user.
• Add-ons. Deal pipelines, SMS and WhatsApp are add-ons to the email plans, on Plus and above.
• No prospect search listed. If you sell to businesses, you may still need another tool to find new contacts.

Your list is also personal data. Under the GDPR, fines can reach 4% of yearly global turnover. Keeping the list in one system, on servers you choose, makes it easier to protect.

How much does ActiveCampaign cost?

ActiveCampaign's Starter plan starts at $15 a month for 1,000 contacts, billed annually, according to the ActiveCampaign pricing page. At the same list size, Plus is $49, Pro $79 and Enterprise $145 a month. The page lists a 14-day free trial, not a free plan. We checked these prices on 12 October 2026.

We found that the price rises with each contact tier. At 10,000 contacts, Starter is $149 a month, Plus $189, Pro $375 and Enterprise $589, all billed annually. Starter and Plus allow 10 times your contact limit in sends each month, Pro 12 times and Enterprise 15 times. Starter and Plus include 1 user, Pro 3 and Enterprise 5.

MagpieCRM does not charge for stored contacts. You pay for what you send. On Magpie Cloud:

• 40,000 emails sent a month comes to £6.00 on Magpie Cloud, within the £10 monthly minimum40,000 emails sent a month comes to $10.00 on Magpie Cloud, within the $15 monthly minimum. That is four campaigns a month to a list of 10,000.
• 100,000 emails sent a month comes to £15.00 on Magpie Cloud100,000 emails sent a month comes to $25.00 on Magpie Cloud. That is ten campaigns a month to the same list.

You choose your monthly email allowance up front. Sending stops when it runs out, and you can upgrade for the rest of the month. Unused allowance does not roll over. Self-hosting MagpieCRM is free. The two are not like for like: ActiveCampaign's price includes automation and A/B tests, which MagpieCRM does not have.

MagpieCRM vs ActiveCampaign: feature comparison

MagpieCRM and ActiveCampaign both send email campaigns, but ActiveCampaign has far more automation. MagpieCRM is simpler, and adds B2B prospect search with verified emails. The table puts them side by side. ActiveCampaign details come from the ActiveCampaign pricing page.

The main difference is purpose. ActiveCampaign is built to automate marketing across a growing list. MagpieCRM is built for B2B teams that find contacts and send them simple campaigns. If you need automated flows, ActiveCampaign is the right tool.

Where is ActiveCampaign stronger than MagpieCRM?

ActiveCampaign is stronger at automation. Every plan includes multi-step automations, with unlimited actions from Plus, and the ActiveCampaign pricing page lists over 950 automation recipes. It has A/B tests on every plan and landing pages from Plus. It also lists over 1,000 integrations, including Shopify, WooCommerce and Square.

ActiveCampaign is likely the better fit if:

• You need welcome series or other automated flows.
• You want to A/B test your emails.
• You run an online store and rely on abandoned cart emails.
• You send SMS, which ActiveCampaign sells as an add-on.
• Several people need to log in to one hosted account. Magpie Cloud has no teammates yet.

MagpieCRM suits B2B teams with a growing list who send newsletters and announcements, and who also need to find new contacts. It has no store integrations, webhooks or event triggers, so teams that depend on automation should stay with ActiveCampaign.

What does MagpieCRM include for email marketing?

MagpieCRM includes lists, a drag-and-drop email builder, templates, scheduled campaigns and open and click analytics. We built MagpieCRM for small B2B teams, founders and agencies. It also has sign-up forms, surveys and prospect search, so you can grow a list and email it from one tool.

• Contacts. Import from CSV or paste, add custom fields, and export any time.
• Lists and personas. Group contacts for each campaign.
• Campaigns. Build with drag and drop or a template, then send now or schedule.
• Forms and surveys. Collect sign-ups with a form or the signup API, and run surveys with branching.
• Prospecting. Find B2B contacts and verify their emails with the mail server.
• Sequences and deals. Send a few plain-text emails that stop on a reply, and track deals in a drag-and-drop pipeline.
• Sending. On Cloud, email is sent for you. Self-hosted, use SMTP or your own email provider (Amazon SES, Postmark, Resend, SendGrid, Mailgun or Brevo).

MagpieCRM is early access software, at version 0.9.41. It has no automated flows, SMS, A/B tests or event-based segments yet.

How do you move from ActiveCampaign to MagpieCRM?

You move from ActiveCampaign by exporting your contacts to CSV, then importing the subscribed ones into MagpieCRM. ActiveCampaign's export guide explains how to export every contact, or one list. Then set up sending and rebuild your templates.

1. Export your contacts or lists from ActiveCampaign to CSV.
2. Import only the subscribed contacts into MagpieCRM, and map each column to a field.
3. On Magpie Cloud, add the DKIM record we show you, and DMARC if you don't have it yet. Self-hosted, connect SMTP or your own email provider.
4. Rebuild your templates in the drag-and-drop builder, or paste in your own HTML.
5. Send to your most engaged contacts first, and keep ActiveCampaign for any automations you still need.