ActiveCampaign vs Aweber (2021): Which Email Marketing Tool Is Better?

Comparing ActiveCampaign against AWeber is hardly fair. ActiveCampaign simply delivers more in terms of features and ease of use as it offers robust email marketing and automation tools, alongside CRM and sales features. While we believe ActiveCampaign is better overall, knowing each platform’s features can help you choose which one better fits your business. We compare and review their pricing, features, design and ease of use, and available integrations to help you decide.

ActiveCampaign vs AWeber Comparison Chart

Model	ActiveCampaign	AWeber
Price	Check Price at ActiveCampaign.com	Check Price at AWeber.com
Free Forever Plan	No, only a 14-day free trial	Up to 500 subscribers
Contact Tagging & Segmentation	Yes	Yes
Lead Scoring	Yes	No
Marketing Automation	Yes	Yes
Split Automation	Yes	No
Email Templates	Around 40	700+
Automation Recipes	270+	N/A
A/B Testing	Yes	Yes
Spam Check	Yes	Yes
Website Form & Landing Pages Builder	Yes	Yes
Pipeline Management	Yes	No
SMS Marketing	Yes	No
CRM	Yes	No
Native Integrations	300+	100+

Pricing

ActiveCampaign’s paid plans start out cheaper than AWeber’s, but AWeber offers a free plan for your first 500 subscribers

ActiveCampaign has four pricing tiers and the cost varies depending on the number of contacts you have. The Lite Plan, their entry-level plan, starts at $9 USD/month for your first 500 contacts. This is a lot cheaper compared to AWeber’s $19/USD/month for 500 subscribers. However, AWeber does offer a free account with limited features for your first 500 subscribers.

Meanwhile, ActiveCampaign’s higher-tier plans–Plus, Professional, and Enterprise–are a lot more expensive compared to the Lite Plan. If you want to use more sophisticated automation and customization features, you’ll need to upgrade to the higher-tier plans. These tools include contact scoring, conditional content, SMS marketing, split automation, and landing pages. Meanwhile, the most expensive Enterprise Plan features contact enrichment, custom reporting, and unlimited email design testing.

Unlike ActiveCampaign, AWeber’s pricing plan is more straightforward. As mentioned above, you can use the platform’s basic email marketing tools for up to 500 subscribers. However, you’ll have to upgrade to the paid plan if you want to use split testing, automation, and advanced analytics.

ActiveCampaign may seem cheaper at a glance, but once you get more subscribers, then AWeber becomes the more cost-effective solution. For instance, if you have around 25,000 contacts, ActiveCampaign’s Lite Plan starts at $205/month, while AWeber only charges $149/month.

Email Marketing and More Features

ActiveCampaign has more robust email marketing and automation features

ActiveCampaign may have more features than AWeber, but both email marketing software offer the following:

• Contact tagging
• List segmentation
• Automation and sequences
• Workflow builder
• Split testing
• Email designer
• Responsive templates
• Opt-in forms
• Analytics

In terms of deliverability rate, ActiveCampaign and AWeber are comparable. Both have high deliverability rates and offer spam checks to help you design an email or newsletter that has a higher chance of landing in the primary inbox. AWeber has its own email delivery infrastructure while ActiveCampaign relies on a third-party provider.

As mentioned, ActiveCampaign offers the following advanced features that AWeber doesn’t:

• Lead scoring
• Automation goals and split-testing
• If/Else condition
• SMS automation
• Automation workflow recipes
• Pipeline management
• CRM and sales tools

Design and Ease of Use

ActiveCampaign’s editor is faster and is more intuitive than AWeber’s, but AWeber has more templates to choose from

Where AWeber edges out ActiveCampaign is in its library of email templates and their flexible forms. AWeber has more than 700 templates to choose from while ActiveCampaign only has around 40. If you run an e-commerce business, having a lot of templates to choose from comes in handy. With that said, the latter’s options look more modern and sleek than AWeber’s.

When it comes to ease of use, ActiveCampaign wins. Its editor is more intuitive and a lot faster than AWeber’s. Depending on your internet connection, AWeber can slow down while you’re designing your emails. While ActiveCampaign’s interface is more user-friendly, AWeber actually offers better flexibility when designing your forms.

Integrations

ActiveCampaign has around 300 integrations while AWeber has over 100 compatible apps

ActiveCampaign and AWeber provide native integrations with top third-party software, including:

• Zapier
• Shopify
• Slack
• PayPal
• WooCommerce
• WordPress
• Magento
• BigCommerce
• Stripe
• ClickFunnels

It helps to check the specific integrations available to ActiveCampaign and AWeber so you won’t have to use webhooks to connect your existing solutions.

Verdict

ActiveCampaign is better on many fronts

ActiveCampaign

Best value for money

AWeber

Best if you want a free plan

AWeber may be a popular email marketing software, but it simply can’t compete against ActiveCampaign. Perhaps the reason why we’d recommend AWeber is if you want more template options or require 24/7 live support, something ActiveCampaign doesn’t offer. Another reason is if you don’t want to pay just yet while you’re growing your email list, then AWeber better suits you as it’s free for the first 500 subscribers.

Overall, ActiveCampaign simply has more to offer and its interface is better. If you require more sophisticated customizations and automation, ActiveCampaign has the tools for you.

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