ActiveCampaign and AWeber are both email marketing tools, but they are built for different stages of a business. ActiveCampaign is an automation platform: multi-step workflows with 950+ recipes, site tracking, advanced segmentation, an optional CRM with pipelines and SMS or WhatsApp add-ons, from $19 a month for 1,000 contacts. AWeber is a simpler email tool with a free plan for 500 subscribers, built-in selling, unlimited users on Plus and 24/7 live chat plus phone support, from $15 a month.
The quick answer: choose ActiveCampaign if automation, behavior tracking and a sales pipeline drive your business and you will use them. Choose AWeber if you want a free start, lower prices as your list grows and simple automations that a beginner can set up in an afternoon.
Prices and features were checked on activecampaign.com and aweber.com on November 12, 2026.
ActiveCampaign vs AWeber at a Glance
| ActiveCampaign | AWeber | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | None (14-day trial, no card) | 500 subscribers, 3,000 sends a month |
| Paid plans | Starter, Plus, Pro, Enterprise | Lite, Plus, Done For You |
| Entry paid price | $19/mo Starter (1,000 contacts) | $15/mo Lite (500 subscribers) |
| Smallest list size priced | 1,000 contacts | 500 subscribers |
| Guarantee | 30-day money-back guarantee | No long-term contracts |
| Monthly sends | 10x contacts (Starter, Plus), 12x (Pro), 15x (Enterprise) | 10x (Lite), 12x (Plus) |
| Automation | Multi-step, 950+ recipes; 5 actions per automation on Starter | 3 on Lite, unlimited on Plus |
| Landing pages | Plus and up | 3 on Lite, unlimited on Plus |
| CRM pipelines | Paid add-on on Plus and up | Not included |
| SMS and WhatsApp | Paid add-ons on Plus and up | Not listed |
| Users | 1 (Starter, Plus), 3 (Pro), 5 (Enterprise) | 3 (Lite), unlimited (Plus) |
| Selling | PayPal and Stripe integrations on Plus and up | Built-in via Stripe, 0.6% to 1.0% fee |
| Integrations | 1,000+ according to ActiveCampaign | 750+ according to AWeber |
| Support | Email and chat (priority on Pro and up) | 24/7 chat and email, phone 8am to 8pm ET |
In This Article
- ActiveCampaign vs AWeber at a Glance
- Pricing Compared by List Size
- Free Plan and Trial
- Automation
- CRM and Sales Pipelines
- Email Building and Campaigns
- Landing Pages and Forms
- Ecommerce and Selling
- Reporting
- Integrations
- Users and Team Access
- Support
- Ease of Use
- Deliverability
- Switching Between ActiveCampaign and AWeber
- Common Mistakes When Choosing
- Which Should You Choose?
- Other Options Worth a Look
- Our Verdict
- Frequently Asked Questions
Pricing Compared by List Size
ActiveCampaign prices start at 1,000 contacts. AWeber's start at 500, so a brand-new list costs $0 on AWeber Free, $15 on AWeber Lite or $19 on ActiveCampaign Starter.
| Contacts | AWeber Lite | AWeber Plus | AC Starter | AC Plus | AC Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $25 | $45 | $19 | $59 | $99 |
| 2,500 | $35 | $55 | $49 | $119 | $189 |
| 5,000 | $60 | $90 | $99 | $179 | $259 |
| 10,000 | $100 | $135 | $189 | $239 | $469 |
| 25,000 | $210 | $250 | $489 | $489 | $789 |
Monthly billing in US dollars, from aweber.com/pricing.htm and ActiveCampaign's pricing catalog on November 12, 2026. ActiveCampaign Enterprise starts at $179 a month for 1,000 contacts, and Starter tops out at 25,000 contacts.
Monthly billing, vendor pricing data, November 12, 2026.
The gap widens fast. At 10,000 contacts, AWeber Plus (unlimited automations, users and landing pages) costs $135, while ActiveCampaign Plus costs $239 and Pro $469. ActiveCampaign Starter is only cheaper at exactly 1,000 contacts.
Annual Billing
| Yearly Cost | AWeber Lite | AWeber Plus | AC Starter | AC Plus | AC Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 contacts | $250 | $450 | $180 | $588 | $948 |
| 5,000 contacts | $600 | $900 | $948 | $1,740 | $2,460 |
| 10,000 contacts | $1,000 | $1,350 | $1,788 | $2,268 | $4,500 |
On yearly billing, ActiveCampaign's entry prices fall to $15, $49, $79 and $145 a month at 1,000 contacts. AWeber's annual discount is 16.7% on Lite and 33.3% on Plus. Full AWeber tiers are in our AWeber pricing guide.
Add-Ons That Change the Bill
ActiveCampaign sells several features separately: the Enhanced CRM (Pipelines, or Pipelines and Sales Engagement), SMS, WhatsApp, extra AI credits and transactional email (Postmark). Add-on prices were not displayed on the main pricing page, so budget for them separately if you need a pipeline or texting. AWeber's main extra cost is its ecommerce transaction fee (0.6% on Plus, 1.0% on Lite) and the optional Done For You setup fee.
Free Plan and Trial
AWeber has a permanent free plan for 500 subscribers with 3,000 sends a month, one list, one landing page and one automation. It also offers a 14-day trial of Lite or Plus that converts to a paid plan automatically.
ActiveCampaign has no free plan. It offers a 14-day free trial with "no credit card needed" and a 30-day money-back guarantee on paid plans.
If you want to build a list for months before paying anything, AWeber is the only option of the two.
Automation
This is ActiveCampaign's home ground.
ActiveCampaign lists on every plan: multi-step automation, 950+ automation recipes, an AI-powered automation builder, multiple triggers, ecommerce automation, site tracking and link tracking. Plus adds sales automation and cross-channel steps; Pro adds automation A/B testing, predictive sending, conditional content and an automations map. The catch on Starter is a limit of 5 actions per automation and email-only workflows.
AWeber keeps automation simple. Free includes one workflow, Lite three and Plus unlimited. Behavioral automation is listed on Plus, and AWeber provides prebuilt automations and pre-written campaigns for welcome series, lead magnets and launches.
| Automation | ActiveCampaign | AWeber |
|---|---|---|
| Automations on entry plan | Multi-step, 5 actions each (Starter) | 3 automations (Lite) |
| Prebuilt templates | 950+ recipes | Prebuilt automations and campaigns |
| Site and behavior tracking | All plans | Behavioral automation and webpage tracking on Plus |
| Split testing automations | Pro and up | Not listed |
| Predictive sending | Pro and up | Not listed |
| Multi-channel steps | SMS and WhatsApp add-ons | Email and web push |
If you need branching journeys based on page visits, purchases and engagement, ActiveCampaign is the stronger tool. If you need a welcome series and a sales sequence, AWeber does the job for far less.
CRM and Sales Pipelines
ActiveCampaign includes contact profiles, custom fields and tags on every plan, and Starter is limited to 5 lists. Its Enhanced CRM add-on (Plus and up) adds pipeline management, deal and account records and lead scoring; the Sales Engagement version adds automated 1:1 email and win probability. Enterprise adds premium CRM integrations such as Salesforce.
AWeber has subscriber profiles, tags and segments but no sales pipeline. Businesses with a sales team usually connect AWeber to a separate CRM, which is the use case where ActiveCampaign earns its higher price.
Email Building and Campaigns
Both offer drag-and-drop editors with templates and HTML options.
- ActiveCampaign lists 250+ pre-built templates, scheduled, RSS-triggered and date-based campaigns, dynamic content and A/B testing on all plans, with generative AI for content and images and inbox previews from Plus, and conditional content from Pro.
- AWeber includes AMP emails, RSS to email, dynamic content, a hosted broadcast archive and email split testing on every paid plan, plus an AI Subject Line Assistant, AI Landing Page Builder and AI Form Builder.
Both vendors also list AI connectors: ActiveCampaign lists Claude and ChatGPT via MCP, and AWeber lists an official ChatGPT plugin, Claude connector and MCP server.
Landing Pages and Forms
AWeber includes landing pages on every plan: one on Free, three on Lite and unlimited on Plus, plus sign-up forms, an AI form builder, a WordPress plugin and a link-in-bio page.
ActiveCampaign reserves landing pages and site messages for Plus and above. Starter includes standard and inline forms only. That means the cheapest ActiveCampaign plan with landing pages is $59 a month at 1,000 contacts, against $25 for AWeber Lite.
Ecommerce and Selling
AWeber lets you sell products and services directly, including subscriptions and payment plans, through Stripe in 100+ currencies, with a 0.6% fee on Plus and 1.0% on Lite.
ActiveCampaign focuses on connecting to stores. Shopify, Square and WooCommerce integrations and abandoned cart automation are on every plan; product catalog and blocks, coupons and PayPal and Stripe integrations start on Plus; recurring payments and premium integrations such as BigCommerce, Magento and Shopify Plus are on Pro and up, along with revenue attribution.
For a store, ActiveCampaign's automation and reporting go further. For a coach or creator selling a few offers from email, AWeber removes the need for a separate checkout.
Reporting
ActiveCampaign includes campaign, automation, contact and site tracking reports on every plan; revenue, sales and ecommerce reporting from Plus; and conversion tracking and revenue attribution on Pro. AWeber includes message analytics on all plans and adds advanced audience analytics, webpage tracking, email sales tracking and detailed deliverability reporting on Plus.
Integrations
ActiveCampaign lists 1,000+ integrations, including Zapier, Gmail and Outlook, API and webhooks on every plan, with Calendly, Slack and ad platforms from Plus. AWeber says it connects to 750+ tools, naming Shopify, WordPress, PayPal, Facebook and Zapier. Both connect to the common funnel builders; see our ActiveCampaign vs ClickFunnels comparison for that pairing.
Users and Team Access
This is an easy-to-miss difference. ActiveCampaign includes one user seat on Starter and Plus, three on Pro and five on Enterprise. AWeber includes three users on Lite and unlimited users on Plus. A small team that needs several logins pays much less on AWeber.
Support
| ActiveCampaign | AWeber | |
|---|---|---|
| Email and chat | Basic (Starter, Plus), priority (Pro, Enterprise) | 24/7 live chat and email |
| Phone | Not listed on the pricing page | 8am to 8pm ET (US) |
| Onboarding and migration | Basic on Starter and Plus, priority on Pro and up | Free migration service |
| Dedicated account team | Enterprise | Not listed |
| Training | Guides, tutorials, community, workshops | Knowledge base, video tutorials, workshops |
For beginners who want a human at any hour or a phone number, AWeber is easier to reach. ActiveCampaign's best support sits on Pro and Enterprise.
Ease of Use
AWeber is the simpler tool: a short menu, a predictable editor and prebuilt automations. ActiveCampaign has a steeper learning curve because there is more to configure, although its AI automation builder and recipes shorten setup. If you will not use behavior tracking, scoring or pipelines, much of what you pay for in ActiveCampaign sits idle.
Deliverability
Both vendors make deliverability claims on their own sites, and independent tests vary by date and method, so this comparison does not rank them on inbox placement. ActiveCampaign includes a spam check on every plan; AWeber Plus adds detailed deliverability reporting. Authenticating your sending domain and cleaning inactive contacts matter more than the provider.
Switching Between ActiveCampaign and AWeber
- 1Export contacts with tags and custom fields as a CSV
- 2Import them and recreate tags, lists and segments
- 3Rebuild automations and test each trigger and step
- 4Replace forms and landing page links on your site
- 5Reconnect your store, cart and Zapier integrations
- 6Authenticate your sending domain and send a test
- 7Keep the old account briefly, then cancel it
ActiveCampaign lists contact migration among its free services, and AWeber advertises a free migration service. Moving from ActiveCampaign to AWeber usually means simplifying automations, because AWeber does not replicate ActiveCampaign's site tracking, scoring or pipelines.
Common Mistakes When Choosing
- Paying for ActiveCampaign automation you will not build. A welcome series and a sales sequence do not need it.
- Choosing ActiveCampaign Starter for landing pages. They start on Plus.
- Forgetting user seats. ActiveCampaign Plus includes one user.
- Ignoring add-ons. The CRM, SMS and WhatsApp are extra on ActiveCampaign.
- Buying AWeber Lite to remove branding. The pricing page lists branding removal on Plus.
Which Should You Choose?
| If You | Choose |
|---|---|
| Want a free plan while your list grows | AWeber |
| Want the lowest price at 2,500+ contacts | AWeber |
| Need several team logins on a budget | AWeber Plus |
| Want to sell offers without a separate checkout | AWeber |
| Want phone support | AWeber |
| Need branching automation with site tracking | ActiveCampaign |
| Run a sales team that needs pipelines and lead scoring | ActiveCampaign Plus with Enhanced CRM |
| Want SMS or WhatsApp in your automations | ActiveCampaign |
| Run a store and want revenue attribution | ActiveCampaign Pro |
Choose AWeber If
You are building a list, selling your own products or coaching, and want simple automations, generous users and support you can reach 24/7, at a lower price at almost every list size. Read our AWeber review for the full breakdown.
Choose ActiveCampaign If
Automation is central to your marketing, you will use behavior tracking, scoring and pipelines, or you want SMS and WhatsApp alongside email. Start with the 14-day trial and price the add-ons you need. For an all-in-one alternative, see Systeme.io vs ActiveCampaign.
Other Options Worth a Look
Compare AWeber vs Mailchimp and AWeber vs GetResponse, or browse our AWeber alternatives list.
Our Verdict
ActiveCampaign is the more powerful platform: deeper automation, site tracking, predictive sending, a CRM add-on and SMS and WhatsApp channels. It is the better pick for businesses that will use that depth and can absorb the higher price. AWeber is the better value for most creators and small businesses: a free plan, lower prices at nearly every list size, unlimited users on Plus, built-in selling and 24/7 support with a phone line.
If your automations are simple, start with AWeber's free plan and trial Plus when you grow. If automation and sales pipelines are the core of your business, ActiveCampaign is worth its premium.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is ActiveCampaign Better than AWeber?
ActiveCampaign is better for advanced automation, behavior tracking, CRM pipelines and SMS or WhatsApp add-ons. AWeber is better for beginners and small businesses that want a free plan, lower prices, unlimited users on Plus, built-in selling and 24/7 live chat with phone support.
Which Is Cheaper, ActiveCampaign or AWeber?
AWeber at almost every list size. At 5,000 contacts on monthly billing, AWeber Lite is $60 and Plus $90, against $99 for ActiveCampaign Starter and $179 for Plus. ActiveCampaign Starter is only cheaper at exactly 1,000 contacts ($19 against $25 for AWeber Lite).
Does ActiveCampaign Have a Free Plan Like AWeber?
No. ActiveCampaign offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card and a 30-day money-back guarantee. AWeber has a permanent free plan for 500 subscribers and 3,000 sends a month, plus a 14-day trial of its paid plans.
Does AWeber Have a CRM Like ActiveCampaign?
AWeber has subscriber profiles, tags and segments but no sales pipelines. ActiveCampaign includes contact profiles on every plan and sells an Enhanced CRM add-on with pipelines, deals, account records and lead scoring on Plus and above.
Which Has Better Automation?
ActiveCampaign. It lists multi-step automation with 950+ recipes, multiple triggers, site tracking and ecommerce automation on all plans, with predictive sending and conditional content on Pro. AWeber's automation is simpler, with 3 automations on Lite and unlimited on Plus.
How Many Users Do ActiveCampaign and AWeber Include?
ActiveCampaign includes 1 user seat on Starter and Plus, 3 on Pro and 5 on Enterprise. AWeber includes 3 users on Lite and unlimited users on Plus.
Can I Switch from AWeber to ActiveCampaign?
Yes. Export your AWeber subscribers as a CSV and import them into ActiveCampaign, which lists contact migration among its free services. Moving the other way, AWeber advertises a free migration service where its team moves your account.
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