ActiveCampaign vs ConvertKit (Kit):
Which Platform Wins in 2025?
Note: This post contains affiliate links. I only recommend tools I personally use and trust.
When it comes to email marketing and automation in 2025, two platforms stand out: ActiveCampaign and ConvertKit (Kit). Both deliver powerful tools for creators and small businesses—but their strengths and workflows appeal to different audiences. You can dive into our full ActiveCampaign review or explore ConvertKit in‑depth for a standalone breakdown.
📝 Quick Summary: Who Wins?
Despite ActiveCampaign’s deeper automation and CRM features, ConvertKit takes a slight edge in 2025 for creators and solopreneurs thanks to its clean interface, intuitive workflows, and creator‑focused tools.
Choose ConvertKit if you’re a creator, blogger, or solo entrepreneur who wants simplicity with powerful creator tools.
Choose ActiveCampaign if you need advanced automation, CRM, and segmentation for a growing ecommerce or sales‑heavy business.
👇 Read on for a detailed side‑by‑side comparison across all key categories.
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Picking between ActiveCampaign and ConvertKit starts with a feature‑by‑feature breakdown. What do you really need? Are you after power, simplicity, or a creator‑friendly toolkit?
ActiveCampaign delivers an impressive suite of tools: deep automation, a built‑in CRM, site tracking, conditional content, SMS features, and attribution reporting. These are purpose‑built for marketers and businesses structuring multi‑step funnels or managing customer pipelines.
ConvertKit focuses on your creator journey. What sets it apart are intuitive visual automations, creator‑friendly form and landing page builders, and a tagging system built around content workflows (like courses, series, and launches).
Feature Highlights
- Email Campaigns: ActiveCampaign offers advanced conditional blocks and deep segmentation; ConvertKit delivers polished broadcast tools ideal for newsletters and announcements.
- Landing Pages: ConvertKit’s builder is straightforward and fast, using stylish templates; ActiveCampaign uses form popups and basic pages, relying on third‑party page tools for depth.
- Automation: ActiveCampaign offers multi‑branch paths and wait‑until conditions; ConvertKit uses visual flows optimized for creator workflows like launches.
- CRM: ActiveCampaign includes deal pipelines and contact scoring; ConvertKit doesn’t—its focus is purely audience creation.
- Site Tracking: ActiveCampaign tracks user behavior on your site for advanced targeting; ConvertKit does basic link tracking only.
Here’s a side‑by‑side view:
| Feature |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Broadcast Email | ✅Simple & polished | ✅Advanced HTML & conditions |
| Visual Automations | 🟡Linear & tutorial‑guided | 🟢Multi‑step & branch logic |
| CRM / Sales | 🔴Not included | ✅Deals, pipelines, scoring |
| Site Tracking | 🔴None | ✅Tracks visits & behavior |
| Mobile App | 🟢Yes, for email & forms | 🟡View contacts only |
ActiveCampaign is unmatched in raw capability—it’s a full marketing automation suite. ConvertKit, while more streamlined, keeps only what creators truly need and removes complexity.
🏆 Winner: ActiveCampaign — Richer feature set for power users, CRM integration, and deep automation strategies.
Automations are where both tools shine—but they serve different audiences. Are you optimizing funnels or growing a creator audience?
ActiveCampaign brings powerhouse automation: multi-branch funnels, conditional waits, A/B split actions, event-based triggers, and CRM-based actions. Picture a sequence that tags a user, then if they visit your pricing page, waits 2 days, sends a tailored email, and triggers a sales notification—all in one flow.
ConvertKit has visual automations optimized for creators: triggers like tags or purchases start a journey; sequences follow with delays; goals (e.g. form submission) branch users off the flow. It handles launches, courses, drip funnels with simplicity, but lacks deep logical branching.
Automation Examples
- Creator Flow (ConvertKit): Tag → Wait 1 day → Email 1 → Wait 3 days → Email 2 → Goal check (opted‑in?).
- Marketing Flow (ActiveCampaign): Trigger → branch if site visit → wait+x days → send variant email → conditional waits → notify sales team.
| Automation Aspect | | |
|---|---|---|
| Linear Sequencing | ✅Yes – goal‑driven | ✅Yes, more complex |
| Branch Logic | 🟡Limited goal branches | ✅Full conditional splits |
| Event-Based Triggers | 🟡Tag‑or purchase only | ✅Site visit, link click, purchase |
| A/B Testing | 🟡Split via tags | ✅Content & path splits |
| CRM Automation | 🔴Not available | ✅Deal triggers, scoring |
ActiveCampaign is unmatched for marketers who want full conditional logic and CRM integration in their flows—ideal for sales funnels and revenue-focused automation.
ConvertKit, on the other hand, provides just enough power to automate drip campaigns and creator launches, without overwhelming complexity.
🏆 Winner: ActiveCampaign — Most powerful and flexible automation suite for multi‑step funnels, segmentation, and conditional flows.
ConvertKit was built by creators, for creators. That ethos shows in every interaction—from onboarding to content creation. ActiveCampaign, while powerful, caters more to technical marketers and sales teams.
ConvertKit keeps interface and menus minimal, reducing clicks and friction. Their broadcast editor is text-first with simple visuals and optional drag‑and‑drop blocks. Schedule an email in seconds. Manage tags and segments with a clean sidebar. And their forms and embed codes are easy to copy and paste—no developer help needed.
ActiveCampaign strikes a balance between power and complexity. The main dashboard surfaces deals, automations, campaigns, contacts—but it’s busy. The builder for automation journeys is powerful, but users report a slight learning curve when building advanced splits or CRM pipelines.
Ease‑of‑Use Breakdown
| Usability Factor | | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup & Onboarding | 🟢Instant & guided | 🟡Detailed but longer |
| Interface Clarity | 🟢Minimal & focused | 🟡Feature‑dense dashboard |
| Learning Curve | 🟢2–3h mastery | 🟡5–8h deep learning |
| Creator Focus | 🟢Built‑for writers & creators | 🟡Sales teams & segmented marketers |
| Mobile & Forms | 🟢Optimized and responsive | 🟡Needs tweaks for mobile |
ConvertKit’s minimalist setup vastly reduces decision fatigue. Their form editor shows exactly how it works on mobile. And you’ll rarely need help to launch your first campaign.
ActiveCampaign excels in tailoring for enterprise needs: pipelines, conditional fields, custom objects. But creators may feel some tools are overkill.
🏆 Winner: ConvertKit — Clean UI thoughtfully designed for creators, smaller learning curve, fast launch speed.
Pricing is always a key consideration—especially as your subscriber base grows. Which platform gives you more value per dollar?
ConvertKit Pricing
ConvertKit uses a flat per-subscriber pricing. In 2025:
- Free: up to 1,000 subscribers – broadcasts, forms, tagging, community support
- Creator: ~$15/month for 1,000 subscribers – automation journeys, visual automations, landing pages
- Creator Pro: ~$29/month for 1,000 subs – advanced reporting, integrations, priority support
Importantly, all plans include unlimited emails and landing pages. Feature set grows with tiers but no hidden costs.
ActiveCampaign Pricing
ActiveCampaign offers tiered plans:
- Lite: starting at $29/month for 1,000 contacts – email marketing, basic automations
- Plus: ~$49/month – CRM, conditional content, SMS marketing
- Professional: ~$149/month – predictive sending, attribution, site messages
- Enterprise: custom pricing – custom objects, phone support, security solutions
Comparative Table
| Pricing Element | | |
|---|---|---|
| Base Price (1,000 subs) | $0‑15 flat | $29 Lite / $49 Plus |
| Unlimited Sending | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Automations Included | ✅ Journeys in Creator plan | ✅ From Lite tier |
| CRM Access | ❌ None | ✅ Plus & up |
| E‑commerce Add-ons | 🟡 Basic Zapier | ✅ Native tags & cart tracking |
| Max Price @20k | ~$255 (Creator Pro) | ~$249 (Professional) |
| Support Included | 🟢 All plans – chat & email | 🟡 Lite chat only; email for Plus/Pro |
ConvertKit is more affordable at low-mid tiers and includes everything creators need. ActiveCampaign becomes costlier but offers CRM and deep automation at scale.
🏆 Winner: ConvertKit — Better value for creators and solo‑preneurs, with generous free tier and flat pricing.
Built‑in landing pages and deep integrations matter if you’re growing an audience or selling products. Let’s compare.
ConvertKit lets you create simple yet responsive landing pages with lead magnets, and customizable forms. Templates are modern and mobile‑first. Adding forms to Squarespace or WordPress is one copy‑and‑paste away. Their integration library includes Stripe, Teachable, Gumroad, Shopify (via Zapier) and well‑known creator tools.
ActiveCampaign offers landing pages via its “Conversations” module; more flexible templates but more setup required. Their integration marketplace is robust—Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, Salesforce, Facebook, Zendesk. Webhook/API support makes deep data capturing and multi‑step flows possible.
Integration Comparison
| Integration Area | | |
|---|---|---|
| Landing Pages | ✅Single‑page simple forms | 🟡Templates, CSS editing |
| WordPress Support | ✅Plugin + shortcode | ✅Plugin + embeds |
| E‑commerce Platforms | 🟡Zapier + Gumroad | ✅Shopify, Woo, Magento |
| API & Webhooks | 🟡Basic API access | ✅Robust events & hooks |
| Third‑party Apps | 🟢Integrates with 100+ apps | 🟢300+ native and via Zapier |
Both platforms handle integrations well. ConvertKit makes it easy for creators to connect to payment tools and publishing systems. ActiveCampaign focuses on sellers and marketers who want CRM‑driven, multi‑step integration flows.
🏆 Winner: ConvertKit — Meets creators’ needs cleanly and quickly without extra complexity.
For creators and small teams, prompt feedback and peer support can be game‑changing. Which community serves you better?
ConvertKit offers live chat and email support to all paid tiers, and community Slack & Facebook groups full of creators sharing newsletters, courses, and launch tips. Their Help Center is well‑organized and search works effectively. They run creator‑focused webinars and challenges monthly, with active Q&A.
ActiveCampaign includes email support across all tiers, with chat and phone on Plus and higher. Their documentation is comprehensive and segmented by user type (agency, ecommerce, sales). The community forum is helpful for integration or automation issues, but not as creator‑focused.
Support Comparison
| Support Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Live Chat | 🟢All plans | 🟡Plus & up |
| Email Support | 🟢<24h response | 🟢24‑48h |
| Phone Support | 🔴None | ✅Available (Higher tiers) |
| Community Forums | 🟢Slack + Facebook | 🟡Active user forum |
| Creator Webinars | 🟢Monthly creator events | 🟡Marketing & sales focus |
Creators consistently mention ConvertKit’s helpful Slack community and swift chat support. On the other hand, ActiveCampaign offers phone support and strong documentation for business users—a different kind of help.
🏆 Winner: ConvertKit — Creator-centric support channels, engaged community, and faster responses at all plan levels.
After a thorough comparison across features, automation, creator tools, pricing, integrations, and community—here’s how the two platforms stack up for different users in 2025.
Summary Table
| Category | | |
|---|---|---|
| Features & Functionality | 🏆 | |
| Automation & Workflows | 🏆 | |
| Creator Ease‑of‑Use | 🏆 | |
| Pricing & Value | 🏆 | |
| Landing Pages & Integrations | 🏆 | |
| Support & Community | 🏆 | |
| 🏁 Total Wins | 5 Wins | 1 Win |
🥇 Overall Winner: ConvertKit — It’s the top pick for creators, bloggers, and solo entrepreneurs in 2025 thanks to its simplicity, creator‑first features, and excellent community. While ActiveCampaign delivers more complex automation and CRM strength, most creators won’t need that—at least not yet.
Choose ConvertKit if you:
- Are a creator or solopreneur wanting to build and nurture an audience
- Love clean UX, fast sends, and minimal setup
- Build landing pages, forms, and nurture sequences without coding
- Value creator communities and responsive support
Choose ActiveCampaign if you:
- Need advanced automation with conditional logic and site tracking
- Use CRM features, sales pipelines, or multi-channel messaging
- Operate a growing ecommerce or B2B sales business
- Don’t mind a steeper learning curve for “power-user” tools