ActiveCampaign Alternatives 2026: 5 Free Options
ActiveCampaign alternatives: Brevo, Mautic, listmonk, HubSpot CRM and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 23, 2026.
•3 min read•Email Marketing & Newsletters
Verdict:ActiveCampaign suits teams that tie email marketing to sales and need detailed automations and contact scoring. Leave it when you only send newsletters, or when the contact count makes the bill larger than the value you get from the automations. Check the pricing page for paid tiers and choose the plan that matches your contact count before you decide. Brevo is the free starting point for email, with 300 emails a day and no time limit, though it does not match ActiveCampaign's automation depth. Mautic is the strongest no-subscription option for automation, because it is free software that you host, and it carries the same campaign logic on your own server. Listmonk is for a newsletter-only operation that does not need a sales pipeline at all. HubSpot's free CRM suits a team that wants the sales side first, with a free tier of up to 2 users and 1,000 contacts. MailerLite is the simple route for a creator who wants forms and a newsletter without the sales layer. The trade-off is that every free option drops either the automation depth or the built-in CRM, so the decision depends on which of those two features your revenue actually relies on.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brevo | Free (300 emails per day, no time limit) | Web API | Email and basic automation on a free plan | Docs only |
| Mautic | Free (free open-source software; hosted version has a 14-day trial) | Web browser, Self-hosted | Automation without a subscription bill | Docs only |
| listmonk | Free (Self-hosted and free; needs Postgres and your own SMTP or sending service) | Linux, macOS, Windows, FreeBSD, Docker | Newsletters without sales automation | Docs only |
| HubSpot CRM | Free (2 users, 1,000 contacts, no time limit); paid from $7 per seat/month (Starter) | Web browser | A free CRM that grows into sales tools | Docs only |
| MailerLite | Free (250 subscribers, 2,500 emails per month); paid from $12 per month, billed monthly (stated as starting price in the pricing FAQ) | Web browser | Simple newsletters and landing pages | Docs only |
| Mailchimp | Free (250 contacts, 500 sends per month or 250 per day, 1 seat, 1 audience) | Web browser | Email Marketing | Docs only |
| Kit | Free (Free plan: up to 10,000 subscribers); paid from $33 per month (Creator, based on 1,000 subscribers; $390 billed yearly) | Web browser | Email Marketing | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You want automation on your own server without a subscription (Mautic is the pick)
- You want a free CRM that can grow into sales tools (HubSpot CRM is the pick)
- You only send newsletters to a list (listmonk is the pick)
- You want simple forms and newsletters without a sales layer (MailerLite is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on ActiveCampaign features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
ActiveCampaign today: See pricing page (ActiveCampaign pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for ActiveCampaign alternatives
ActiveCampaign prices by contact count and gates features by plan. Starter and Plus include one user, Pro three and Enterprise five. Starter omits landing pages, generative AI and cross-channel marketing, limits automation actions to 5 per automation and has no SMS; Plus adds those but still lacks predictive sending and conditional content, which start at Pro. SSO and HIPAA support need Enterprise. The page shows no dollar amounts until a contact tier is chosen, and prices are billed yearly, so growing lists raise the bill.
Brevo
Compared with ActiveCampaign: Free plan sends 300 emails a day with no time limit. Against ActiveCampaign it gives you a free sending tier with no contact-based bill for the basics, but you lose ActiveCampaign's deep automation builder and contact scoring.
Price: Free (300 emails per day, no time limit) (Brevo pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web API. Proprietary.
Best for: Email and basic automation on a free plan.
Mautic
Compared with ActiveCampaign: Free GPL-3.0 marketing automation you host yourself. Compared with ActiveCampaign it covers similar campaign and scoring ground at no licence cost, but you run the server, the database and the upgrades yourself.
Price: Free (free open-source software; hosted version has a 14-day trial) (Mautic pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser, Self-hosted. GPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 10.9k GitHub stars · latest release 7.2.2 (Oct 26, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Automation without a subscription bill.
Worth knowing: No hosted prices shown on the site.
listmonk
Compared with ActiveCampaign: Free self-hosted newsletter and mailing-list manager. Against ActiveCampaign it lacks CRM, deal tracking and automations, so you gain simplicity and a zero software bill, and lose the sales-side tools.
Price: Free (Self-hosted and free; needs Postgres and your own SMTP or sending service) (listmonk pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Linux, macOS, Windows, FreeBSD, Docker. AGPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 24k GitHub stars · latest release v7.0.0-beta.1 (Oct 20, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Newsletters without sales automation.
Worth knowing: Sending costs depend on the SMTP provider you connect.
HubSpot CRM
Compared with ActiveCampaign: Free CRM for up to 2 users and 1,000 contacts with no time limit. Compared with ActiveCampaign it brings a full CRM and deals pipeline at no cost, but the free tier has a small contact cap and fewer automation steps.
Price: Free (2 users, 1,000 contacts, no time limit); paid from $7 per seat/month (Starter) (HubSpot CRM pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: A free CRM that grows into sales tools.
MailerLite
Compared with ActiveCampaign: Free plan covers 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month. Against ActiveCampaign it is simpler to set up for newsletters and small funnels, and you lose the depth of ActiveCampaign's sales automation and CRM.
Price: Free (250 subscribers, 2,500 emails per month); paid from $12 per month, billed monthly (stated as starting price in the pricing FAQ) (MailerLite pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Simple newsletters and landing pages.
Worth knowing: Yearly billing saves 10%.
Other popular options (paid)
Mailchimp
Compared with ActiveCampaign: A common ActiveCampaign rival, with a free plan of 250 contacts and 500 sends a month. Essentials was listed at $13 a month as a 12-month promotion. Its automation is simpler than ActiveCampaign's.
Price: Free (250 contacts, 500 sends per month or 250 per day, 1 seat, 1 audience) (Mailchimp pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Kit
Compared with ActiveCampaign: Creator-focused email platform with a free plan up to 10,000 subscribers and Creator from $33 a month for 1,000 subscribers. Fewer CRM and sales automation features than ActiveCampaign, but a much larger free allowance.
Price: Free (Free plan: up to 10,000 subscribers); paid from $33 per month (Creator, based on 1,000 subscribers; $390 billed yearly) (Kit pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Which one to pick
- You want automation on your own server without a subscription: Mautic
- You want a free CRM that can grow into sales tools: HubSpot CRM
- You only send newsletters to a list: listmonk
- You want simple forms and newsletters without a sales layer: MailerLite
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Brevo, Mautic, listmonk, HubSpot CRM, MailerLite: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from ActiveCampaign. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-23: ActiveCampaign, Brevo, Mautic, listmonk, HubSpot CRM, MailerLite, Mailchimp, Kit. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.