Infusionsoft Vs. ActiveCampaign

Switching email marketing platforms can be expensive and disruptive for your business.

Use our in-depth guide to compare Infusionsoft vs. ActiveCampaign so you can make the best decision for your business.

Both Infusionsoft and ActiveCampaign utilize “tags” to categorize and assign properties to the members within your CRM software. In each platform, these tags are automatically applied and function according to the parameters that you set.

Both systems also allow you to use tagging as a way to segment your list and give your email list members access to certain content, which is pretty invaluable if you want to really hone in and target your clients with a sharper degree of accuracy.

Infusionsoft has a nice feature that allows you to categorize the tags within the system. So if you’re dealing with a large volume of tags and conditional funnels, the categorization is a total lifesaver.

ActiveCampaign, on the other hand, does not currently offer a way to organize the tags.

If you have less than 100 or so tags that you’re working with, this probably won’t be an issue. However, once you start adding several dozen tags to your system, the lack of categorization might be a bit frustrating and difficult to manage.

So if you don’t have a super complex tagging system, or tend to only have a small amount applied to your clients, ActiveCampaign might be a good option. If you find yourself using a wide variety of tags to fine-tune your system and funnels, Infusionsoft is probably your best bet.

In terms of automation and custom sequences, Infusionsoft and ActiveCampaign are on pretty equal footing.

ActiveCampaign uses a slick drag-and-drop interface that helps you to easily setup an automated process to tag, segment, and send contacts through your sales funnels.

This automated method works wonders for your lead nurturing, upselling, and cross-selling needs.

It’s an automated process that Infusionsoft also uses in its own campaign builder:

With Infusionsoft, the campaigns are a little more “open-ended,” in the sense that you can create a lot more complex automation sequences to attend to the needs of your clients and your business.

Are you selling any products on your website? Then the different e-commerce capabilities of Infusionsoft and ActiveCampaign will definitely impact your decision.

With ActiveCampaign, the online sales process requires varying degrees of manual work on your part.

ActiveCampaign itself doesn’t offer any product or sales features besides opening the door for a 3rd party integration with a large variety of payment processing systems like PayPal, Stripe, WooCommerce, etc.

However, the 3rd party integrations available to ActiveCampaign users are not created equal. (See the current list of integrations here.)

For example, the Shopify integration will only auto-add a new customer to your list if they opt into marketing updates when they purchase your product. Otherwise, you’ll have to manually add in each client if you want to apply a specific set of tags and add them to a sequence.

The Bigcommerce integration, on the other hand, advertises its automatic process of adding new clients to your ActiveCampaign CRM.

So, if ActiveCampaign ends up being a better fit overall for your business, pay special note to the capabilities of each e-commerce integration to make sure it fits your needs.

If you’re heavy on the product sales side of business, there’s definitely a huge benefit in using Infusionsoft as an all-in-one solution. If you only have a couple of products that you’re working with, ActiveCampaign can still be a strong contender.

ActiveCampaign definitely comes out ahead in this category in the eyes of most users! It’s sleek and user-friendly, and takes very little time for the dedicated user to figure out how to get stuff done.

Infusionsoft, on the other hand, has a pretty steep learning curve before you’re able to navigate confidently through its interface.

A large part of that is because it does have significantly more options to be able to offer in terms of customization. As we like to say, “If you can dream it up, it can be done with Infusionsoft.”

If you have more complex needs (think coupons, limited trials, and a couple hundred tags to manage), Infusionsoft will probably perform better for you. Keep in mind that these more complex functions might require a bit of tech savviness on your part to make it happen.

Fortunately, if you can’t (or don’t have the time to) do it yourself, there are a number of Infusionsoft certified partners who are ready and able to make your Infusionsoft dreams come true.

For entrepreneurs who have no need to do super complex funnels or ultra fine-tuned conditional tagging, the extra features of Infusionsoft in this area might not be necessary.

Working with affiliates and affiliate payments carries a unique set of challenges for any online business owner. Affiliate links must be managed and tracked accurately, as should any relevant purchases and refunds.

Although ActiveCampaign does not include an affiliate tracking system, it can integrate with some 3rd party platforms to help you manage your affiliates, including AccessAlly’s full-featured affiliate management system.

With Infusionsoft, on the other hand, it’s a convenient, built-in gig that’s ready for you to take advantage of.

The Infusionsoft Affiliate Center makes it convenient for you to track your affiliate sales and payments without having to switch platforms. If you run into any problems throughout the process, the Infusionsoft staff is always on hand to help with the tech stuff.

Upfront, ActiveCampaign requires less of a financial investment when you compare to Infusionsoft pricing. On a per-subscriber basis, the cost of ActiveCampaign might be anywhere from $70 – $120 less per month than Infusionsoft.

Before that scares you off, know that the price starts leveling out between the two once you have a subscriber base of over 25K members. At this point, the price becomes less of a contrast between the two and you can begin to focus more on the features that you want to work with, instead of Infusionsoft’s prices being higher.

Infusionsoft does comes with a sign-on fee in addition to monthly subscription fees. (At the time this article was written, the sign-up fee was $1999.) So for smaller businesses who don’t have a need for its advanced capabilities, this fee by itself might be a bit daunting.

But here’s what’s good about it: with that sign-on fee, you get the tech help you need to be off to a strong start at setting up and getting familiar with your Infusionsoft account.

So, how will the price difference affect your decision?

Well, if you have a flourishing business, at some point you might “outgrow” ActiveCampaign, in the sense that it will become more expensive without gaining the additional features and functionality that come with Infusionsoft.

Both ActiveCampaign and Infusionsoft are pretty competitive options when it comes to taking care of your business needs.

If you’re a newer business owner or have more confined needs in terms of an email marketing system, ActiveCampaign is a wonderful option, full of marketing automation tools and great integrations with other apps.

If you’re a more experienced business owner – or have exceeded the capacity of your current CRM – Infusionsoft is a great option. The sky is the limit. If you can think of it (promotions, discounts, limited time offers) and techy people (or those with an aptitude for learning systems) can definitely make it happen.