ActiveCampaign vs AWeber
Both are email marketing tools aimed at creators, coaches and small businesses. They differ most on free plan, automation and support.
At a glance
| ActiveCampaign | AWeber | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 60/100 | 66/100 Higher |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Paid from | $15/mo per month, billed annually | $25/mo monthly; $250/yr billed annually |
| Positioning | automation platform | specialist email |
| Launched | — | — |
| Best for | Businesses whose email depends on detailed automation and segmentation, and that expect to grow into a CRM. | Small businesses and creators who value round-the-clock human support over the lowest price. |
Where each one leads
| Dimension | ActiveCampaign | AWeber | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 1/5 | 3/5 | AWeber |
| Ease of use | 3/5 | 4/5 | AWeber |
| Breadth of features | 3/5 | 3/5 | Tie |
| Value for money | 3/5 | 3/5 | Tie |
| Email deliverability | 4/5 | 4/5 | Tie |
| Selling products | 2/5 | 3/5 | AWeber |
| Course hosting | 1/5 | 2/5 | AWeber |
| Automation | 5/5 | 3/5 | ActiveCampaign |
| Support | 3/5 | 5/5 | AWeber |
Scores are 1–5 per dimension. ActiveCampaign leads on 1 dimension, AWeber on 5. The overall figure weights these for email marketing generally — see methodology.
Pricing
Plans are listed per tool rather than paired row by row — tiers rarely line up, and putting one vendor's second plan beside another's implies an equivalence that is not there.
| Tool | Plan | Per month | Terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| ActiveCampaign | Starter | $15 | per month, billed annually |
| Plus | $49 | per month, billed annually | |
| Pro | $79 | per month, billed annually | |
| Enterprise | $145 | per month, billed annually | |
| AWeber | Free | Free | — |
| Lite | $25 | monthly; $250/yr billed annually | |
| Plus | $45 | monthly; $450/yr billed annually |
Pricing checked 24 September 2026 against each vendor's own pricing page. ActiveCampaign: Billed in USD. Prices are for 1,000 contacts on annual billing; the pricing page does not show monthly-billing prices. AWeber: Billed in USD. Paid prices are for 501–1,000 subscribers and rise with list size; annual billing saves about 17%.
Verdict
ActiveCampaign
- +Unlimited automation actions from the Plus plan, with more than 950 ready-made automation recipes.
- +Plus adds landing pages, at $49 a month for 1,000 contacts on annual billing.
- +A 14-day free trial, and a promise of your money back if you see no results in 30 days.
- −No free plan, and published prices are for annual billing only.
- −Starter limits each automation to 5 actions and one user.
AWeber
- +Plus includes unlimited automations, landing pages and users, with priority 24/7 support.
- +Support is available around the clock, and AWeber migrates an existing account for free.
- +A free plan that needs no credit card.
- −Lite allows only 3 automations, 3 landing pages and one list.
- −The free plan keeps AWeber branding and allows one campaign or landing page.
Common questions
Is ActiveCampaign cheaper than AWeber?
ActiveCampaign starts at $15/mo (per month, billed annually), and AWeber starts at $25/mo (monthly; $250/yr billed annually) — so ActiveCampaign is the cheaper entry point. Compare what each includes at that tier, and what it renews at, rather than the headline figure alone.
Does ActiveCampaign or AWeber have a free plan?
ActiveCampaign has no free plan, and AWeber has a free plan.
Which is better, ActiveCampaign or AWeber?
On our weighted scoring across the use cases in this category, AWeber comes out ahead overall. The honest answer is that it depends on the use case — the tables above break the score down by dimension so you can weight it to your own priorities.
Other comparisons
Sources & verification
- help.aweber.com — checked 24 September 2026AWeber Free needs no credit card. Plans upgrade automatically when a list or its sending outgrows them; downgrades need a request to support.
- help.aweber.com — checked 24 September 2026AWeber Free allows one campaign or landing page, keeps AWeber branding, and has no split testing, saved segments or behavioural automation.
- activecampaign.com — checked 24 September 2026No free plan; a 14-day free trial.
- aweber.com — checked 24 September 2026The page opens at 0–500 subscribers (Lite $15, Plus $30 monthly); the 501–1,000 figures are from its own price data.