ActiveCampaign vs Kit
Both are email marketing tools aimed at creators, coaches and small businesses. They differ most on free plan, email deliverability and selling products.
At a glance
| ActiveCampaign | Kit | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 60/100 | 78/100 Higher |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Paid from | $15/mo per month, billed annually | $33/mo monthly; $390/yr billed annually |
| Positioning | automation platform | specialist email |
| Launched | — | 2013 |
| Best for | Businesses whose email depends on detailed automation and segmentation, and that expect to grow into a CRM. | Creators whose main asset is the email list itself, not the funnel around it. |
Where each one leads
| Dimension | ActiveCampaign | Kit | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 1/5 | 4/5 | Kit |
| Ease of use | 3/5 | 4/5 | Kit |
| Breadth of features | 3/5 | 3/5 | Tie |
| Value for money | 3/5 | 3/5 | Tie |
| Email deliverability | 4/5 | 5/5 | Kit |
| Selling products | 2/5 | 4/5 | Kit |
| Course hosting | 1/5 | 2/5 | Kit |
| Automation | 5/5 | 5/5 | Tie |
| Support | 3/5 | 4/5 | Kit |
Scores are 1–5 per dimension. ActiveCampaign leads on 0 dimensions, Kit on 6. 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 | |
| Kit | Free | Free | — |
| Creator | $33 | monthly; $390/yr billed annually | |
| Pro | $66 | monthly; $790/yr billed annually |
Pricing checked 24 September 2026 and 23 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. Kit: Billed in USD. Paid prices are for 1,000 subscribers and rise with list size; annual billing saves 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.
Kit
- +Free up to 10,000 subscribers — five times the 2,000-contact limit of Systeme.io’s free plan.
- +The visual automation builder is among the best in the category.
- +Deliverability reputation is strong, which matters more than any feature list.
- −The free plan is broadcasts only — unlimited automations and email sequences need a paid plan.
- −Not a course platform — course content has to be hosted somewhere else.
Common questions
Is ActiveCampaign cheaper than Kit?
ActiveCampaign starts at $15/mo (per month, billed annually), and Kit starts at $33/mo (monthly; $390/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 Kit have a free plan?
ActiveCampaign has no free plan, and Kit has a free plan.
Which is better, ActiveCampaign or Kit?
On our weighted scoring across the use cases in this category, Kit 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
- kit.com — checked 23 September 2026Free up to 10,000 subscribers, with unlimited landing pages, forms and broadcasts. Unlimited automations and sequences need a paid plan.
- activecampaign.com — checked 24 September 2026No free plan; a 14-day free trial.