HEAD TO HEAD
GetResponse vs ActiveCampaign: broad suite or deep automation
vs
These solve different problems. GetResponse is a broad suite: email, plus webinars, courses and multi-list management under one subscription, so one login runs several brands. ActiveCampaign goes narrow and deep on automation: branching workflows, lead scoring and a CRM handoff that drive revenue rather than just send newsletters. If breadth and running many lists is the need, GetResponse; if automation is the engine, ActiveCampaign.
Pick it ifGetResponse
Pick it to run several brands or a training business from one login: multi-list management, webinars and courses bundled together, so you buy one suite instead of stitching tools around a mailer.
From €16/mo · paid plans onlyTry GetResponseOur pick for most readersActiveCampaign
The default when automation is the engine of the business: branching workflows, lead scoring and a CRM handoff that GetResponse only approximates. You give up the built-in webinar and course tooling.
From $19/mo · paid plans onlyTry ActiveCampaignSuite breadth against automation depth
| At a glance | GetResponse | ActiveCampaign |
|---|---|---|
| Positioning | Automation, webinars, courses and multi-list management under one subscription. | Automation depth first: branching workflows, scoring and CRM handoff, priced from 1,000 contacts. |
| Billing unit | per contact | per contact |
| Free plan | paid plans only | paid plans only |
| Plans | Starter: €48/mo at 5,000 contacts Marketer: €82/mo at 5,000 contacts Creator: €94/mo at 5,000 contacts | Starter: $99/mo at 5,000 contacts Plus: $179/mo at 5,000 contacts Pro: $259/mo at 5,000 contacts Enterprise: $469/mo at 5,000 contacts |
| Entry price | from €16/mo | from $19/mo |
| Billing notes | Priced by list size with unlimited sends on paid plans; annual billing saves about 18%. The list-size selector starts at 1,000 contacts. | Priced by marketing contacts from a 1,000-contact minimum; sending allowances are a multiple of the contact tier. Annual billing is cheaper than monthly. |
Amounts come from each provider's official pricing page and can change: the official GetResponse pricing page · the official ActiveCampaign pricing page.
The split is philosophical. GetResponse wants to be the one bill that covers a marketing operation: newsletters, landing pages, webinars, paid courses and several audience lists managed side by side. That breadth is the point when you would otherwise buy a webinar tool and a course platform separately. ActiveCampaign concentrates on the automation layer: multi-branch workflows, scoring that ranks contacts by behaviour, and a built-in CRM so sales can pick up where marketing stops. It prices from a small floor and climbs with contacts and features. Neither offers a permanent free plan, so trial each on the workflow that matters and check both in the cost calculator.
Running multiple brands versus one deep funnel
If you manage several brands or clients, GetResponse's multi-list structure keeps them separate under a single subscription, and the webinar and course tools mean a training business does not leave the platform to sell. See running multiple brands for how to structure that. ActiveCampaign can hold multiple lists too, but its value shows when one audience moves through a deep funnel: a signup scores the contact, branches on what they click, waits, re-scores, then hands a sales-ready lead to the CRM. That chain is hard to reproduce cleanly in GetResponse. Match the tool to whether your complexity is many brands or one intricate journey.
The learning curve and the ongoing cost
ActiveCampaign's power comes with a steeper setup: workflows, scoring rules and CRM stages take time to design and maintain, and the bill rises as you add contacts and reach for higher tiers. Budget the hours, not just the subscription. GetResponse is faster to get productive across its modules, but you pay for breadth you may not fully use, and its automation, while capable, stops short of ActiveCampaign's branching and scoring. Decide honestly whether you will operate deep automation or mostly want tidy newsletters plus webinars. Paying for depth you never build is as wasteful as paying for breadth you never touch.
Who should pick which
- Several brands or clients under one roof: GetResponse, for multi-list management in a single subscription.
- Selling webinars or courses alongside email: GetResponse, which bundles both natively.
- Automation and scoring drive revenue: ActiveCampaign, for branching workflows and CRM handoff.
- Weighing setup effort and long-run cost: price both in the calculator and budget the build hours, not only the plan.
The same newsletter and the same welcome sequence
| The same brief | GetResponse | ActiveCampaign |
|---|---|---|
| What the bill follows | contacts stored | contacts stored |
| Cheapest plan that covers the brief | Starter at 5,000 contacts €48/mo | Starter at 5,000 contacts $99/mo |
| Monthly sends included | unlimited | 50,000 emails |
| Headroom after the brief | no ceiling published | 27,750 sends left |
The brief, identical on every comparison here: a list of 5,000 contacts, one newsletter to everyone each week (21,650 sends a month) and the same three email welcome sequence for 200 new subscribers (600 sends), so 22,250 sends in all. Prices and allowances are read from each provider's published ladder. Where an allowance is not published we say so rather than estimate it.
The two providers publish in different currencies (EUR and USD), so the two amounts above are not directly comparable. The cost calculator converts them to one currency before ranking.
What the two products actually look like
What we checked, and where it comes from
GetResponse
- No permanent full free plan: a 14-day trial, after which a limited free account keeps a GetResponse badge on emails. Source: the official GetResponse pricing page
- Sending is unlimited on paid plans; pricing follows list size from 1,000 contacts up. Source: the official GetResponse pricing page
- Each list is treated independently for billing: an address on several lists counts once per list (help example: 4 people on 3 lists = 8 contacts). Source: www.getresponse.com/help/how-does-getresponse-pricing-work.html
- Each list carries its own From address, opt-in settings, confirmation email and language. Source: www.getresponse.com/help/how-do-i-create-a-new-contact-list.html
- Newsletters are deduplicated across lists at send time: one copy per address. Source: www.getresponse.com/help/i-have-the-same-contact-on-more-than-one-list-will-they-get-my-message-several-times.html
- Automation treats the same person on different lists as separate contacts; the Unique contacts filter stops repeat runs. Source: www.getresponse.com/help/how-can-i-filter-out-duplicate-contacts-in-a-workflow.html
ActiveCampaign
- No free plan; a 14-day trial without a card. Source: the official ActiveCampaign pricing page
- The minimum tier is 1,000 contacts on every plan, and Starter stops at 25,000 contacts. Source: www.activecampaign.com/dist/pricing/fallback/USD.json
- Growing past a tier re-prices the whole plan at the next tier; no published per-contact overage fee. Source: the official ActiveCampaign pricing page
- Extra monthly email sends are sold in blocks on every plan, in addition to the included allowance. Source: www.activecampaign.com/dist/pricing/fallback/USD.json
- Send allowances are 10x the contact limit on Starter and Plus, 12x on Pro and 15x on Enterprise. Source: the official ActiveCampaign pricing page
- Annual billing is published as a yearly total that is below twelve monthly payments on every plan. Source: www.activecampaign.com/dist/pricing/fallback/USD.json
How to read this: every capability above is taken from the provider's own published pages, and each line names where it came from. We have not run a paid side by side test of these two platforms, so nothing on this page is presented as a test result. The hands on protocols we do publish, and their limits, are on the tests page. Where a provider does not publish something, we say so instead of estimating it.
Questions people also ask
Can GetResponse replace a separate webinar or course tool?
For many teams, yes. Webinars and paid courses are built into the suite, so a training or coaching business can run signup, delivery and follow-up email in one place instead of stitching tools together. Confirm the specifics match your format before consolidating.
Is ActiveCampaign overkill for a simple newsletter?
Often, yes. If you mostly send campaigns and a welcome sequence, its branching and scoring go unused while you pay for them and absorb the setup time. It earns its price when automation actively moves people toward a sale, not when it just sends.
Do either offer a free plan to test on?
Neither runs a permanent free plan, so plan around trials. Build the exact workflow you care about during the trial window and price the outcome in the calculator before committing.