Free ActiveCampaign alternatives
ActiveCampaign has no free tier at all — fourteen days, then a card. That's increasingly unusual below the enterprise end, and it's why this search exists.
Sixteen permanent free plans below, ranked by what you can actually ship on, with the limit that stops you first named in every row.
The limit that bites first
ActiveCampaign's row is here for reference. Everything above it is a permanent free plan rather than a trial.
| Provider | Free tier | What stops you first | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kit (formerly ConvertKit) | Up to 10,000 subscribers with one basic visual automation | One basic visual automation — sequences are the paid product | Permanent |
| Sender | 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month, with automation included | Volume, eventually. Automation, landing pages and forms are all included | Permanent |
| Email Bump | 5,000 contacts and 5,000 emails a month | A 'Powered by Email Bump' badge on marketing footers. No daily cap; domains and seats unlimited | Permanent |
| EmailOctopus | 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails a month, with EmailOctopus branding | EmailOctopus branding on every send, 30-day reports, 1 user, 1 form | Permanent |
| beehiiv | Up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited email sends | No ad network, no paid subscriptions and no Send API on the free plan | Permanent |
| Zoho Campaigns | 2,000 contacts, 6,000 emails a month and 5 users | Volume — but 5 users, where most free plans allow one | Permanent |
| Brevo | 300 emails a day, forever, with contact storage into the tens of thousands | 300 a day is a hard daily wall that doesn't roll over | Permanent |
| EngageBay | 250 contacts, free for teams of up to 15 members | 250 contacts and 2 email sequences — but 15 team members | Permanent |
| MailerLite | 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, 2 seats, 3 automations | 250 subscribers and 3 active automations | Permanent |
| Benchmark Email | 500 contacts and 2,500 sends a month, 1 user, 1 domain | 500 contacts, 1 user and 1 sending domain | Permanent |
| CleverReach | 250 recipients and 1,000 emails a month, permanently | 250 recipients and 1,000 emails a month | Permanent |
| Mailchimp | 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, capped at 250 a day, 1 seat | 250 a day, which bites before the 500-a-month limit does | Permanent |
| Omnisend | 250 contacts, 500 emails a month and 500 web push notifications | 250 contacts — an evaluation allowance, not a plan | Permanent |
| Klaviyo | 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month, plus $5 of mobile messages | Sending stops entirely past 250 profiles or 500 monthly sends | Permanent |
| HubSpot Marketing Hub | Free Marketing Hub for up to 2 users, with basic email, forms and live chat | 2 users, and the real automation is $800/mo away on Professional | Permanent |
| ActiveCampaign | None — a 14-day trial | There isn't one — 14 days, then a card | None |
| listmonk, Mautic, Keila, Sendy | Free or one-time licence | The software costs nothing; your sending provider and your time still do | Self-hosted |
From each vendor's own pricing page. Free tiers change more often than paid ones — check before you commit a launch to one.
What to check, given what you’re leaving
Automation count, first. You're coming from a platform whose automation is the product, so the free plans that ration it hardest will disappoint fastest. Kit allows one. MailerLite allows three. Sender and Email Bump don't cap it.
Then send allowance, which ActiveCampaign also rations. Its paid plans cap sending at 10–15× your contact count. Several free tiers here have no multiplier at all, so the ceiling you're used to planning around may simply disappear.
Then seats. ActiveCampaign includes one user on Starter and Plus. If the seat count is what pushed you up a tier rather than the list size, note that EngageBay's free plan allows fifteen and ours allows unlimited.
Free plans and automation depth
If you're on ActiveCampaign, you're probably there for the automation, and that's the thing free tiers ration hardest. Kit's 10,000 free subscribers come with one basic automation. MailerLite's free plan allows three. Mailchimp's free tier has no journeys at all — those start on Standard.
The exceptions worth knowing: Sender includes automation on its free plan alongside 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 monthly emails, and Email Bump includes unlimited flows, live segments and a transactional API on 5,000 contacts.
None of them match ActiveCampaign's builder for depth. If your programme genuinely needs paths that split and rejoin with per-branch goals, a free plan isn't the comparison — the honest answer is that you'd be trading capability for price, and that's worth doing deliberately.
ActiveCampaign alternatives, asked and answered
Does ActiveCampaign have a free plan?
No. There's a 14-day trial, then a card. Brevo, MailerLite, Mailchimp, Kit, Sender, EmailOctopus, Zoho Campaigns, HubSpot, EngageBay and Email Bump all run permanent free tiers.
What's the best free ActiveCampaign alternative?
Sender, if automation is what you need — 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month with workflows included is the most complete free offer here. Kit, if it's really a newsletter: 10,000 free subscribers.
For a product that also sends receipts and password resets, Email Bump's free plan is 5,000 contacts and 5,000 emails with unlimited flows and a transactional API on the same key.
Can a free plan replace ActiveCampaign's automation?
For a welcome sequence and a nurture series, comfortably. For branching logic that splits and rejoins with per-branch goals and scoring, no — and no amount of comparison table changes that.
Work out which of your automations actually branch before deciding. Most teams find fewer than they expect.
5,000 contacts, and flows on the free plan
Unlimited flows, live segments, campaigns, SMTP and the transactional API — all on the free tier, with no daily cap and unlimited seats.