ActiveCampaign
SalesLoft
| Feature | ActiveCampaign | SalesLoft |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From $15/mo | Contact sales |
| Free Plan | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Best For | ecommerce-businesses, saas-companies, marketing-agencies, small-businesses | sales-teams, sdrs-and-aes, mid-market-companies, revenue-teams |
| Founded | 2003 | 2011 |
| Email Marketing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Marketing Automation | ✓ | ✗ |
| Crm | ✓ | ✗ |
| Sales Automation | ✓ | ✗ |
| Landing Pages | ✓ | ✗ |
| Sms Marketing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Predictive Sending | ✓ | ✗ |
| Cadences | ✗ | ✓ |
| Conversation Intelligence | ✗ | ✓ |
| Deal Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Forecasting | ✗ | ✓ |
| Coaching | ✗ | ✓ |
| Analytics | ✗ | ✓ |
| Crm Sync | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ ActiveCampaign Pros
- Most powerful automation builder in email marketing
- Combined CRM and email in one platform
- Excellent deliverability rates consistently
- 800+ integrations with third-party tools
✗ ActiveCampaign Cons
- Steeper learning curve than simpler tools
- No free plan available
- Reporting could be more intuitive
✓ SalesLoft Pros
- Intuitive UI that reps actually want to use
- Strong cadence/sequence management
- Excellent conversation intelligence with call recording
- Good integration ecosystem (200+ tools)
✗ SalesLoft Cons
- Pricing requires sales contact (not transparent)
- Some advanced features only in premier tier
- Reporting less customizable than some competitors
The Verdict
ActiveCampaign is built for ecommerce businesses and saas companies, with a focus on email-marketing and marketing-automation. SalesLoft targets sales teams and sdrs and aes and leads with cadences and conversation-intelligence.
SalesLoft uses custom enterprise pricing, while ActiveCampaign starts at $15/mo — a tangible advantage for teams with a fixed budget.
Neither tool offers a free plan, so factor the subscription cost into your decision from the start.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.