ActiveCampaign Pricing: What Starter, Plus and Pro Cost as Contacts Grow

ActiveCampaign costs $15, $49 or $79 a month at 1,000 contacts on Starter, Plus and Pro when billed yearly, and the price climbs with every extra tier of contacts. At 5,000 contacts the same plans run about $79, $145 and $205 a month yearly, and at 10,000 about $149, $189 and $375.

All of these figures are ActiveCampaign's own, read from its pricing calculator in November 2026. The page shows the 1,000-contact price first, and the bigger numbers only appear when you type your list size into the calculator, so many buyers budget from the wrong row. That is the main trap with this tool: the number you see first is the smallest number you will pay.

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What the page says at 1,000 contacts

When I loaded ActiveCampaign's pricing page in November 2026, it showed four plans, each "starts at" and "billed yearly for 1,000 contacts":

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Every plan lists 500 AI credits, and the page says you can add more at checkout or from your account. The send allowance is a multiple of your contact count (10 times for Starter and Plus, 12 times for Pro, 15 times for Enterprise), so the sends rise with the list. This tutorial stays with the first three plans, since Enterprise is a different sort of purchase.

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How to read the calculator at 1,000 and at 5,000 contacts

The page has a field reading "I have ___ contacts". The four plan cards redraw when you type in it. Here is how to read it properly, step by step:

1. Open the pricing page in your own browser. A saved or printed copy shows only the 1,000-contact default, because the other figures load after the page does.
2. Type your actual contact count, not a round number. If you have 4,200 contacts, type 4,200 and see where the cards land.
3. Look at the small print on each card. It says "Billed yearly for N contacts". If it says yearly, the figure is the yearly-term rate divided by twelve, not what you pay on a month-to-month term.
4. Switch the billing term if the page offers one, and write down both figures. At 5,000 contacts the monthly-billed prices are $99, $179 and $259 for Starter, Plus and Pro, against $79, $145 and $205 billed yearly: a gap of $20 to $54 a month.
5. Click "Choose" for the plan you want. The link carries your contact number and currency in its address, so you can see the figure ActiveCampaign will actually charge before you enter payment details.

Run the calculator at 1,000 first, to confirm the page agrees with the table above. If it does, trust it at 5,000. If it does not, ActiveCampaign has changed its prices since I looked, and its page wins over this tutorial.

The cost table at three list sizes

The figures below are what ActiveCampaign's calculator returns at each size for both billing terms, read in November 2026. Its price ladder steps at 1,000, 2,500, 5,000, 7,500 and 10,000 contacts, so a list of 4,200 is priced at the 5,000 rung. Re-run the calculator before you buy, because the vendor can change its ladder at any time.

Three things stand out. First, growth is not linear: going from 1,000 to 5,000 contacts multiplies the Plus price almost three times for five times the list. Second, the gap between plans widens. At 1,000 contacts Pro is $30 a month above Plus; at 10,000 it is $186. Third, Pro at 10,000 costs more than Plus at 15,000 would, so the plan choice moves the bill as much as list growth does.

The calculator also has a 2,500 rung: Starter $39, Plus $95 and Pro $149 a month billed yearly, or $49, $119 and $189 billed monthly. If your list sits anywhere between 1,001 and 2,500 contacts, that rung, not the headline, is your real starting price. One more ceiling to know: the help centre caps Starter at 25,000 contacts.

What per-contact cost looks like

Divide the monthly price by the list size to see what each contact costs. On Plus billed yearly: $49 for 1,000 is about 4.9 cents a contact each month, $145 for 5,000 is 2.9 cents, and $189 for 10,000 is 1.9 cents. Bigger lists are cheaper per head, but you are paying the larger bill every month whether or not those people open anything. That is why a list that has quietly doubled because of sign-up forms can double the invoice without anyone deciding to spend more.

The useful comparison is not "what do I pay per contact" but "what does one customer from this list earn me". A small online course seller who gets $2,000 a month of sales from a 5,000-contact list can carry a $145 bill easily. A shop that has not emailed its 5,000 contacts since last spring cannot.

Three businesses, three plans

These are illustrations with made-up numbers, to show how the choice goes.

A sports club with 1,000 members and supporters. It sends a monthly newsletter and a three-email welcome series to new joiners. Starter at $15 a month ($180 a year) does that. The Starter limits (email only, five actions per automation) are not a problem for a welcome series. The cost of moving to Plus is $34 a month extra, and it would be justified only if the club wanted landing pages or generative AI for newsletter copy.

A coworking space with 5,000 contacts. It has members, day-pass buyers and enquirers. It wants a different follow-up for each group and a text reminder for tour bookings. That needs cross-channel marketing, which starts on Plus, and the SMS add-on on top. At $145 a month yearly ($1,740 a year), plus the SMS add-on whose price the page does not publish, the space must ask sales for the full figure. The same space on Starter at $79 would be cheaper but would be limited to email.

An event venue with 10,000 contacts from past bookings. It runs seasonal campaigns and wants to send each contact at their best time. Predictive sending is a Pro feature, and at 10,000 contacts Pro is $375 a month yearly ($4,500 a year) against $189 for Plus. The extra $186 a month ($2,232 a year) is justified only if the venue has evidence that send time moves bookings; the safest test is a month of Plus first.

Costs that sit outside the plan price

The plan price is not the whole bill. Items to ask about before you commit:

• SMS and WhatsApp. Both are listed as add-ons, with the SMS add-on covering text marketing automation, two-way messaging and AI reply suggestions. The pricing page does not show a dollar figure for either. Ask sales, and ask whether the message costs are separate from the add-on fee.
• Sales CRM extensions. Pipelines, lead scoring and sales engagement (automated one-to-one email, win probability) are add-ons from Plus up. Starter does not offer them.
• Transactional email. Password resets, order confirmations and similar messages are an add-on on every plan.
• Extra AI credits. You get 500 on every plan and can top up. The price of a top-up pack is shown at checkout, not on the page I read.
• Extra email sends. Each plan's monthly sends are capped at a multiple of your contact count. If you mail more often than that allows, ask sales how extra sends are priced before you plan a heavy campaign month.
• Onboarding and migration. The feature table lists priority onboarding on Pro and Enterprise and basic onboarding on Starter and Plus.

A practical way to handle this: send ActiveCampaign sales one email listing the contact count, the plan you want and each add-on, and ask for a total in writing for a 12-month term. A written total is easier to hold the vendor to than a calculator screenshot.

A mistake that doubled one list's bill

Here is how a bill doubles without anyone deciding to spend more, illustrated with a catering company. It had 2,300 contacts and paid at the 2,500 rung. A website pop-up offering a free menu guide was switched on, and within three months the list passed 5,000, with a large share of the new addresses being people who downloaded the guide and never read an email. The bill moved from the 2,500 rung to the 5,000 rung with no decision made. On Plus that is $95 to $145 a month, $600 a year, for readers who had never opened an email.

With auto-upgrade switched on, which ActiveCampaign's help centre recommends, this shows up as a bigger invoice, not an alert. With auto-upgrade off, it shows up worse: once the account reaches its contact limit, email campaigns stop sending and automations skip their "Send an email" steps until you upgrade, even though forms keep adding new contacts. Two checks catch it: look at the contact count in the account at the start of every month, and set a calendar reminder to clear contacts who have not opened or clicked in a long stretch.

Unsubscribed and bounced addresses are part of the count on newer accounts. The help centre says that for accounts created on or after 3 November 2025, every contact counts towards the limit whatever its list status; older accounts may count only active contacts, depending on the plan, and Profile, then Billing & Upgrade, then Your Plan shows which rule applies to you. On a newer account, a list of 5,000 with 600 unsubscribes is billed as 5,000.

A year of list growth, month by month

Static tables hide how the bill behaves while a list grows. Here is an illustration for a catering company that starts the year at 1,000 contacts on Plus billed yearly and adds roughly 350 a month through a quote-request form and event sign-ups. The contact rungs used are the ones in the table above, and the company must pay the rung that covers its count.

The company's spend rises from the $49 headline to $169 a month within a year without any change of plan. Added up, the year costs 4 x $95 + 7 x $145 + $169 = $1,564, against the $588 the "$49" headline suggested. The point of the illustration is not the exact figure, which depends on when each rung is crossed and how a mid-term upgrade is billed, but that the budget has to be a range and not a single price. Build a three-line budget: the price now, the price at double the list, and the price at the list you hope to have in 18 months.

One consequence: a year-long commitment made at 1,000 contacts leaves you exposed if the list grows within the term. Ask sales whether the yearly price is locked per contact rung, or reset when you cross a rung, before you sign for 12 months.

An email to send ActiveCampaign sales

Because the page does not show add-on prices or every rung, a short written request is the quickest route to a firm number. Adapt this one:

Hello,

I am choosing between Plus and Pro for a business with 4,800 marketing contacts, growing by about 300 a month. I plan to pay yearly.

Please send me, in writing:
1. The yearly-billed monthly price for Plus and for Pro at 4,800 contacts, and at the next two contact rungs above that.
2. The monthly-billed price for the same.
3. The price of the SMS add-on and the Pipelines add-on, and whether message costs are separate.
4. The price of a pack of extra AI credits.
5. What happens to my price if my contact count passes a rung during a 12-month term.
6. How unsubscribed and bounced contacts are counted.

Thanks, [your name]

The sixth question matters most if your account was opened before November 2025, when the counting rule changed, because it can move your bill by a rung. Keep the reply with your purchase records.

Ways to keep the bill down

• Clear dead contacts before the renewal date. If you have 5,200 contacts and 800 have not engaged in a year, removing them puts you back at the 5,000 rung. On an account that counts every contact, the unsubscribed and bounced addresses are part of that 5,200 and are the first to go. Back up the list first, because deleted contacts are not easy to recover.
• Use a pop-up with an explicit consent line. A pop-up that collects any address inflates the list. One that asks for consent and a real reason to subscribe collects fewer, better contacts.
• Start on the cheaper plan. Moving up a plan is routine; most buyers can start on Starter or Plus and upgrade when a feature is missing. Moving down mid-term may not be allowed on a yearly commitment, so check.
• Pay yearly once you are sure. The yearly rate saves roughly 17 to 21 percent at the figures shown, so test for a month or two on monthly billing, then switch.
• Do not buy the add-on until the base is working. SMS is easy to bolt on later, and text costs are real. Build one email automation properly before you add another channel.

Starter, Plus or Pro: a scoring sheet

Score each statement 1 if true for your business in the next six months. Add the columns.

If the two top rows are all you ticked, Starter is right and anything bigger is paying for features you will not open. If you ticked several Plus rows and none of the Pro rows, take Plus. Move to Pro only when you can point to a specific Pro feature that earns money. Our tutorial on what Active Intelligence does on each plan goes through the AI tools plan by plan, and the AI brand kit tutorial shows a Plus-and-above feature in use.

Comparing the total against a cheaper tool

ActiveCampaign earns its price when you use its automation depth, such as a branching follow-up that changes with what a contact clicks. If all you send is a monthly newsletter, you are paying for a lot you do not use. Compare against a tool that charges by sends or has a lower rung for the same list before you commit to a year. Our Mailchimp versus ActiveCampaign comparison works the same sums for a service business, and the tutorial on what a small list costs per month sets the figure against other tools.

A quick method: write down the three automations you will run in the first month. Check whether the cheaper tool can run all three. If yes, the extra cost of ActiveCampaign must be justified by something specific, not by the feeling that it is the serious option.

What to settle before you enter card details

1. Count your real contacts, and subtract the ones who have not opened an email in a year if you intend to clear them.
2. Type that figure into the calculator and write down the yearly and monthly prices.
3. List every add-on you want (SMS, WhatsApp, sales CRM extensions, transactional email) and ask sales for the price of each.
4. Choose the cheapest plan whose feature table covers your first three automations.
5. Ask what happens at the next contact tier, and set a reminder to check your count monthly.
6. Decide on yearly or monthly. Yearly saves $48 to $648 a year at 1,000 to 5,000 contacts, but a trial month on monthly billing is a cheap way to test a plan you are unsure about.

The vendor's page is the final word on current prices: activecampaign.com/pricing. If you want to talk through which automations your list really needs before you commit to a tier, that is part of what my AI implementation consultation covers.

ActiveCampaign pricing questions answered

Is there a free ActiveCampaign plan?

The pricing page lists four paid plans (Starter, Plus, Pro and Enterprise) and no permanent free tier; instead there is a 14-day free trial that needs no credit card. It also advertises results in 30 days or your money back. The guarantee page ties the refund to three set-up steps (an AI-built campaign, an automation and a sent campaign), so read its terms before relying on it.

Why is my quote higher than the price on the page?

The headline figure is 'starts at', for 1,000 contacts billed yearly. Your contact count, monthly rather than yearly billing, and any add-ons such as SMS or the sales CRM extensions all raise it. Type your real contact count into the calculator on the pricing page and choose the billing term you will actually use.

Do I need Plus or Pro for AI features?

Every plan lists 500 AI credits and AI-powered automation and campaign builders. Generative AI for content and images starts on Plus. Predictive sending and conditional content start on Pro. Starter keeps the basics, so check the feature table against the exact AI task you want before choosing.

What happens to the price if I delete inactive contacts?

Pricing follows your contact count in steps, so cleaning out dead addresses can drop you a rung. ActiveCampaign's help centre says accounts created on or after 3 November 2025 count every contact, whatever its list status, so unsubscribed and bounced addresses count too. Older accounts may count only active contacts, depending on the plan; Profile, then Billing & Upgrade, then Your Plan shows which applies.

Can I buy extra email sends without changing plan?

Each plan allows a set multiple of your contact count in sends a month: 10 times on Starter and Plus, 12 times on Pro and 15 times on Enterprise. The pricing page shows no price for sends beyond that, so ask sales or check the billing section of your account before you plan a month that would go over it.

Further reads

• Brevo Pricing: How Daily Sending Limits and Contacts Are Charged — A cheaper tool that charges by sends, for contrast.
• AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.

Sources: ActiveCampaign pricing page, its plan features and the figures its contact calculator returns at 1,000, 2,500, 5,000, 7,500 and 10,000 contacts (read November 2026); ActiveCampaign's money-back guarantee page; ActiveCampaign help centre articles on which contacts count towards the limit and on what happens when you reach it.