Pricing guide
Comparison
ActiveCampaign vs Drip in 2026: Official Pricing and Plan Limits
Official USD prices and published limits for ActiveCampaign and Drip, checked on November 14, 2026, including Drip's official starting card at 1–2,500 people and what we could not record at larger list sizes.
On this page
The short answer
ActiveCampaign and Drip both sell people- or contact-based email plans in USD, but they do not publish the same product framing, the same plan ladder, or the same official starting package.
Prices checked on November 14, 2026 (America/Denver):
- ActiveCampaign published four plans — Starter, Plus, Pro, and Enterprise — with a 1,000-contact minimum and no free plan on the official pricing page. At 1,000 contacts, official USD rates were $19 / $59 / $99 / $179 a month, or $15 / $49 / $79 / $145 a month billed yearly. At 2,500 contacts, official rates were $49 / $119 / $189 / $319 month-to-month, or $39 / $95 / $149 / $255 yearly-billed. Official send caps are 10× the contact limit on Starter and Plus, 12× on Pro, and 15× on Enterprise. A 14-day trial with email sign-up (no credit card needed) and “Guaranteed results in 30 days or your money back” were advertised. The full ladder is in our ActiveCampaign pricing guide.
- Drip published a starting official card of $39 for 1–2,500 people, with official inclusions that list unlimited email sends, a Drip MCP connection, chat and email support, dynamic segments, onsite campaigns, up to 50 workflows, unlimited sub-accounts, open API access, free migration, and personalized onboarding. Official page copy says you “pay for your list size,” and that “all of this is included, at every list size.” Official FAQ copy also says: “Your cost is based on the number of active people in your account and the volume of emails you send during the month.” We recorded that FAQ line alongside the card's “unlimited email sends” bullet; we are not reconciling the two. Official trial FAQ: the trial does not require a credit card; unlimited emails are not available during the free trial; after 14 days you are prompted to upgrade to a paid plan. Official FAQ also says Drip is built specifically for ecommerce, though an ecommerce store is not required.
A direct request to drip.com/pricing from this environment returned HTTP 403; the figures above come from a successful fetch of that same official URL. We did not record official Drip dollar amounts at list sizes above 2,500 people, so those cells stay blank.
This is a dated comparison of published rate cards, not a hands-on ranking and not a coupon page. We are not reprinting vendor testimonials from Drip's pricing page.
See ActiveCampaign's official plans
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How we researched this comparison
On November 14, 2026, we recorded ActiveCampaign prices from activecampaign.com/pricing and from https://www.activecampaign.com/marketing/api/v1/pricing-catalog?c=ac2024¤cy=USD. Plan names, the 1,000-contact default, send multiples, seat counts, the 14-day trial, and the 30-day money-back line come from that public page.
We recorded Drip's official starting price, included-feature list, trial terms, and FAQ pricing language from drip.com/pricing. We did not invent prices at larger Drip list sizes, a yearly Drip rate, or a feature-by-feature bake-off.
All dollar amounts below are USD.
Official entry points, side by side
| Item | ActiveCampaign (official, 14 Nov 2026) | Drip (official, 14 Nov 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Product framing on the pricing page | Four marketing plans priced on contacts | Ecommerce marketing software; official FAQ says it is built specifically for ecommerce, though a store is not required |
| Free plan | None on the pricing page we checked | No official free plan recorded on the pricing card we used; official 14-day trial (no credit card), with unlimited emails not available during the trial |
| Paid plan structure | Starter, Plus, Pro, Enterprise | Official copy: pay for list size; one included-feature set “at every list size” on the page we recorded. We recorded one official dollar card: $39 for 1–2,500 people |
| Starting paid price | Starter $19/month, or $15/month billed yearly, at 1,000 contacts | $39 for 1–2,500 people, as displayed on the official card |
| Send limits | 10× / 12× / 15× the contact limit by plan | Official card: unlimited email sends. Official FAQ also states cost is based on active people and the volume of emails sent in the month. Confirm live terms |
| Workflows / automations on the starting card | Official Starter: five automation actions | Official starting card: up to 50 workflows |
| Trial | 14-day free trial, no credit card needed, as advertised | Official FAQ: 14-day trial, no credit card; unlimited emails not available during the trial; after 14 days you are prompted to upgrade |
| Money-back guarantee | “Guaranteed results in 30 days or your money back,” as advertised | We did not record an equivalent 30-day money-back claim on the Drip pricing page we fetched |
| Prices at larger lists | Official contact ladder published in the USD catalog | Not recorded from the official page snapshot we obtained. We are not inventing those rows |
Official USD prices, without inventing missing Drip rows
Drip's official starting card covers 1–2,500 people at $39. ActiveCampaign has official rows at 1,000 and 2,500 contacts, and no official paid row below 1,000. The table respects those published steps.
| Published step | AC Starter | AC Plus | AC Pro | Drip official card (14 Nov 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Below 1,000 contacts | No official AC paid tier | No official AC paid tier | No official AC paid tier | Official starting card includes 1–2,500 people at $39 |
| 1,000 contacts | $19 ($15 yearly-billed) | $59 ($49) | $99 ($79) | Same official $39 card (1–2,500 people), with the inclusions listed above |
| 2,500 contacts / 2,500 people | $49 ($39) | $119 ($95) | $189 ($149) | Same official $39 card (upper end of the 1–2,500 band) |
| 5,000 contacts | $99 ($79) | $179 ($145) | $259 ($205) | No official Drip dollar amount recorded at this step |
| 10,000 contacts | $189 ($149) | $239 ($189) | $469 ($375) | No official Drip dollar amount recorded at this step |
Official ActiveCampaign Enterprise month-to-month rates at 1,000 and 2,500 contacts were $179 and $319 (yearly-billed equivalents $145 and $255).
How to use the table without forcing a false tie:
- At 1,000 contacts, official ActiveCampaign Starter ($19 month-to-month, or $15 yearly-billed) is lower than official Drip's $39 starting card. Official Starter is also a tighter published package (email only, five automation actions, a 10× send cap). Official Drip's starting card lists unlimited email sends, up to 50 workflows, and ecommerce-oriented inclusions such as onsite campaigns. Price alone is not a feature match.
- At 2,500 people, official Drip remains $39 on the card we recorded. Official ActiveCampaign Starter is $49 month-to-month or $39 yearly-billed — the yearly-billed Starter equivalent meets $39, still with official Starter limits. Official Plus at this size is $119 month-to-month or $95 yearly-billed, and it is the first AC plan whose published grid includes landing pages, generative AI, and CRM/SMS add-ons.
- Above 2,500 people, we have official ActiveCampaign catalog prices and no official Drip dollar amounts from the snapshot we obtained. Do not interpolate a Drip price.
What each official grid actually contrasts
ActiveCampaign Starter is officially email only at the published grid, with five automation actions, five lists, 15 business goals, one included seat (maximum two), a 25,000-contact cap, and a 10× send cap. Official Plus is the first plan whose published grid includes landing pages and site messages, generative AI, cross-channel marketing, and access to CRM and SMS add-ons. Official Pro adds predictive sending, conditional content, advanced segmentation, 3 included seats, and a 12× send cap.
Drip's official starting card lists unlimited email sends, a Drip MCP connection, chat and email support, dynamic segments, onsite campaigns, up to 50 workflows, unlimited sub-accounts, open API access, free migration, and personalized onboarding. Official page copy also lists multi-channel marketing (email, social, and onsite popups), playbooks such as welcome, abandoned cart, and win-back, and one-click integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and others — as published on that page. Those are vendor-published inclusions, not a hands-on ranking.
Official Drip FAQ: an ecommerce store is not required, but the product is built specifically for ecommerce. Official ActiveCampaign is a broader mid-market email, automation, and CRM ladder; it is not an official replacement for every ecommerce-first workflow Drip lists, and Drip is not an official replacement for ActiveCampaign's Plus/Pro CRM add-on grid.
Who official ActiveCampaign still fits
Official ActiveCampaign is a reasonable published fit if you are already at or above 1,000 contacts, you can accept no official free plan, and you will actually use official Plus or Pro inclusions — or you want the official contact-tier ladder at list sizes where we could not record a Drip dollar amount.
It is also the quote to compare when you want ActiveCampaign's advertised 14-day trial (with the vendor's advertised send access during that trial — confirm live terms) and 30-day money-back line. Official Drip's trial, on the FAQ we recorded, does not include unlimited emails.
Who should look at official Drip instead
Look at official Drip when a published limit is the reason:
- You want the official $39 starting card for 1–2,500 people, including the official “up to 50 workflows” and “unlimited email sends” bullets on that card (confirm the FAQ line about email volume and live terms).
- You want an official ecommerce-first package, including official playbooks and store integrations listed on Drip's pricing page, rather than ActiveCampaign's four-plan contact ladder.
- You are comparing official Drip trial terms (14 days, no credit card, unlimited emails not available during the trial) as their own offer, not as a match for ActiveCampaign's advertised trial.
If official Drip's starting card already covers you, paying for ActiveCampaign Plus is a choice, not a default. Ecommerce context on this site is in email marketing for ecommerce and ActiveCampaign vs Klaviyo.
FAQ
Is ActiveCampaign cheaper than Drip?
At 1,000 contacts, official ActiveCampaign Starter ($19, or $15 yearly-billed) is lower than official Drip's $39 starting card, with a tighter official Starter grid. At 2,500 people, official yearly-billed Starter ($39) meets official Drip's $39 card on price, still with different official inclusions and send rules. Official Plus is higher. We do not have official Drip prices above 2,500 people. Compare the official row you would actually buy.
Does Drip have a free plan?
We did not record an official free plan on the pricing card we used. Official FAQ copy describes a 14-day trial that does not require a credit card, and it says unlimited emails are not available during that trial.
Did you test both tools hands-on?
No. This is a dated comparison of official pricing pages and catalogs. We do not invent testimonials, star ratings, or long-term test claims, and we are not reprinting testimonials that appear on Drip's pricing page.
Sources and method
Checked November 14, 2026 (America/Denver):
- ActiveCampaign official pricing and official USD catalog
https://www.activecampaign.com/marketing/api/v1/pricing-catalog?c=ac2024¤cy=USD - Drip official pricing (a direct unauthenticated request from this environment returned HTTP 403; figures come from a successful fetch of the same official URL)
Related: ActiveCampaign pricing, email marketing for ecommerce, ActiveCampaign vs Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign alternatives, ActiveCampaign vs GetResponse.
If a later official change conflicts with this snapshot, the official page wins.