ActiveCampaign

My Moosend vs ActiveCampaign Experience

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Par Ewen Finser

Last Updated on octobre 28, 2024 by Ewen Finser

If you are trying to figure out if Moosend or ActiveCampaign is right for your specific business, you are in the right spot. I’ve been in this same position!

I’m constantly evaluating which email marketing suite is best for my various business lines – from blogs, to ecommerce, digital products, and newsletters.

Moosend first came on my radar a couple years ago, so I was eager to give it a run through compared to my “go-to” ActiveCampaign platform. This is likely where most of you sit. ActiveCampaign is a relatively known quantity, whereas Moosend may seem like a strange newcomer.

In this comparison, I’ll walk you though my specific experiences with each platform as I ran them through the paces for a couple of my businesses.

First, I’ll get started with a high level evaluation of the main DIFFERENCES, as I’ve found this helps set the stage and get to the point a lot quicker!

The Main Differences I See Between ActiveCampaign and Moosend

Here’s how it shakes out in my view:

  • Moosend has a much more streamlined pricing schedule, whereas ActiveCampaign is fairly complicated with multiple tiers within multiple modules.
  • ActiveCampaign suites a broader array of business use cases, whereas Moosend is more solidly positioned for transactional commerce and newsletters.
  • ActiveCampaign has more CRM-like features, whereas Moosend is a more traditional email marketing platform.
  • Moosend is a bit easier for beginner email marketers to get a handle on, whereas ActiveCampaign excels with their advanced automations and decision logic.
  • Moosend offers a 30 day fully featured (minus transactional emails) essai gratuit, whereas ActiveCampaign offers a more limited feature Essai gratuit de 14 jours.

So What is ActiveCampaign in a Nutshell?

ActiveCampaign has been on my radar forever. Almost since I got started online back in 2013. It was one of the FIRST email marketing platforms that offered true end-to-end automation (this is what got me hooked). You could build an entire business funnel in an email builder!

Since then, ActiveCampaign has evolved to include all sorts of additional features including CRM-like qualities, engagement solutions and transactional emails.

Today, AC is much closer to a Hubspot in many ways, but still can be used as a basic email marketing platform for a competitive price.

Moosend in a Nutshell

Moosend is a much more streamlined platform overall, targeted at businesses in need of a solid email marketing automation platform without getting overly bogged down in advanced features or use cases.

As such, Moosend’s primary attraction relative to heavyweights like ActiveCampaign is affordability and simplicity.

As a side note, Moosend is owned by Sitecore, a “digital experience company” with a Hubspot-like suite of marketing and digital ops solutions.

Features I Like with ActiveCampaign

These are some of the standout features I love about ActiveCampaign. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of features (you can check out their site for that), but more so the capabilities that stood out for me.

  • Advanced Automations: ActiveCampaign was one of the pioneers for true marketing automation, back when Aweber and Constant Contact were basically supped up email newsletter builders. Today, ActiveCampaign has a lot of company in it’s class, but still stands out for the ability to create customized funnels with triggers based on all sorts of obvious and discrete user behavior and information.
  • Data Collection: ActiveCampaign provides some robust data analytics and user profile information (partly to service their advanced automation triggers). You won’t get the same level of data with Moosend, for example.
  • Sales Friendly: ActiveCampaign rivals a true sales CRM without the same cost profile, making it an ideal solution for email-heavy sales cycles and teams. These are now available as add-ons (CRM and Sales Engagement) to most of the core tiered plans.
  • Something for Everyone: It’s a bit overwhelming, I’ll admit, but I do love how evolved ActiveCampaign is for almost every marketing and sending use case. You’ll have to mix and match a bit, but there’s always a fit for your specific requirements. Because ActiveCampaign also services all SIZED businesses with different pricing plans, you’ll likely have a better fit at each growth tier as you go.

Features I like with Moosend

Similarly, here’s what I found refreshingly different about Moosend:

  • Straightforward Pricing: Moosend stands out with their fairly simple pricing structure (more on this below in the next section). As of this writing, you can sign up for their base paid plan for just $5.60/month (up to 500 subs), which is a pretty good “cost per sub” rate.
  • Facile à mettre en œuvre: Moosend is a bit more appealing for those looking to get started quickly, without being particularly knowledgeable about email marketing.
  • Very Solid Basic Plan: As I mentioned a bit above, Moosend has one of the best values out there in terms of cost per sub for a fully automated email marketing suite. Most platforms either skimp on features or start at higher price points (for fully functional email marketing automation).
  • Great Email Signup Forms: This is actually my low-key favorite strong point about Moosend. They have some sneaky good pop-up forms, all organized in a highly usable manner. You can select from different modals and it honestly feels like you are getting a SumoMe or HelloBar functionality with your ESP.

Comparaison des plans tarifaires

Moosend is clearly the budget competitor compared to Moosend.

Most users fit under the Pro plan which – as I mentioned before – is a great value for all of the automations they pack into it.

This plan escalates based on the number of subscribers (no complicated “sends” AND “subs” tiers like others).

Il y a aussi a Moosend+ plan which seems best suited for transactional or ecommerce brands, but you have run through a custom quote request process. I’m personally not a fan of this. Generally if you have to request a quote, you’ll probably be overpaying or at least in line for a longer negotiation process.

En revanche, Tarifs d'ActiveCampaign is a veritable “choose your own adventure”, with pricing schemes for a wide range of business types and use cases.

ActiveCamapign also has dedicated add-ons that significantly enhance the platform into a broader sales enablement and CRM, if needed:

My Take on the Pricing Plans Compared: Moosend clearly is billed towards the budget category and has a fairly competent automation builder at just $7.50/month for the most basic (up to 500 subs) tier.

At the upper tiers, Moosend doesn’t even try to compete with ActiveCampaign and can’t really offer an answer for the sales / CRM and general feature depth.

BUT, ActiveCampaign isn’t really that much more expensive, even in the strict budget driven analysis. Their most basic plan starts at $15/month but for up to 1,000 subs.

Unless you clearly won’t need (or ever need) ActiveCampaign’s more advanced features, I’m personally probably not bothering with Moosend’s early (and slight) savings, unless I’m just starting my list from 0 OR running a fairly basic email strategy.

Comparaison des intégrations

ActiveCampaign absolutely dominates when it comes to third party integration partners. As one of the first email automation platforms with mass appeal, virtually every platform has an ActiveCampaign integration.

I specifically like how they have useful filters by use cases and “compatible features” (basically how and what specifically syncs between platforms).

For example, the Slack integration has these helpful filters to not only identify which platforms integrate, but HOW you can maximize their utility with ActiveCampaign:

Moosend, on the other hand, doesn’t have the same time in market or user adoption, so they are a bit more limited. That said, I was impressed by how many they did have, given their market position relative to ActiveCampaign:

As you can see here, Moosend has enough top tier integrations to include broad sub-categories. I was surprised at some of the more obscure integrations they supported (e.g. I can’t say I’ve heard or used any of the three displayed in the image above).

Moosend & ActiveCampaign Alternatives to Consider

I’m a big believer in placing these types of decisions in the full context of their competitive environment. These are some other email marketing systems I’d consider in a similar breath:

  • Mailerlite: Mailerlite is one of my fav budget-friendly alternatives. It has a good general applicability and a strong presence in almost every time of digital marketing strategy from transactional to newsletters. They also have an excellent free tier up to 1000 subs, making them kind of a better alternative to Moosend if you are actually trying to validate the email marketing thesis still (without spending ANY money).
  • Klaviyo: Klaviyo is an ecommerce marketers dream. Specifically if you have a Shopify store, I’d almost always recommend at least considering Klaviyo. They have best in class pre-built sequences for ecom (meaning instant revenue drivers) and are laser focused on the ecommerce use case, better than Moosend or even ActiveCampaign in many situations.
  • Omnisend: Omnisend is very similar to Klaviyo, but sometimes a bit cheaper. Worth considering for ecommerce based businesses.
  • Brevo (formerly Sendinblue): Brevo is a great platform, but I love their “pay per sends” model, which is in stark contrast to both AC and Moosend (and many other email marketing platforms). This can be a more affordable way to scale email marketing if you have seasonal, infrequent, or just unknown email sending cadences.
  • Kit (formerly ConvertKit): For bloggers, creators, storytellers, and newsletter-first writers, Kit is one of the most approachable and capable suite for you. A bit more specialized to these use cases compared to AC and Moosend and worth considering if these are the genres you play in.

Who is Best for Moosend?

I think Moosend is really a good option for 2 specific use cases:

  • SMBs looking for ease of implementation: Moosend keeps things simple and there’s something to be said for that. Easy to implement, straightforward pricing and a good generalist automation suite. If this sounds like you, go with Moosend.
  • Form building value play: If you struggle with the form building (opt-in) side of email marketing, or just want to fiddle around with third-party integrations (or costs!), Moosend is a breath of fresh air. If this is a big pain point for you, stick with Moosend.

Who is Best for ActiveCampaign?

Objectively, ActiveCampaign is just a more capable overall platform. It’s one of my stalwarts that I still use to this day for more advanced automation use cases, but the truth is it’s useful (and customizable) for pretty much everyone.

  • Advanced Automations: If you love the idea of automations and are fairly confident that this is where you can unlock the most value, ActiveCampaign is the market leader in terms of automation capabilities, data collection, and customization. If this sounds like you, aller avec ActiveCampaign.
  • Sales Based Organizations: If your sales team or sales function is an important part of your business, ActiveCampaign really has made incredible strides in this department. They basically have a full on CRM, encroaching on Hubspot and even Salesforce’s turf. If this is how you lean, stick with ActiveCampaign.
  • Business Where Email Already Drives Sales: Put simply, if email marketing is clearly important to your business already (e.g. it’s not a net new initiative or experiment), ActiveCampaign is plainly the better platform and is more likely to drive more value in the near and long term.

My bottom line: Unless you specifically resonate with Moosend’s use cases, I’d generally recommend ActiveCampaign over Moosend in most cases.

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