Head to head / ActiveCampaign
Checked on October 13, 2026
Mailburger vs ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation platform for small and mid-sized businesses, now pitched as an autonomous marketing platform with AI agents across email, SMS and WhatsApp. Mailburger is a focused email marketing tool with automations, A/B tests and a REST API from €5 a month, priced on subscribed contacts, with a free plan.
The bill
Side by side, at your list size
Mailburger kitchen · ticket #0001
Mailburger
Pro plan
- Contacts included
- 50,000
- Emails a month
- 500,000
- Automations
- Included
- A/B tests
- Included
- Signup forms
- Included
- Team members
- Unlimited
- Single sign-on (SAML)
- Included
- REST API
- Included
Total€20/ month
For comparison
ActiveCampaign
Starter 10,000
- Contacts included
- 10,000
- Emails a month
- 100,000
- Automations
- 5 actions each, email only
- A/B tests
- Included
- Signup forms
- Standard and inline only
- Team members
- 1 (+1 paid)
- Single sign-on (SAML)
- Not included
- REST API
- Included
Total$189/ month
Plus, with unlimited automation actions, is $239.
Prices in each vendor's own currency, monthly billing, from their public pricing pages on October 13, 2026. Taxes not included.
Where Mailburger wins
- A free plan; ActiveCampaign offers a 14-day trial with 100 sends
- Unsubscribed and bounced contacts never count toward your plan
- 3 team members on Grow and unlimited on Pro; ActiveCampaign includes 1 to 5 seats
- SAML single sign-on on Pro at €20; ActiveCampaign has it on Enterprise only
Where ActiveCampaign wins
- 950+ automation recipes, with split testing inside automations on Pro and up
- SMS, WhatsApp, CRM and transactional email as add-ons from one vendor
- Data centres in the US, the EU and Australia
- Landing pages and site messages from Plus
Watch out for
- Accounts created since 3 November 2025 pay for unsubscribed, bounced and unconfirmed contacts
- Sends over the cap cost $0.005 each, and sending stops if overage reaches 3x your limit
- The pricing page shows annual prices; monthly billing for Starter at 10,000 contacts is $189, not $149
- The pricing page promises a 30-day money-back guarantee, but the help centre refund policy says no refunds
Switching
Moving from ActiveCampaign, step by step
Most of an ActiveCampaign account lives in its automations, so list them before you start.
1. Export your contacts
Export your ActiveCampaign contacts as a CSV, including the custom fields and tags you use. Export each list you send to separately if you want to keep them apart. Leave unsubscribed and bounced contacts out of the import.
2. Recreate lists and custom fields
Create your custom fields under Audience → Custom fields, then create an audience for each list and import each CSV into it. ActiveCampaign tags carry over as tags: map the tag column during the import.
3. Translate personalisation tags
ActiveCampaign uses personalisation tags such as %FIRSTNAME%, and %YOUR_FIELD% for custom fields. Here they become {{first_name}}, with a fallback such as {{first_name|there}}, and {{custom.your_field}}. See merge tags.
4. Rebuild your automations
Recreate the segments your automations rely on, then rebuild each one in automations. Start from a recipe or describe the flow to Create with AI, then check every step. Triggers include subscribing, a tag added or removed, a form submission, a date field, a field change and a custom event from the API. Steps include delays, if/else branches, random splits, waits for an open or click, goals, tags, field updates and webhooks.
5. Connect your systems
If contacts reach ActiveCampaign from your website, app or CRM, point those integrations at our REST API. POST /api/v1/contacts upserts by email, so you can send every signup without checking first. If you used ActiveCampaign's transactional add-on, keep an API provider for that mail.
6. Verify your domain and warm up
Verify your sending domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC records, then send to your most engaged contacts first and grow volume gradually. Our guide on warming up a domain explains how.
Questions
Asked at the counter
Is Mailburger a cheaper alternative to ActiveCampaign?
At 10,000 contacts ActiveCampaign Starter is $189 a month on monthly billing ($149 a month billed annually) and Plus is $239. Mailburger Pro covers up to 50,000 contacts and 500,000 emails for €20 a month, billed monthly.
Does ActiveCampaign have a free plan?
No. There is a 14-day trial with no card needed, 1 user and only 100 email sends. Mailburger has a free plan with 500 contacts and 2,500 emails a month.
Do unsubscribed contacts count on ActiveCampaign?
For accounts created on or after 3 November 2025, yes: all contacts count, including unsubscribed, bounced and unconfirmed ones. Older accounts count active contacts only. On Mailburger unsubscribed and bounced contacts never count.
Does ActiveCampaign include transactional email?
Only as a paid add-on powered by Postmark, from $15 a month for 10,000 emails. Mailburger does not send app email, so keep an API provider for receipts and password resets.
Does Mailburger have automation recipes?
Yes. Mailburger has automation recipes and Create with AI, with triggers such as tags, form submissions, date fields, segment entry and custom events from the API, and steps such as if/else branches, random splits and goals.
How do I move from ActiveCampaign to Mailburger?
Export your contacts as CSV, recreate your custom fields, import each list into an audience, swap personalisation tags such as %FIRSTNAME% for {{first_name}} and rebuild your automations. The step-by-step guide is on this page.
Sources
Your first campaign is on the house.
Start free with up to 500 contacts.