When it comes to choosing the right email marketing platform, ActiveCampaign vs Kit is a debate that many businesses face. Both platforms offer powerful features, but depending on your goals—whether you’re focused on automation, ease of use, or growing a subscriber list—one might be better suited for you.
Interestingly, in 2024, email marketing continues to show strong ROI, with studies reporting an average return of $36 for every $1 spent, so choosing the right tool matters more than ever.
In this article, we’ll break down the key features, strengths, and weaknesses of both email marketing platforms to help you decide which one is the best fit for your specific marketing needs.
ActiveCampaign vs Kit: A Quick Overview
ActiveCampaign and Kit are both great tools for email marketing, but they cater to different audiences.
Known for its top-notch automation, intuitive CRM, and flexible options for customizing campaigns, ActiveCampaign is a powerful email marketing tool. It’s perfect for businesses looking to create detailed marketing workflows and guide customers through different stages of their journey. Additionally, ActiveCampaign offers great features for organizing contact lists, tracking analytics, and automating sales processes—helping companies go beyond just sending emails.
Kit, on the other hand, targets creators like bloggers, YouTubers, and podcasters. It offers easy-to-use features with simple automation and audience management tools, making it great for those who want to build email lists and manage contacts without feeling overwhelmed by too many options. Moreover, Kit offers a free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers with basic features, so even if it’s not your cup of tea, you won’t lose any money giving it a try.
| Feature | ActiveCampaign | Kit |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | Less intuitive but offers powerful tools | More user-friendly and straightforward |
| Automation | Advanced automation features with detailed workflows | Basic automation features |
| Integration Options | Wide range of integrations available (850+ apps) | Limited integrations (100+ apps) |
| Pricing | Paid plans start at $15/month for 1,000 subscribers | Free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers; paid plans from $25/month for 1,000 subscribers |
| CRM | Yes | No |
| Customer Support | 24/7 email support | 24/7 email support |
| Analytics | Detailed reporting and analytics | Basic reporting features |
| Target Audience | Ideal for businesses needing complex customer journeys | Tailored for creators like bloggers and podcasters |
ActiveCampaign vs Kit: Which Platform Reigns Supreme?
Ease of use
ActiveCampaign offers many advanced features, but beginners might find its interface a bit tricky to navigate at first. While it gives you a lot of control over design and customization, the automation builder is quite complex. However, as you get used to it, the platform becomes easier to understand. Overall, it takes a bit more time to fully learn ActiveCampaign compared to Kit.
In comparison, one of the main advantages of Kit is its simple interface. It features a user-friendly layout that makes it easy to navigate, even with many options available. Whether you’re creating email campaigns, setting up automation, or managing your subscribers, everything is very easy and simple to use.
Editor
Both platforms allow users to create email sequences using a drag-and-drop editor. They also have a variety of email templates with customization options, and even a landing page builder.
ActiveCampaign stands out with its extensive selection of over 250 email templates designed for various businesses and their needs. In contrast, Kit keeps it simple with only 15 templates.
While both platforms feature beautifully designed templates, ActiveCampaign’s library is much more comprehensive, giving users a wider range of options to choose from.
Automation
There are hardly any email marketing platforms that can compete with ActiveCampaign’s automation capabilities. You can set up almost any automation you need with its powerful builder. For example, you can create triggered campaigns that automatically send based on user actions, set up automated follow-ups for sales prospects, dynamically segment your audience, and adjust your email content based on user behavior.
On the other hand, Kit is again all about user-friendliness. They built the automation features with simplicity in mind, catering to beginners. Kit uses a simple visual builder that lets you set up basic email sequences and funnels quickly. However, as your needs grow, you might find yourself wanting more complex automation tools.
Pricing of ActiveCampaign vs Kit
ActiveCampaign, unfortunately, doesn’t offer a free plan, but you can enjoy a 14-day trial to test its features. There are four paid plans: Starter, Plus, Pro, and Enterprise, depending on how many advanced features your business needs. The platform is scalable, making it a good fit even for larger companies.
The most affordable option is the Starter plan at $15 per month for up to 1,000 contacts. For the same number of contacts, the Plus plan costs $49, the Pro plan costs $79, and the Enterprise plan costs $145. Additional CRM add-ons are available for purchase, and pricing increases based on the number of contacts. For example, if you have 10,000 contacts, the Starter plan will cost $149.
Kit’s appeal begins with its free plan, but this comes with significant limitations. For instance, you can only have 1 visual automation, 1 email sequence, and 1 user. There are also two paid plans: Creator and Creator Pro. For 1,000 contacts, the Creator plan costs $25, while Creator Pro is $50. For 10,000 contacts, the Creator plan costs $100.
The Creator plan removes Kit branding and provides unlimited automations and sequences, whereas Creator Pro adds enhanced analytics and a few advanced features. Still, the scalability and features pale in comparison to ActiveCampaign.
Email Deliverability
Email marketing platforms making bold claims about their email deliverability rates is nothing new. After all, paper (or marketing) can handle just about anything. But are those claims, like “99% of emails delivered,” really grounded in truth?
When comparing ActiveCampaign vs. Kit, EmailToolTester found in June 2023 that Kit had a deliverability rate of 91.3%, while ActiveCampaign had a rate of 93.1%. A newer test conducted in January 2024 concluded that Kit could not be tested, so the results for Kit are missing. However, ActiveCampaign achieved an even higher deliverability rate of 94.2%, which is the highest among all email marketing platforms!
Note: A good deliverability rate for emails is at least 85% or higher.
Support
As mentioned earlier in the quick overview, both platforms claim to offer 24/7 email support and quick responses. Additionally, they provide guides and tutorials on their websites. However, ActiveCampaign has a much larger collection of these materials due to its more complex and advanced features.
Trustpilot reviews show mixed results. While it’s more likely that those who had negative experiences share their feedback more eagerly, Kit has a rating of 2.8 out of 5, whereas ActiveCampaign scores 3.3 out of 5, which is a lot higher.
ActiveCampaign vs Kit: Final Verdict
The right choice between ActiveCampaign and Kit ultimately depends on what you’re after. For instance, if you’re a very small business or an influencer, you might not require the complexity that ActiveCampaign offers. In case you’re an influencer, you might even benefit more from Kit’s cross-promotion features.
However, for those seeking scalability, seamless integrations, rich templates, powerful automation, higher deliverability, or even CRM capabilities, ActiveCampaign stands out as the clear winner in all categories, with pricing differences that aren’t too drastic.
Share this post with your friends
Ross Jenkins
Ross Jenkins is the founder of DigitalME and is an ActiveCampaign Certified Consultant. He is ranked #1 on UpWork for his proficiency in digital marketing. DigitalME offers targeted digital solutions and is perfect for anyone who wants to increase leads, sales, and productivity through automation.