ActiveCampaign vs SugarCRM
Written by Marcus Taylor - CEO
Updated 12/02/2026
5 minute read
Who is this software for?
ActiveCampaign is suitable for businesses of all sizes looking for a powerful, easy-to-use marketing automation platform that's reasonably priced.
Pros
- Easy to build powerful automated workflows with visual builder
- Very affordable starting at just $15/month with no setup fees
- Active Intelligence (AI features) including predictive sending and content
- 900+ integrations with native and third-party apps
- A/B testing automation sequences & campaigns
Cons
- Limited dashboard customization options
- The CRM isn't ideal for large sales teams or complex use cases
- SMS marketing requires separate credit purchases
Screenshots
Pricing
Ratings
Features
Lead scoring Lead segmentation Web activity tracking SMS marketing Personalize web content Predictive analytics Bi-directional CRM syncing Event management 
Create invoices Create quotes Split testing Create membership sites Bulk social media posting Sales reports Real-time sales alerts Mobile app Social CRM Integrations
Outlook integration Gmail integration Salesforce integration SugarCRM integration Microsoft Dynamics integration Zapier integration Alternatives
About ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is one of the most user friendly all-in-one marketing platforms for small to mid sized businesses. ActiveCampaign combines email marketing, marketing automation and sales CRM software in a simple to use visual platform to help businesses like yours acquire, retain and engage your customers. Featuring Active Intelligence (AI-powered features including predictive sending, predictive content, and win probability scoring), ActiveCampaign helps you save time and grow your business. Their visual campaign builder lets you easily create automated marketing campaigns and send out targeted emails to your potential customers based on their personal interactions with your business and their integrated CRM lets you keep track of your leads and close more deals to grow your business. ActiveCampaign integrates with over 900 apps and services. From accounting to CMS and analytics applications, all the way to services that are focused on sales, support and lead generation. Visit their website and try out their platform for free to find out if ActiveCampaign is the right solution to help grow your business.
Who is this software for?
SugarCRM is ideal for freelancers, small to mid sized businesses, large enterprises, non profit organisations and public administrations
Pros
- Ability to quickly scale to suit any sized business
- Ability to self host and keep data on your own servers
- Ability to customize the platform to suit any business
Cons
- Limited functionality of reporting dashboard makes creating custom reports time consuming
- Minimum 1 year commitment required
- Customizing it to suit your needs can be time consuming and expensive
Screenshots
Pricing
Ratings
Features
Lead scoring Lead segmentation Web activity tracking SMS marketing Personalize web content Predictive analytics Bi-directional CRM syncing Event management Create invoices Create quotes Split testing Create membership sites Bulk social media posting Sales reports Real-time sales alerts Mobile app Social CRM Integrations
Outlook integration Gmail integration Salesforce integration SugarCRM integration Microsoft Dynamics integration Zapier integration Alternatives
About SugarCRM
While the company's brand of "Commercial Open Source" sounds a bit like an oxymoron, SugarCRM's business model pursues a symbiotic relationship between maintaining a viable company and delivering customer benefits attributable to open source software solutions. SugarCRM has a two-tiered business model the company gives away the basic open source customer relationship management software application, and sells four progressively richer commercial versions which include proprietary code and more advanced feature sets such as integration to Microsoft Outlook, support for MS SQL or Oracle databases, disconnected mobile support, customer self service, reporting and system integration capabilities for companies wanting to achieve full CRM software potential.
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