5 Best email marketing automation tools for Small Business

Best for Small Business

With over 150,000 customers, it’s not surprising that ActiveCampaign was the most commonly mentioned tool in our survey of email markering software options for 2023.

ActiveCampaign has earned its reputation as a leading marketing automation tool by focusing on building a world-class product that provides multiple solutions for B2C, B2B, and e-commerce businesses from around the globe.

ActiveCampaign’s automation builder is as simple to use as a flowchart or mindmap

It’s by far the most advanced email marketing platform on our list, with Active Intelligence (AI-powered features) and predictive tools enabling marketers to work smarter and deliver higher ROI.

Often credited with pioneering visual marketing automation, ActiveCampaign is impressively intuitive and easier to use than some tools on our list.

As an all-in-one marketing tool, ActiveCampaign comes with a built-in CRM system to manage your sales, live chat, and of course, email campaigns.

A built-in sales CRM connects with ActiveCampaign’s powerful automation engine

As an all-in-one marketing tool, ActiveCampaign comes with a built-in CRM system to manage your sales, live chat, and of course, email campaigns.

ActiveCampaign’s Pricing

You might think all these features come at a hefty cost. Yet, starting at only $15 a month, ActiveCampaign is reasonably priced and more affordable than many of the tools on this list.

ActiveCampaign’s Pros

• Visual automation builder

  ActiveCampaign pioneered the visual marketing automation builder, making it incredibly intuitive to create complex workflows. With 135+ triggers and actions, you can build sophisticated automations without any coding.

• Active Intelligence (AI features)

  The Pro plan includes AI-powered features like predictive sending, predictive content recommendations, and win-probability scoring to help you work smarter and achieve better results with less manual effort.

• Extensive integrations

  With 900+ integrations including native connections to major CRMs and eCommerce platforms, ActiveCampaign plays nicely with your existing tech stack and enables deep, robust integrations beyond basic Zapier connections.

• Automation split testing

  This feature enables you to A/B test entire sequences against each other, rather than just test individual emails (which is offered by most marketing automation tools).

ActiveCampaign’s Pros

• CRM

  ActiveCampaign’s marketing automation is particularly powerful because ActiveCampaign has an in-built CRM system. This CRM, however, is not as good as standalone platforms like PipeDrive or Salesforce – though we feel this is a reasonable trade-off for ActiveCampaign’s automation features.

ActiveCampaign Verdict

If you’re looking for a market-leading email marketing solution, there’s no denying that ActiveCampaign has long occupied that position.

Best for Small Business

ConvertKit is an email marketing software designed for professional bloggers, authors, and online creators to grow and engage their audience. It offers features such as customizable email templates, automation workflows, landing pages, and forms to capture email subscribers. With ConvertKit, users can segment their audience based on interests and behaviors, send personalized emails, and track the performance of their email campaigns through detailed analytics.

ConvertKit's Pricing

ConvertKit's Pros

• The power of Infusionsoft, but easier to use than MailChimp.

  The power of Infusionsoft, but easier to use than MailChimp.

• Landing pages

  Landing pages

• Custom white glove migration

  Custom white glove migration

ConvertKit's Cons

• No live chat support

  No live chat support

• No A/B testing

  No A/B testing

ConvertKit Verdict

ConvertKit is an email marketing software designed for professional bloggers, authors, and online creators to grow and engage their audience. It offers features such as customizable email templates, a

Best for Small Business

MailChimp is a complete email marketing solution that allows users complete transparency of campaigns, email tracking, view success and click-through rates, generate custom reports, manage subscribers and un-subscribers. The MailChimp lets you create custom templates and at the same time choose from an array of premade designs and campaigns.

Mailchimp's Pricing

Mailchimp's Pros

• Wide variety of templates

  Wide variety of templates

• Ease of use

  Ease of use

• Affordable pricing

  Affordable pricing

Mailchimp's Cons

• Limited customization and flexibility for advanced users

  Limited customization and flexibility for advanced users

• Limited email segmentation features

  Limited email segmentation features

Mailchimp Verdict

MailChimp is a complete email marketing solution that allows users complete transparency of campaigns, email tracking, view success and click-through rates, generate custom reports, manage subscribers

Best for Small Business

HubSpot was founded in 2006 as a result of a simple observation: people have transformed how they live, work, shop, and buy, but businesses have not adapted. This mismatch led Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah to create the vision for the inbound experience and to develop HubSpot's platform to support it. With our powerful, easy to use, integrated set of applications, businesses can attract, engage, and delight customers by delivering inbound experiences that are relevant, helpful, and personalized. HubSpot is, after all, on a mission to make the world more inbound, one business transformation after another.

HubSpot's Pricing

HubSpot Marketing Hub pricing starts at $15/mo per seat for Starter, $800/mo for Professional (includes 3 Core Seats), and $3,600/mo for Enterprise (includes 5 Core Seats). A free plan is available with up to 2,000 marketing contacts.

HubSpot's Pros

• Easy to use and intuitive platform

  Easy to use and intuitive platform

• The Hubspot blog holds a wealth of knowledge for business owners to learn about online marketing

  The Hubspot blog holds a wealth of knowledge for business owners to learn about online marketing

• Hubspot is a complete all in one solution

  Hubspot is a complete all in one solution

HubSpot's Cons

• Steep price creep, as you build your list, the cost of Hubspot rises steeply

  Steep price creep, as you build your list, the cost of Hubspot rises steeply

• Marketing platform requires a 12-month contract

  Marketing platform requires a 12-month contract

• Expensive for a small business solution

  Expensive for a small business solution

HubSpot Verdict

HubSpot was founded in 2006 as a result of a simple observation: people have transformed how they live, work, shop, and buy, but businesses have not adapted. This mismatch led Brian Halligan and Dharm