ActiveCampaign vs. Bigin by Zoho CRM

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ActiveCampaign
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
ActiveCampaign is presented as an AI-first marketing platform for marketers, agencies, and entrepreneurs. It uses Active Intelligence for goal-aware automation and personalized experiences across email, SMS, and WhatsApp. ActiveCampaign integrates with 950+ apps and generates insights to optimize every workflow.
$15
per month
Bigin by Zoho CRM
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Bigin by Zoho CRM is a simplified customer relationship management (CRM) software designed specifically for small businesses, startups and teams. Bigin helps small businesses unify customer-facing operations— marketing, sales, onboarding, delivery, and support, and it offers features that help to manage these customer relationships effectively.
$9
per month per user
Pricing
ActiveCampaignBigin by Zoho CRM
Editions & Modules
Starter
$15
per month
Pro
$49
per month
Plus
$79
per month
Enterprise
$159
per month
Express
$9.00
per month per user
Premier
$15.00
per month
Bigin 360
$21
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ActiveCampaignBigin by Zoho CRM
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details20% discount for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ActiveCampaignBigin by Zoho CRM
Considered Both Products
ActiveCampaign
Chose ActiveCampaign
It is very simple and much more friendly. It allows integration with my marketing programs. In the cost-benefit ratio it has greater advantages. I like its dashboard, it is easy to work with. The other platforms have made the mailing process difficult, increasing your cost per …
Bigin by Zoho CRM

No answer on this topic

Features
ActiveCampaignBigin by Zoho CRM
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.6
688 Ratings
12% above category average
Bigin by Zoho CRM
-
Ratings
WYSIWYG email editor8.3605 Ratings00 Ratings
Dynamic content8.0539 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content8.0488 Ratings00 Ratings
Landing pages7.0356 Ratings00 Ratings
A/B testing8.9398 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile optimization8.8545 Ratings00 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting9.0654 Ratings00 Ratings
List management9.4673 Ratings00 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences10.0594 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.6
541 Ratings
10% above category average
Bigin by Zoho CRM
-
Ratings
Lead nurturing automation9.1507 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading8.5370 Ratings00 Ratings
Data quality management9.4413 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks8.2365 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead segmentation and distribution7.917 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaign Management
Comparison of Campaign Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
9.7
388 Ratings
27% above category average
Bigin by Zoho CRM
-
Ratings
Calendaring9.9308 Ratings00 Ratings
Event/webinar marketing9.4291 Ratings00 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
7.1
295 Ratings
5% below category average
Bigin by Zoho CRM
-
Ratings
Social sharing and campaigns7.4262 Ratings00 Ratings
Social profile integration6.9257 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
7.9
650 Ratings
8% above category average
Bigin by Zoho CRM
-
Ratings
Dashboards8.0619 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports7.9607 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports7.8394 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
9.1
509 Ratings
20% above category average
Bigin by Zoho CRM
-
Ratings
API8.7407 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based workflow & approvals8.6278 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizability7.9435 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Salesforce.com9.397 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM9.964 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with SugarCRM9.959 Ratings00 Ratings
Third-party software integrations9.237 Ratings00 Ratings
Sales Force Automation
Comparison of Sales Force Automation features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Bigin by Zoho CRM
8.2
128 Ratings
5% above category average
Customer data management / contact management00 Ratings8.7117 Ratings
Workflow management00 Ratings8.1121 Ratings
Opportunity management00 Ratings8.3120 Ratings
Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)00 Ratings8.4114 Ratings
Contract management00 Ratings7.571 Ratings
Interaction tracking00 Ratings8.0108 Ratings
Marketing Automation
Comparison of Marketing Automation features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Bigin by Zoho CRM
8.0
105 Ratings
4% above category average
Lead management00 Ratings8.3101 Ratings
Email marketing00 Ratings7.896 Ratings
CRM Project Management
Comparison of CRM Project Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Bigin by Zoho CRM
8.0
106 Ratings
4% above category average
Task management00 Ratings8.1103 Ratings
Reporting00 Ratings7.880 Ratings
CRM Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of CRM Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Bigin by Zoho CRM
8.1
110 Ratings
6% above category average
Pipeline visualization00 Ratings8.4110 Ratings
Customizable reports00 Ratings7.8100 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Bigin by Zoho CRM
8.1
115 Ratings
6% above category average
Custom fields00 Ratings8.1115 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Bigin by Zoho CRM
8.7
110 Ratings
4% above category average
Single sign-on capability00 Ratings8.894 Ratings
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings8.6107 Ratings
Social CRM
Comparison of Social CRM features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Bigin by Zoho CRM
7.6
68 Ratings
3% above category average
Social data00 Ratings7.667 Ratings
Social engagement00 Ratings7.764 Ratings
Integrations with 3rd-party Software
Comparison of Integrations with 3rd-party Software features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Bigin by Zoho CRM
8.0
86 Ratings
7% above category average
Marketing automation00 Ratings8.086 Ratings
Platform
Comparison of Platform features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Bigin by Zoho CRM
8.6
107 Ratings
13% above category average
Mobile access00 Ratings8.6107 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ActiveCampaignBigin by Zoho CRM
Small Businesses
Vbout
Vbout
Score 10.0 out of 10
Salesmate
Salesmate
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.0 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.0 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ActiveCampaignBigin by Zoho CRM
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(699 ratings)
9.0
(127 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(25 ratings)
7.8
(6 ratings)
Usability
9.2
(62 ratings)
8.8
(98 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.3
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.3
(41 ratings)
4.4
(9 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
7.3
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.5
(14 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
6.4
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
1.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
6.4
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
7.3
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
ActiveCampaignBigin by Zoho CRM
Likelihood to Recommend
ActiveCampaign
I've been using ActiveCampaign since around 2018-2019 and I've always been satisfied with the software. It's simple to use, connects with the other tools I use and makes it easy for me to duplicate automations, email templates and workflows as I need to. On top of that, any time I've had an issue (which I think is around twice in the past 5/6 years), the customer service has always been super helpful and my issue has been resolved quickly.
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Zoho
- Multiple pipelines let me organize processes like sales, marketing, customer support, and assets clearly. - The forms builder allows me to gather leads, sign-ups, and customer requests from my website directly into the Bigin by Zoho CRM. - Integrations with Zapier and Make connect website orders and data from other sources smoothly. - Email templates make it easy to send professional, branded communications. - Automations handle repetitive tasks like managing customers, orders, and team tasks, saving me time.
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Pros
ActiveCampaign
  • Collects and filters emails from various lead magnets exceptionally well (especially if a user wants to re-sign up to the same lead magnet and go through it again, they can)
  • Super easy to use email creation that is aesthetically pleasing and user friendly
  • Easy email sequences and user classification from a large range of opt in trigger options
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Zoho
  • Manage big databases. We have a large database of contacts and partners (more than 5,000 contacts), which are updated day by day, as a result of our participation in conferences, webinars, etc. For this reason, we needed a platform that would allow us to always have our database up to date, and accessible and editable by any member of the company.
  • Pipelines. Pipelines are very necessary in our daily lives, since we present many service proposals to different clients, and until now we control the status very manually. With Bigin by Zoho CRM, we can have all this information centralized in a single place, and know at all times the status of the service proposals we present (sent, pending decision, lost, won...).
  • Product definition. The product definition block has allowed us to further structure our typologies of products and services. At least, it has allowed us to reflect on them and what is the best way to package the service offered.
  • Control panel. The control panel has been very useful for us to be able to quickly see the main indicators (offers presented, next actions to be taken, etc.).
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Cons
ActiveCampaign
  • It took me a while to get to understand where to find things, and I used a free online course from a consultant who specialises in AC to help me get the foundations set up more easily. That said, there were lots of onboarding workshops, which were good. It just felt like it required a lot of different angles of learning to just get started.
  • The customer support took longer than other software to get back to me via email, though once I found the chat option for my most recent query, that was fast.
  • I've ended up switching to another programme where more software is more naturally integrated, and the AC equivalent is included in the price, along with many other types of software. However, design-wise, ActiveCampaign is much better.
  • I also had a problem with a form used on my WordPress website, which has a BuddyBoss platform - the colours on the form would be overridden by colour choices for the website, so they were hard to read (pink text on purple background instead of the gold text it was meant to be)
  • I couldn't always find the templates I was looking for or how to access them for automation-based emails. I think when I used it, there was a new type of template for newsletters that weren't available for automations, so I had to recreate it, which added time.
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Zoho
  • No multi-select bulk move in pipeline After a webinar we had 42 cold leads that qualified → wanted to drag them all to “Interested” in one go. You can’t; moved them one-by-one like playing Solitaire.
  • Workflows hidden behind pay-wall We needed an auto-survey when deal = “Won”. Works in trial, the day licence dropped back to free the rule simply stopped – zero warning.
  • Offline mobile = read-onlyMentor met founder in co-working basement (no Wi-Fi). Took paper notes, re-typed into Bigin back at office → duplicate risk.
  • Pick-list values can’t be deactivated, only deletedWe miss-typed “Refferal” instead of “Referral”. To fix, must delete; history of 60 old records then shows empty source.
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Likelihood to Renew
ActiveCampaign
I am committed at the moment. Rebuilding the automations I have would be a huge time drain. Plus the cost of learning a new system and the risk to deliverability of porting a 6,000 person list to a new platform. Also, AC offers everything I need ast a reasonable (but a little high) price. So, why not a 10? Because, early 2023, AC dropped a massive 2x price hike on long-term customers. They knew few would shift, so this feels like a cynical cash grab and left a bad taste, If they do something like this again, this camel will have a broken back.
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Zoho
Sales Development Representative Account Executivessss sssssssssssssssss ss ssss s ss s ssssss ss s s ss sss sssssss sssss s ssssssss sssss sss sssssssssssssss ss ss sss sssss s ssss sssssss s s s s ssss sss s s ss ss ssss s s sssssss s ssssssssss sssss sss ss eads sd
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Usability
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign has been the easiest marketing automation software we have ever used. They provide tips throughout the entire process of anything you are building. Their support team through LIVE CHAT has been extremely fast and helpful. The monthly meetings provided with the enablement team has helped us through several large and urgent needs.
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Zoho
Bigin has really helped us with selling our monitoring services to our customers, which is primarily farmers in the UK. We often need to talk to customers before, during and after a sale, and Bigin helps us keep our contacts and leads organised as we track all these interactions. We recommend it very strongly
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Reliability and Availability
ActiveCampaign
I haven't experienced application errors or unplanned outages at all. Active Campaign is ultra reliable and I would not be using them if that were the case. Also, the helpful emails they send are welcomed and informative, and present very practical tips and guidance for using the platform. They're always demonstrating new features and I'm thankful for that.
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Zoho
No answers on this topic
Performance
ActiveCampaign
Oh my gosh, Active Campaign's performance gets an A+++ in my book. The pages load quickly and so do the reports. I haven't noticed any slowdowns when it's integrating with other programs and it performs excellently on all levels.
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Zoho
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
ActiveCampaign
This might be the best part. The chat support lady offered to make a video to help me solve my problem. I worked in customer service for years and I've never done that, lol. So, if they're offering things like that, I can only imagine that they'd be able to handle most any issue you throw at them.
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Zoho
The support is all international and it takes a while to get support as you have to go through chats and set up times, not as easy to just call and get the support you need. They are very nice when you do finally connect with someone and they are knowledgeable, just challenging being international sometimes.
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Implementation Rating
ActiveCampaign
Very satisfied with our implementation in our professional medical practice, allowing us to be on top of client service, and not miss out on crucial information and insights. Marketing is often neglected in professional practices and ActiveCampaign solved this problem with aplomb.
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Zoho
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
ActiveCampaign
I moved to ActiveCampaign from Mailchimp. Admittedly, I was using the free version of Mailchimp, but I had numerous episodes of subscriber data NOT being added to Mailchimp, despite using API to integrate with my mailing list. Obviously, I couldn't pay for clicks and not capture subscriber data, so I had to find something else. ActiveCampaign has been 100% reliable in testing.
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Zoho
Simplicity Without Sacrificing Core Features
Unlike full-scale CRMs that often feel overwhelming, Bigin by Zoho CRM provides a focused set of features that are perfect for managing deals, contacts, and activities. It’s not bloated, and that was exactly what we needed for a lean, fast-moving team.
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Scalability
ActiveCampaign
My web designer told me about Active Campaign and although I don't recall which platform I had before, I LOVE Active Campaign and its user friendliness. The transition was seamless and I've never had a problem with functionality or server failure.
Active Campaign provides so many features, and makes it easy for non-techies to maneuver around the site with ease. They capture information and put it in an easy-to-read format.
At this point, I don't think I'd ever use any other platform!
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Zoho
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
ActiveCampaign
  • I haven't monetized my list yet so no clear ROI but great from a list-building perspective
  • The software is not cheap so at times I feel like I may not be getting the most out of the product because I'm not using all of the features
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Zoho
  • I was able to migrate from Hubspot CRM easily saving me hours of time
  • I have recieved 5 x replies to the email sequence i set up since i started using it
  • I have improved lead conversion by 5% so far
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ScreenShots

ActiveCampaign Screenshots

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Bigin by Zoho CRM Screenshots

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