ActiveCampaign vs GetResponse — which should you choose?

ActiveCampaign and GetResponse are the two most expensive tools in our comparison, and neither has a free plan. They end up on the same list because both sell more than a newsletter: one automation, the other webinars. So the question is in two parts — which of these, and do you need either.

The short answer

Choose GetResponse if you want email and webinars from the same tool or if price decides. It is cheaper at both larger list sizes, and at a 10,000-contact list the difference is €960 a year.

Choose ActiveCampaign if you build multi-step automations where the email is chosen by the recipient’s behaviour. Conditional content, lead scoring and over 1,000 connectors are what the price difference is made of — note that the first two are on the Plus and Pro plans, not on the Starter in the table below.

Comparison table

← scroll →

Prices exclude VAT, billed monthly unless stated otherwise.

• The price is the monthly price of the cheapest paid plan at that list size. The Free plan column shows when you do not have to pay.
• ActiveCampaign: the price list only shows the monthly price on annual billing. Monthly billing costs more.
• ActiveCampaign and GetResponse: the smallest list sold is 1,000 contacts, so the 500-contact column shows that price.

Prices side by side

Both sell a list of at least 1,000 contacts, so at the smallest list size the figures are that tier’s prices. Below are both plans at three list sizes.

← scroll →

Cheapest paid plans read from the price lists (ActiveCampaign, GetResponse) on 3 September 2026, excluding VAT. ActiveCampaign’s figures are monthly prices on annual billing — the monthly-billing price is not shown on the price list at all. GetResponse’s figures are monthly-billing prices, and its annual billing is 18 per cent cheaper. On the smallest row ActiveCampaign is cheaper only at list price; on annual billing GetResponse undercuts it there too.

The price difference is not even but tears open as the list grows. At 1,000 contacts the difference is one euro a month, at 2,500 contacts €12 and at 10,000 contacts €80. ActiveCampaign gets expensive more steeply than any other tool we compare: at a 10,000-contact list it costs €149 a month, while Brevo asks €28 for the same list.

The pricier plans widen the gap further. ActiveCampaign’s Plus costs €49 / €95 / €189 at the same list sizes and Pro €79 / €149 / €375, while GetResponse’s Marketer costs €54 / €69 / €99 and Creator €62 / €79 / €114. Figures read from the price lists on 3 September 2026.

What the price difference is made of

Two different products in the same price class. The difference is not in the number of features but in what they are:

• ActiveCampaign: conditional content (from the Plus plan up), lead scoring (from the Pro plan) and a sales pipeline in the same view. On the cheapest Starter, automation is limited to five actions. There are over 1,000 integrations, the widest coverage in the comparison — and in practice decisive if you use a rarer platform.
• GetResponse: a webinar tool built in at no extra charge, sales funnels and unlimited sending on every paid plan.

With both it is worth asking the same thing: do you use the part you pay for. If you do not build conditional paths, ActiveCampaign is an expensive way to send a newsletter. If you do not run webinars, GetResponse’s webinar module is in the price anyway — that is also the service’s own caveat about who it does not suit.

How contacts are counted — a trap at both

This is the most expensive detail in the comparison, and it does not show on the price list at all. At both the counter is stricter than the subscriber count would suggest.

← scroll →

The rules are read from the providers’ own help pages. “Not read” means the rule could not be opened in the original source — we do not guess it in either direction.

• ActiveCampaign. The rule depends on the account creation date. ActiveCampaign’s own help article gives two answers: on accounts created on or after 3 November 2025, all contacts count toward the limit regardless of status, i.e. unsubscribed, unconfirmed and bounced too; on accounts created on or before 2 November 2025, only active ones. A new account is therefore in the same group as Mailchimp in this comparison. The help page opens only in a browser (HTTP 403); the text was read through the help centre’s own API on 5 September 2026.
• GetResponse. Billing is set by two figures: the month’s highest number of active contacts and the total number of contacts added during the month, regardless of what later happens to them. The same address on several lists is counted several times. Exceeding the limit is not a one-off charge but recurs every billing period, on an annual contract too, and above 100,000 contacts the charge is $4 for every thousand started.

Two points are worth reading carefully. At ActiveCampaign the rule depends on the account creation date: on an account created on or after 3 November 2025 all contacts count toward the limit regardless of status, i.e. unsubscribed, unconfirmed and bounced too. A new account is therefore in the same group here as Mailchimp. At GetResponse the counter looks at the month’s highest reading and additionally at all contacts added during the month, regardless of what later happens to them — so a spike brought by one campaign shows on the whole month’s bill.

Exceeding GetResponse’s limit is also not a one-off charge: it recurs every billing period, on an annual contract too, and above 100,000 contacts the charge is $4 for every thousand started. At both the same address on several lists is counted several times, so one list and tags is a cheaper structure than many lists. The rules for all seven services: how contacts are counted.

Deliverability: from the help pages the difference is in support

We do not test deliverability ourselves. Below are two things: Tooltester’s 2017–2024 series as history — it ended in January 2024, and the source no longer stands behind its method — and eight points from the services’ own help pages, which are the current basis of this comparison.

← scroll →

Tooltester ended the series with the January 2024 round and explained why in August 2026: seed lists proved unreliable and providers started optimising for them. The figures are therefore history, not a measurement of current deliverability.

Source: Tooltester deliverability test, 12 rounds 8/2017–1/2024. About 80 seed addresses, 28 providers, shared IP addresses. Average across all platforms in the latest round 83.1%. Average and range calculated from the published rounds.

Deliverability features from the help docs

Eight points read from each provider’s own help pages on 13 September 2026. This replaces percentages as a buying basis: a feature can be checked and dated, a seed-list result no longer can. Every cell links to the article it was read from.

← scroll →

Yes = the help page describes the feature. No = the help page says it is absent or points to an external tool. — = not found in the help pages; that does not mean the feature is absent.

As history: in Tooltester’s series ActiveCampaign’s 12-round average was 90.8% and GetResponse’s 83.8%, although GetResponse’s trend was upward in the last two rounds. The series ended in January 2024.

Read from the help pages, the differences are two. GetResponse has a named deliverability team and dedicated IP addresses, but only on the MAX plan — on a small business’s plans they are not available. ActiveCampaign gives a dedicated IP on any plan, but only for a list of 100,000 active contacts, and its reputation meters are visible only on reseller accounts. On the other six points the help pages describe the same: authentication from the app, bounces and complaints removed automatically, a built-in cleaning tool, purchased lists banned.

Most of deliverability is still the sender’s own responsibility — authentication, list quality and sending pace: what Gmail and Yahoo require of senders.

Data location: here the difference is clear

GetResponse is a Polish company and stores the data in the EU. ActiveCampaign’s own privacy policy lists transfers to the United States, Australia, Ireland, Brazil and Costa Rica. Both read from the services’ own privacy policies on 3 September 2026.

ActiveCampaign is one of the two tools we compare whose data does not stay in the EU — the other is Mailchimp. That does not make using it unlawful, but it means recording a transfer basis in your own policy and a longer answer when a customer asks. What to check with the processor: email marketing and GDPR.

When neither is the right answer

These are the two most expensive tools in the comparison, and both sell a minimum list of 1,000 contacts. If you send a newsletter and neither build conditional paths nor run webinars, at both you pay for a part you never open.

A cheaper route to the same result: EmailOctopus handles a 2,500-subscriber list for free and a 10,000-subscriber list for €36 a month, and Brevo the same 10,000-name list for €28 if two newsletters go out a month. The difference from ActiveCampaign in the latter case is €121 a month. The whole field’s prices side by side: best email marketing software.

Which one for you