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Short answer
ActiveCampaign is our top pick among the 5 marketing automation tools we ranked, scoring 86/100. Paid plans start at $15/mo.
ActiveCampaign (86/100): best for small and mid-sized teams that want deep automation at a low price.
HubSpot Marketing Hub (85/100): best all-in-one platform for teams that already use HubSpot CRM.
Brevo (82/100): best for budget automation priced by emails sent.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (76/100): best for B2B teams that run sales on Salesforce.
Customer.io (74/100): best for product-led companies messaging users on behavior.
Marketing automation software runs the journeys that turn a sign-up into a customer: multi-step workflows triggered by what a contact does, lead scoring that tells sales who is ready, and reports that tie campaigns to pipeline. Email marketing tools cover the basics; the platforms here are judged on how far automation, scoring and attribution go, and on which plan first includes them.
We scored six platforms on six weighted criteria. Entry paid plans run from $15 a month for 1,000 contacts (ActiveCampaign Starter, billed yearly) to $1,250 a month for 10,000 contacts (Salesforce Account Engagement Growth+, billed annually). Built-in lead scoring starts at $499 a month on Brevo Professional, $800 a month plus a $3,000 onboarding fee on HubSpot Marketing Hub Professional, and $1,250 on Account Engagement; ActiveCampaign sells it in its Pipelines add-on from the $49 Plus plan.
The shortlist
1ActiveCampaign Best for small and mid-sized teams that want deep automation at a low price86/100Review
Starting prices are the cheapest paid plan on each vendor's pricing pages on Oct 31, 2026, at the smallest contact or email tier shown. ActiveCampaign is billed yearly for 1,000 contacts; its pricing page didn't display amounts to us, so its prices are from ActiveCampaign's own HubSpot comparison page. HubSpot's pricing page shows Marketing Hub Starter at both $7 and $20 per seat and labels lower Starter prices as limited-time offers for new customers. Brevo's prices are from its help center and billed monthly (10% off yearly). Salesforce bills Account Engagement on an annual contract. Adobe Marketo Engage, Ortto and Zoho Marketing Automation didn't show prices we could verify, so they aren't scored.
The reviews
1
ActiveCampaign
Best for small and mid-sized teams that want deep automation at a low price
ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation platform built around a visual automation builder with branching and multiple triggers. Starter ($15 a month at 1,000 contacts, billed yearly) caps automations at 5 actions each; Plus ($49) removes the cap and adds landing pages and sales automation; Pro ($79) adds split testing inside automations, predictive sending and attribution, with 3 users; Enterprise ($145) adds custom objects, custom reporting and 5 users.
Who it's best for
Small and mid-sized B2B and B2C teams that want branching, multi-step journeys without paying enterprise prices.
Why it made the shortlist
It offers the most automation for the money here: unlimited automation actions start at $49 a month, and attribution and predictive sending at $79, against $800 a month plus onboarding for comparable HubSpot workflows.
Strengths
Unlimited automation actions from $49 a month at 1,000 contacts
Attribution and predictive sending on the $79 Pro plan
14-day trial with no credit card
Watch-outs
Lead scoring and pipelines are in a paid Pipelines add-on
Starter and Plus include 1 user; Pro 3
Custom reporting is an add-on below Enterprise
Skip it if: You need built-in lead scoring and custom reports on one plan without add-ons.
HubSpot Marketing Hub is the marketing suite on HubSpot's CRM. Starter includes 1,000 marketing contacts and limited automation (up to 10 automated actions for email). Professional ($800 a month billed annually, $890 monthly) includes 3 seats, 2,000 contacts, omni-channel workflows (up to 300), lead scoring (up to 5 scores) and up to 100 custom reports, with a $3,000 one-time onboarding fee. Enterprise ($3,600 a month, 5 seats, 10,000 contacts, $7,000 onboarding) adds A/B testing, multi-touch revenue attribution and up to 1,000 workflows.
Who it's best for
Mid-sized B2B teams that want marketing, CRM and reporting in one system and can budget for Professional.
Why it made the shortlist
Professional puts workflows, lead scoring and custom reports on one plan connected to the CRM, and Enterprise adds multi-touch revenue attribution, which few tools here include.
Strengths
Workflows, lead scoring and custom reports together on Professional
Multi-touch revenue attribution on Enterprise
Free plan for up to 2 users
Watch-outs
Professional costs $800 a month plus a $3,000 onboarding fee
Starter automation is limited to 10 actions for email
Extra seats cost $45 a month on Professional and $75 on Enterprise
Skip it if: You need multi-step automation on a budget under a few hundred dollars a month.
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) combines email, SMS and WhatsApp marketing and prices by emails sent rather than contacts. Standard (from $18 a month for 5,000 emails) adds unlimited multi-step workflows, A/B testing, AI send-time optimization and a landing page, with up to 3 users. Professional (from $499 a month for 150,000 emails) adds contact scoring and 10 users. Yearly billing saves 10%.
Who it's best for
Small teams with large lists that want automation and A/B testing for under $20 a month.
Why it made the shortlist
Standard includes unlimited multi-step workflows and A/B testing for $18 a month, the lowest price for that combination here.
Strengths
Unlimited multi-step workflows from $18 a month
Priced by emails sent, not contacts
Free plan sends 300 emails a day
Watch-outs
Starter has no marketing automation
Contact scoring starts on Professional at $499 a month
Standard allows up to 3 users
Skip it if: You need lead scoring and B2B attribution on a mid-priced plan.
Account Engagement (formerly Pardot) is Salesforce's B2B marketing automation product, priced per org per month on an annual contract. Growth+ ($1,250, 10,000 contacts) includes lead nurturing and scoring, 50 forms and landing pages and 25,000 API calls a day. Plus+ ($2,750) adds AI-powered scoring, B2B Marketing Analytics with 5 licenses and unlimited forms and landing pages. Advanced+ ($4,400) adds 2 business units and a dedicated IP; Premium+ ($15,000) includes 75,000 contacts.
Who it's best for
B2B companies with a Salesforce admin that need scoring and analytics tied to Salesforce opportunities.
Why it made the shortlist
Lead scoring is included from the first edition, and Plus+ adds AI-powered scoring and B2B Marketing Analytics for pipeline reporting.
Strengths
Lead nurturing and scoring included from Growth+
AI-powered scoring and B2B Marketing Analytics on Plus+
10,000 contacts included on every edition below Premium+
Watch-outs
Starts at $15,000 a year on an annual contract
No free trial listed
Needs admin time to set up and run
Skip it if: You don't use Salesforce, or your budget is under $1,000 a month.
Score breakdown
Automation & journeys (25%)4.5/5
Lead management & scoring (15%)5/5
Email & channels (15%)4/5
Reporting & attribution (15%)5/5
Ease of use & setup (10%)2.5/5
Price & value (20%)1.5/5
5
Customer.io
Best for product-led companies messaging users on behavior
Customer.io is a messaging automation platform that triggers journeys from product and behavioral data. Essentials ($100 a month) includes 5,000 profiles, 1 million emails, the visual workflow builder, journeys, segments and 2 object types; extra profiles cost $0.009 each and extra emails $0.12 per 1,000. Premium (from $1,000 a month, billed annually) adds 10 object types, premium support, 90-day onboarding and HIPAA compliance at extra cost.
Who it's best for
SaaS and app companies whose engineers send event data and whose marketers build lifecycle journeys from it.
Why it made the shortlist
Journeys run on events and custom objects rather than only list membership, and Essentials includes 1 million emails a month.
Strengths
Journeys triggered by product events and objects
1 million emails a month on Essentials
Startup program: 12 months free for qualifying startups
Watch-outs
No lead scoring or CRM listed
Needs developer help to send event data
Premium starts at $1,000 a month
Skip it if: You're a B2B team that needs lead scoring and a sales handoff.
Score breakdown
Automation & journeys (25%)4.5/5
Lead management & scoring (15%)3/5
Email & channels (15%)4/5
Reporting & attribution (15%)3.5/5
Ease of use & setup (10%)3/5
Price & value (20%)3.5/5
Also considered
Keap scored 61/100. Keap sells one platform with CRM, a sales pipeline, automations, lead scoring, landing pages and sales funnels, starting at $249 a month billed annually ($299 monthly) with 2 users; extra users cost $39 a month, contact tiers are quoted, and implementation services are required. It scores lower on price because implementation is required and contact tiers aren't published, and it has only 32 G2 reviews.
How we scored marketing automation software
Each tool gets a 0 to 5 rating on every criterion. We weight the ratings below, convert the total to a score out of 100, and only rank tools that score 70 or higher. Open any tool's Score breakdown to see its ratings. Full process on our methodology page.
Automation & journeys25%
Lead management & scoring15%
Email & channels15%
Reporting & attribution15%
Ease of use & setup10%
Price & value20%
How to choose marketing automation software
Find the plan where your must-have feature starts. Unlimited automation actions start at $49 a month on ActiveCampaign Plus and $18 on Brevo Standard; HubSpot puts full workflows on Professional at $800 a month.
Check where lead scoring lives. It's included from Growth+ on Account Engagement ($1,250), on HubSpot Professional ($800) and Brevo Professional ($499), and in a paid add-on on ActiveCampaign.
Add onboarding and seats to year one. HubSpot charges $3,000 one-time on Professional and $7,000 on Enterprise; Keap requires implementation. ActiveCampaign Plus includes 1 user and Pro 3.
Match the data model to your business. Account Engagement and HubSpot tie scoring to a CRM for B2B sales handoffs; Customer.io triggers journeys from product events for app and SaaS companies.
Build one real journey in the trial. Recreate your welcome or nurture sequence, with one branch and one goal, before you migrate contacts.
Marketing Automation FAQ
What is the best marketing automation software?
ActiveCampaign scores highest in our ranking (86/100) for most small and mid-sized teams, just ahead of HubSpot Marketing Hub (85/100), which is the better pick if you want lead scoring, custom reports and CRM on one plan and can pay $800 a month plus onboarding.
How much does marketing automation software cost?
On Oct 31, 2026: ActiveCampaign Starter $15 a month and Plus $49 for 1,000 contacts billed yearly, Brevo Standard $18 a month for 5,000 emails, Customer.io Essentials $100 a month, HubSpot Marketing Hub Professional $800 a month billed annually plus $3,000 onboarding, and Salesforce Account Engagement Growth+ $1,250 a month on an annual contract.
Which marketing automation tool includes lead scoring for the lowest price?
Brevo Professional includes contact scoring from $499 a month. HubSpot includes lead scoring on Professional ($800 a month plus $3,000 onboarding) and Salesforce on Account Engagement Growth+ ($1,250 a month). ActiveCampaign offers it through its Pipelines add-on from Plus.
What is the difference between email marketing and marketing automation software?
Email marketing tools focus on campaigns and simple automations. Marketing automation platforms add multi-step journeys across channels, lead scoring and attribution; for example, HubSpot Professional includes up to 300 workflows and 5 lead scores, and Account Engagement Plus+ adds B2B Marketing Analytics.