Pipedrive vs ActiveCampaign for a small team: what each plan costs
Pipedrive charges per seat and ActiveCampaign by the number of contacts. What a small team pays for each, and where the comparison is not like for like.
The short answer
Pipedrive is a sales CRM priced per seat. ActiveCampaign is an email and automation platform priced by the number of contacts, with a CRM that is extended through add-ons. They overlap when a small team wants follow-up automation, but the two bills grow along different lines: Pipedrive with every person who needs a seat, ActiveCampaign with every contact you keep.
If your team lives in a deal pipeline and email is a side task, start with Pipedrive and read its plan guide, which Pipedrive plan a small team needs. If your main job is sending and automating email to a growing list and the CRM is secondary, ActiveCampaign is the closer fit. Neither price below is a total cost of ownership: add-ons, setup, taxes and your own time are not included.
Editorial opinion
Pipedrive: a price per seat
| Plan | Billed annually | Billed monthly | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lite | $14 | $24 | No automations |
| Growth | $39 | $49 | Automations (50 per company) and sequences start here |
| Premium | $59 | $79 | Higher plans raise the limits further |
| Ultimate | $79 | $99 | Highest published plan |
Pipedrive has no free plan, only a 14-day free trial with no credit card. You are charged per seat whether or not it is assigned to a user, and email campaigns need the separate Campaigns add-on, billed on top. The annual price is one payment per year: for example Growth is $468 per seat per year. Our dated price table is on the Pipedrive page.
Sources: [1]
ActiveCampaign: a price by contact volume
| Plan | 1,000 contacts | 5,000 contacts | 10,000 contacts | Seats included | Monthly email sends at 1,000 contacts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $15 | $79 | $149 | 1 | 10,000 |
| Plus | $49 | $145 | $189 | 1 | 10,000 |
| Pro | $79 | $205 | $375 | 3 | 12,000 |
| Enterprise | $145 | $375 | $589 | 5 | 15,000 |
Sources: [3]
These are the "starts at" prices on ActiveCampaign's pricing page, shown per month and billed yearly. The page shows no monthly-billing option and does not say whether tax is included. Email sends grow with the contact tier: at 10,000 contacts the page lists 100,000 sends a month on Starter and Plus. The CRM is extended through two add-ons, Pipelines and sales engagement, which the page lists as available on Plus, Pro and Enterprise and not included in Starter. Their prices are not shown on the pricing page, so none is quoted here. Our dated rows are on the ActiveCampaign page.
Sources: [3]
A five-person team: the subscription side only
| Contacts | Pipedrive Growth, 5 seats | ActiveCampaign Enterprise (5 seats) |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $2,340 a year (5 × $39 × 12) | $1,740 a year ($145 × 12) |
| 5,000 | $2,340 a year (the seat price does not depend on contacts) | $4,500 a year ($375 × 12) |
| 10,000 | $2,340 a year | $7,068 a year ($589 × 12) |
| 1,000, monthly billing at Pipedrive | $2,940 over 12 months (5 × $49 × 12) | not offered on the page we read |
Where each one fits
Pipedrive fits when the work is a sales pipeline, the team is small and the number of seats is the number that matters. Automations and sequences start at Growth, there is a 14-day trial, and the price does not move with the size of your contact list. Its limits: no free plan, and email campaigns cost extra.
ActiveCampaign fits when the work is email and automation to a list you intend to grow. Multi-step automation is in every plan, but the price rises with contacts, Starter and Plus include one seat, and the CRM pipelines and sales engagement are paid add-ons.
For a wider view of the field, see choosing a CRM for a small B2B service business, the HubSpot vs Pipedrive comparison and how to connect a form, a CRM and email follow-up in automating lead follow-up. You can also open the side-by-side data view for the catalogue values of both products.
Editorial opinion
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions
- Which is cheaper for a small team, Pipedrive or ActiveCampaign?
Neither is cheaper in general, because the prices scale on different things. For five people who all need a login at 1,000 contacts, the list-price arithmetic is $2,340 a year on Pipedrive Growth (annual billing) and $1,740 a year on ActiveCampaign Enterprise, which includes five seats. At 5,000 contacts ActiveCampaign Enterprise is $4,500 a year while the Pipedrive figure does not change. The two also include different things, so use the table above as arithmetic, not as a verdict.
- Does Pipedrive have a free plan?
No. Pipedrive's pricing page lists Lite, Growth, Premium and Ultimate and offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card. Prices are per seat per month and exclude VAT.
- Does ActiveCampaign have a free plan, and can I pay monthly?
The pricing page we read on 2 November 2026 lists four paid plans (Starter, Plus, Pro, Enterprise) and no free plan. It shows prices billed yearly and no monthly-billing option. Confirm both on the live page before you buy.
- What does ActiveCampaign cost at 10,000 contacts?
On the pricing page, billed yearly and per month: Starter $149, Plus $189, Pro $375 and Enterprise $589. Starter and Plus include one seat, Pro three and Enterprise five.
- Do the prices include tax?
Pipedrive lists its prices as excluding VAT. ActiveCampaign's pricing page does not say whether tax is included, so treat its figures as list prices and check the amount at checkout.
Sources and checks
Official pages used
| Characteristic | Pipedrive | ActiveCampaign |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | from $24/mo— verified; opens the source in a new tab | from $15/mo (billed yearly)— verified; opens the source in a new tab |
| Official site | Visit site of Pipedrive(official site, opens in a new tab) | Visit site of ActiveCampaign(official site, opens in a new tab) |
Choose by what you count: seats or contacts
Pick Pipedrive if a small sales team needs a deal pipeline and your cost should follow the number of people who log in. Pick ActiveCampaign if the core job is email and automation to a contact list and you accept that the price rises as the list grows and that CRM pipelines are an add-on. If you need both a pipeline for several salespeople and heavy email marketing, price the add-ons on each side before comparing totals. This is an editorial summary of the published list prices, not a ranking and not based on testing the products.
Editorial opinion
Sources
Nikita Latyshev is the founder of LATYNEX Labs, an independent publication about business software and infrastructure. LATYNEX Labs is published by Latynex Trade OÜ, Estonia. How the site checks facts, handles sponsorship and earns money is described on its methodology, editorial policy and affiliate disclosure pages.