By Mikhail Oskola, founder of Retailbox Automation.
Checked: prices, plan limits, add-ons, the migration guide and connector listings on 28 October 2026, GoHighLevel usage rates on 27 October 2026, ActiveCampaign's A2P note on 23 October 2026, against GoHighLevel's and ActiveCampaign's own pricing pages, help centers and app directories and Zapier, in USD.
ActiveCampaign vs GoHighLevel, in short: ActiveCampaign is the cheaper email tool for a small list, and GoHighLevel is built for agencies and businesses that text, book and sell through funnels. The bills work differently. ActiveCampaign charges more as your list grows, GoHighLevel a flat fee plus each email and text sent. Checked 28 October 2026.
GoHighLevel vs ActiveCampaign at a glance
Every row below comes from the vendor's own pricing page or help center, read in USD on 28 October 2026. GoHighLevel's usage rates are from its help center, read on 27 October 2026. Both vendors publish a page comparing themselves with the other; we don't use either as a source.
| GoHighLevel | ActiveCampaign | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is, in the vendor's words | "An all-in-one platform designed to replace multiple subscriptions you're probably paying for now" | "Marketing automation for any business" |
| Free plan | None. 14-day free trial on any plan | None. 14-day free trial, no credit card |
| Pricing basis | Flat per account, unlimited contacts and users, plus usage from a prepaid wallet | By contact count, billed yearly, 1 to 5 users depending on plan |
| Entry price | Starter: $97 a month or $970 a year | Starter: $15 a month for 1,000 contacts, billed yearly |
| $0.675 per 1,000 emails sent | Included, up to 10x your contacts a month on Starter and Plus | |
| Automation | Workflows on every plan, no cap stated. Premium steps $0.01 each | Multi-step on every plan. Starter: 5 actions per automation. Unlimited from Plus |
| CRM and pipelines | CRM and pipelines on every plan | Contacts, fields and tags on every plan. Pipelines and deals: Enhanced CRM add-on from Plus, price not published |
| SMS | Built in, $0.00747 per US text segment | Add-on from Plus, price not published |
| Funnels, sites and booking | Website and funnel builder, forms and booking calendars on every plan | Landing pages from Plus. Booking through Calendly or Eventbrite apps from Plus |
| Client accounts and white label | 3 sub-accounts on Starter, unlimited from $297. White-label desktop app on all plans | No sub-account or white-label plan on the pricing page |
| Move data from the other | HighLevel's guide: export ActiveCampaign to CSV, import, rebuild pages, forms and automations by hand | "Contact migration" listed among ActiveCampaign's free services |
| Best fit | An agency running client accounts, or a business that texts, books and sells through funnels | A business whose marketing is mostly email, with one to a few marketers |
What's the real difference between GoHighLevel and ActiveCampaign?
GoHighLevel replaces a stack of tools. ActiveCampaign is an email and marketing automation tool that connects to the rest of your stack.
HighLevel's pricing page lists what every plan includes: a website and funnel builder, CRM and pipelines, email and SMS marketing, inbound and outbound calling, workflow automation, forms and surveys, booking calendars, payments and invoicing, courses and communities. Its FAQ says most users replace "their CRM, funnel builder, email marketing software, appointment scheduler, SMS marketing tools, and review management software." The emails, texts, calls and AI those features use are billed per use.
ActiveCampaign's homepage title is "Marketing automation for any business". Its four plans are sold by contact count, and each plan adds more automation, segmentation and channels. Landing pages, SMS, WhatsApp and the deal pipeline all start on Plus, and the last three are paid add-ons. It lists 1,000+ integrations, and API access, webhooks and Zapier come on every plan.
So the first question is how many tools you want to keep. If you already have a website, a booking tool and a CRM you like, ActiveCampaign slots in as the email engine. If you'd rather run all of it from one login, or run it for several clients, that's what GoHighLevel is built for.
How much do GoHighLevel and ActiveCampaign cost?
GoHighLevel's subscription doesn't change with your list or your team. ActiveCampaign's price rises with every contact band, and it includes 1 user on Starter and Plus, 3 on Pro and 5 on Enterprise.
On GoHighLevel, annual billing costs ten times the monthly price: $970 a year against $97 a month (our arithmetic from the pricing page). Every plan has unlimited contacts and users. Unlimited ($297) and Agency Pro ($497) add unlimited client sub-accounts and the right to rebill phone and email usage to clients. ActiveCampaign's pricing page shows only prices billed yearly, and its FAQ says "There are no setup costs or hidden fees".
Both pricing pages were read on 28 October 2026: https://www.gohighlevel.com/pricing and https://www.activecampaign.com/pricing. The ActiveCampaign numbers match our HubSpot vs ActiveCampaign and ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp comparisons, and the GoHighLevel ones match our GoHighLevel vs HubSpot and GoHighLevel vs Pipedrive comparisons.
| Contacts | ActiveCampaign Starter / Plus / Pro / Enterprise (a month, billed yearly) | GoHighLevel Starter / Unlimited / Agency Pro (a month) |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $15 / $49 / $79 / $145 | $97 / $297 / $497, any list size |
| 2,500 | $39 / $95 / $149 / $255 | $97 / $297 / $497, any list size |
| 10,000 | $149 / $189 / $375 / $589 | $97 / $297 / $497, any list size |
| Users included | 1 / 1 / 3 / 5 | Unlimited on every plan |
| Billed on top | Add-ons: SMS, WhatsApp, Enhanced CRM, transactional email | Email, texts, calls, phone numbers and AI, from a prepaid wallet |
Which costs less at 1,000, 2,500 and 10,000 contacts?
ActiveCampaign Starter costs less at 1,000 and 2,500 contacts. At 10,000 contacts GoHighLevel Starter costs less than either ActiveCampaign plan in our example. This is our arithmetic from the October 2026 prices, before tax and setup work, not a vendor quote.
The assumption: every contact gets 4 emails a month, and both tools are billed yearly. GoHighLevel Starter is $970 a year plus $0.675 per 1,000 emails. ActiveCampaign includes email up to 10 times your contact count a month on Starter and Plus, so 4 emails per contact fits on both.
Send volume moves the GoHighLevel side. Each extra email per contact a month adds $81 a year at 10,000 contacts. At 10 emails each, the most ActiveCampaign Starter allows, GoHighLevel Starter comes to $970 + $810 = $1,780 a year, against $1,788 for ActiveCampaign Starter. Billing GoHighLevel monthly adds $194 a year to every row ($1,164 against $970).
Two costs are left out. GoHighLevel bills A2P registration and carrier fees on texts, plus AI and premium workflow steps, on top. ActiveCampaign's SMS add-on starts on Plus and its price isn't published, so the texting row has only one side.
| Contacts, 12 months | Emails a month (4 per contact) | GoHighLevel Starter: $970 + email | ActiveCampaign Starter | ActiveCampaign Plus | Lower bill |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | 4,000 | $970 + $32.40 = $1,002.40 | $180 | $588 | ActiveCampaign Starter |
| 2,500 | 10,000 | $970 + $81 = $1,051 | $468 | $1,140 | ActiveCampaign Starter |
| 10,000 | 40,000 | $970 + $324 = $1,294 | $1,788 | $2,268 | GoHighLevel Starter |
| 2,500, plus 2,000 US text segments a month and one local number | 10,000 | $1,051 + $179.28 + $13.80 = $1,244.08 | No SMS on Starter | SMS add-on, price not published | Can't compare |
Which has better marketing automation?
ActiveCampaign has more automation tools for email. GoHighLevel puts no cap on workflows and runs them across texts, calls and bookings too. There's no neutral benchmark we can cite, so here is what each plan includes.
ActiveCampaign has multi-step automation and 950+ automation recipes on every plan. Starter caps each automation at 5 actions and sends email only. Plus removes the cap, adds other channels, sales automation and custom event tracking. A/B tests cover email on Starter and Plus, and email and automations on Pro and Enterprise. Site tracking is on every plan, and the automations map starts on Pro (pricing page, 28 October 2026).
HighLevel lists workflow automation as a core feature on every plan and states no limit. Standard triggers and actions are free. Premium ones cost $0.01 per execution, and HighLevel's pricing guide says some, "such as ChatGPT, have different pricing." Optional Workflow Pro tiers bundle executions: $10 a month for 10,000, $25 for 30,000 and $50 for 65,000 (https://help.gohighlevel.com/en/support/solutions/articles/155000001156-highlevel-pricing-guide, read 27 October 2026).
Our reading: if your automations are mostly email sequences that branch on opens, clicks and site visits, ActiveCampaign Plus gives you the deeper toolkit for $49 a month at 1,000 contacts. If a workflow has to text a lead, book a call and move a deal in the same run, GoHighLevel does that in one place.
CRM, pipelines and sales follow-up
GoHighLevel includes CRM and pipelines on every plan. ActiveCampaign sells pipelines and deals as an add-on from Plus up, at a price it doesn't publish.
On ActiveCampaign, every plan has contact profiles, custom fields and tags, and Starter allows up to 5 lists. The Enhanced CRM add-on comes in two versions. The pipelines version covers "Pipeline management", "Deal records", "Account records" and "Lead scoring". The sales engagement version adds "Automated 1:1 email" and "Win probability". We looked at whether ActiveCampaign's CRM is enough for a sales team in our HubSpot comparison.
In HighLevel, deals are called opportunities, and they sit in pipelines that come with every plan, next to the contact record, conversations and calendars. Because users are unlimited, adding a salesperson doesn't change the bill. On ActiveCampaign, more than one user means Pro (3 users) or Enterprise (5): at 2,500 contacts, Pro is $149 a month against $39 for Starter.
SMS, calling, funnels and booking
GoHighLevel builds all four into every plan and charges for each text and minute. ActiveCampaign sells SMS as an add-on, offers no calling on its pricing page, and handles booking through other apps.
On GoHighLevel, a US text segment costs $0.00747, a local number $1.15 a month, and an outbound US call $0.0166 a minute. HighLevel's phone pricing guide says "Pricing matches Twilio's rates", and A2P registration and carrier fees come on top. The money leaves a prepaid wallet that refills from your card when it drops below your minimum. The full list is in our notes on GoHighLevel's usage fees.
ActiveCampaign's SMS add-on is available on Plus, Pro and Enterprise. It includes two-way messaging, automated sends and reply triggers, and personalized broadcasts in the US, UK and Australia. The pricing page gives no price, and in the US you must register for A2P 10DLC first (that last point read on 23 October 2026). WhatsApp is a separate add-on.
Funnels and booking: GoHighLevel includes a website and funnel builder, forms and booking calendars on every plan. ActiveCampaign has standard and inline forms on Starter, adds landing pages and site messages on Plus, and lists Calendly and Eventbrite integrations from Plus for booking.
Can you use ActiveCampaign with GoHighLevel, or move between them?
Yes to both. Keeping both running goes through Zapier or a third-party connector. HighLevel's own guide for moving into GoHighLevel is a CSV job plus rebuilding by hand.
To connect them, Zapier pairs ActiveCampaign with LeadConnector, HighLevel's Zapier app. Its templates include adding new ActiveCampaign contacts to LeadConnector and updating ActiveCampaign contacts when a LeadConnector pipeline stage changes (https://zapier.com/apps/activecampaign/integrations/leadconnector, checked 28 October 2026). In ActiveCampaign's app directory, a search for HighLevel returns one third-party app, CRM Connector Platform, which says it syncs contacts and deals with GoHighLevel and other tools. For anything Zapier's templates don't map, Make, n8n or webhooks can carry it; we compare them in Make vs n8n vs Zapier.
To move from ActiveCampaign to GoHighLevel, HighLevel's "ActiveCampaign to HighLevel (Migration Guide)" lists six things to carry over: contacts, deals, email templates, landing pages, forms and automations (https://help.gohighlevel.com/support/solutions/articles/155000003296-activecampaign-to-highlevel-migration-guide-, modified 24 April 2025). Contacts and deals go across as CSV files, and each contact needs a valid email address. Email templates move with an ActiveCampaign share link. Landing pages, forms and automations don't import: the guide says to recreate them in HighLevel's page builder, form builder and Workflows.
Going the other way, ActiveCampaign lists "Contact migration" among the free services on its pricing page, with basic migration support on Starter and Plus and priority support on Pro and Enterprise. The pricing page doesn't say which tools that covers, so plan for a CSV export from GoHighLevel and for rebuilding workflows as ActiveCampaign automations.
Either way, the automations are the slow part. Before you switch sending off in the old tool, read what breaks in a CRM migration, which we wrote from our own project.
GoHighLevel or ActiveCampaign: which one to choose
Choose GoHighLevel if you run accounts for clients, or your leads come in through funnels, texts and bookings. Choose ActiveCampaign if email is the main channel, one or two people run it, and the rest of your stack already works.
If you're still choosing an email tool, see ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp. If the other option on your list is a sales CRM rather than an email tool, see GoHighLevel vs Pipedrive.
We've built on GoHighLevel ourselves: for a coaching business, an admissions funnel on GoHighLevel (form, CRM, payment link, booking and follow-up emails).
- Choose GoHighLevel if you manage more than one business. Unlimited sub-accounts start at $297 a month, and you can rebill texts and email to clients.
- Choose GoHighLevel if texting, calling and booking are most of your follow-up, and you don't want a separate tool for each.
- Choose GoHighLevel if your list is large and you send a few emails a month: at 10,000 contacts and 4 emails each, Starter comes to $1,294 a year against $1,788 for ActiveCampaign Starter.
- Choose ActiveCampaign if your list is small and one person runs email: at 2,500 contacts Starter is $39 a month, billed yearly, against $97 for GoHighLevel Starter before usage.
- Choose ActiveCampaign if email automation is the job and you want branching, event tracking and A/B tests inside automations.
- Already on ActiveCampaign and adding GoHighLevel for funnels or texting? Connect the two through Zapier first, and move only once you know which automations you'd have to rebuild.
FAQ
Is GoHighLevel cheaper than ActiveCampaign?
For small lists, no. ActiveCampaign Starter is $180 a year at 1,000 contacts and $468 at 2,500, billed yearly, while GoHighLevel Starter is $970 a year plus email usage. At 10,000 contacts and 4 emails each a month, GoHighLevel Starter comes to about $1,294 against $1,788 for ActiveCampaign Starter. Checked 28 October 2026.
Does GoHighLevel replace ActiveCampaign for email marketing?
It can. GoHighLevel includes email marketing and workflows on every plan, at $0.675 per 1,000 emails. ActiveCampaign goes deeper on email: A/B tests inside automations from Pro, custom event tracking from Plus and 950+ automation recipes. If email is your main channel, ActiveCampaign lists more email features; if texting and booking matter as much, GoHighLevel covers them in one account.
Does ActiveCampaign or GoHighLevel have a free plan?
Neither does. ActiveCampaign offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card, then starts at $15 a month for 1,000 contacts, billed yearly. GoHighLevel offers a 14-day free trial on any plan and warns that usage fees for texts and calls may apply during it, then starts at $97 a month. Checked 28 October 2026.
Can ActiveCampaign send texts like GoHighLevel?
Yes, with an add-on. ActiveCampaign sells SMS from its Plus plan up, with two-way messaging and automated sends, at a price its pricing page doesn't publish, and US senders must register for A2P 10DLC. GoHighLevel includes texting on every plan and bills each US segment at $0.00747 from a prepaid wallet, with A2P and carrier fees on top.
Does ActiveCampaign integrate with GoHighLevel?
Through connectors. Zapier links ActiveCampaign with LeadConnector, HighLevel's Zapier app, with templates to add or update contacts in either direction. ActiveCampaign's app directory lists one third-party app, CRM Connector Platform, that names GoHighLevel. Make, n8n or webhooks work when you need to map more fields. Checked 28 October 2026.
Can I move my ActiveCampaign contacts to GoHighLevel?
Yes, by CSV. HighLevel's ActiveCampaign migration guide has you export contacts and deals from ActiveCampaign, import them into GoHighLevel and map the fields; every contact needs a valid email. Email templates move by share link. Landing pages, forms and ActiveCampaign automations have to be rebuilt by hand in GoHighLevel.
When were these GoHighLevel and ActiveCampaign prices checked?
We read ActiveCampaign's and GoHighLevel's pricing pages on 28 October 2026, in USD, ActiveCampaign at 1,000, 2,500 and 10,000 contacts. GoHighLevel's usage rates come from its help center, read on 27 October 2026, and the connector listings were checked on 28 October 2026. The yearly totals are our arithmetic. Confirm on both pricing pages before you buy.
Who wrote this
Retailbox builds on GoHighLevel and helps teams choose and move between CRMs, so we have a stake here, and we kept our services out of the comparison above.
The projects we can describe publicly don't include an ActiveCampaign build or a move between these two tools, so the ActiveCampaign rows and the migration section come from the vendors' own pages.
Originally published at https://retailbox-automation.com/blog/gohighlevel-vs-activecampaign. Want this built for your team? See CRM consulting: pick the right CRM before you pay for it.
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